Why Parents Should Let Their Children Play More Video Games
The gaming industry has a huge and gradually expanding audience. According to Statista, 2.69 billion people enjoyed digital journeys in 2020. Their number jumped to 2.81 billion in 2021. This data covers men, women, and kids. The latter category is especially interesting. Are there many children playing video games?
Let’s have a look at the information that comes from the US. 70% of American citizens under 18 dive into computer toys on a regular basis. This is most likely to be similar to other countries as well.
In my childhood, I spent pretty much time exploring worlds and completing missions. And I remember what feelings it ignited in me. I was a hero fighting powerful villains, bringing justice, not afraid of any challenges. It was so dizzying, hooking, and inspiring. I have grown up on adventures.
So I understand why modern kids are so attracted to them. But this is where super-protective mums and dads may interrupt. And would say that my parents should have banned my time there! I disagree, but let’s have a look at their arguments.
3 Strongest Arguments Against Gaming: Are They That Solid?
The following fears are like a red rag for parents. They consider them to be the key reasons to take digital fans away:
Addiction. Users become mindless zombies and literally live in the non-real world.
Inappropriate content. Kids playing video games get to see over-violent or sexual scenes.
Physical and mental health issues. Lack of exercise and staring at the screen for a long time are bad. It leads to physical problems, social ones including.
There are many more arguments to consider. But most of the watch-outs are either overblown or easily solved. For example, infatuation is often taken for addiction. Yes, young players will drive you crazy leading every conversation to their passion. But don’t hurry to call them addicted.
As for inappropriate content, there is a clear ranking system. For instance, Everyone, 10+, Adults Only, etc. Finally, studies have proved regular gamers to be as active and social as other peers.
Given that most fears are not that solid, let’s look at the bright side. Scroll down for 8 benefits young minds get all thanks to digital toys.
Should Kids Play Video Games? 8 Reasons to Allow It Right Now
1. Encourage Creativity
Studies have proven that young PC and console fans show better creativity. The one held by Michigan State University is an interesting example. School goers were given a task to draw a picture from a curved shape. And then invent a story based on what they have. Those who play regularly showed much better results.
So, we can say that adventures exercise outside-the-box thinking and make kids creative. Let’s take a free browser toy called Poly Art. 11 years olds and other age groups rotate a pile of tiny abstract pieces. Only to find an angle that makes it a whole picture. For this, they use their mouse or touch screen. A great visual experience! The youth often take this beautiful concept into the offline world.
2. Failing Is a Part of Winning
Let’s step back a little from our main topic and discuss a school. It’s the place where children are usually afraid to make mistakes and get bad marks. But its primary goal is to instill the desire to learn new things. Which is impossible without going through mistakes.
The nature of computer titles is to show that. Doing something wrong in a digital world is a way to succeed. For example, take an FNAF horror series. As a new security guard, you’ll have to spend 5 shifts in a pizza restaurant. It’s a popular place during the day, with animatronics entertaining the audience. However, it’s a dark and hair-raising hell during the night. The creatures will try to get and tear you apart with their metal paws.
All you can do is watch them through security cameras. As well as close doors in your guard’s room. However, users get the mechanics only after failing a couple of times. They know the enemy is coming, so they close the door too early. It drains the energy, so when the danger is really there, they die.
Getting cold feet is a way to come up with a better strategy. The one that will allow you to get a sense of achievement. This positive reinforcement is always based on losing at first. The same works whatever adventure you take. As a result, kids are not afraid to take risks and achieve their ultimate goals.
3. Boost Problem-Solving Skills
No matter how chaotic an adventure may seem from the outside, it’s always very structured. You get the settings, a mission, and obstacles to overcome. For this, a child is forced to analyze lots of data, build plans and predictions. They perform actions in a specific order and learn to organize themselves. There is no chance a player won’t absorb this “spirit” of logic. A hard-to-achieve target won’t scare them because they see a clear way to get it.
When I was a kid, my hobby helped me a lot at school. First of all, I memorized the material better. All because I could see the pattern and structure of the information. Secondly, I never panicked during tests. I would scan all the assignments and estimate how many minutes each will take. It was like a video adventure with a timer and a particular task. With a rich gaming background, such knowledge trials were not a big deal for me.
Any smart title can be a good example here. From obvious puzzles for toddlers, six-year-olds, and even teens. To even shooters and action-adventures for older fans.
4. Improve Brain Development
When it comes to stimulating the brain, most titles will do. The plot and gameplay are designed to load it with work: processing, making fast decisions… Let’s take the hit of 2018 Spider-Man, a high-quality AAA creation. Apart from amazing graphics, these are some of the benefits it has:
A complex emotional story. It draws kids like a magnet and increases comprehension.
Lots of main and minor characters. It’s vital to remember them to get better involved in the action. As a result, the memory quality improves.
The huge open world. Players are allowed to freely roam around New York City. It helps increase visual-spatial intelligence which is important for brain development.
In-game instructions. There are lots of things users must read to understand missions. It stimulates them to improve that skill. Additionally, they’ll be drawn to thematic forums to read about their favorite title.
5. Socialization
At its early stage, gaming used to be a solitary pastime. But with online technology, it’s now more about interacting with others than spending time alone. Communication has jumped to a completely new level. It can be cooperation-based adventures, where you help each other, share things, and survive together. Or competition-driven battles where only the strongest survives. Whatever you take, it’s certainly not about isolation anymore.
13 years old and other users enjoy Overwatch. It’s a social game where players unite in 6-member groups. They fight together to beat other teams. Behind the constant shooting and explosions, there is a strong lesson to learn. Namely, the idea of cooperation, backup, and getting along with other people. These skills are vital in real life as well. And when the match is over, one can always find like-minded people to chat with. They discuss strategies, share their experience, and even generate memes based on funny stories.
6. Inspiring Main Characters
Children read books about heroes and learn to be like them. Should a kid play video games to get even a greater impulse? In my opinion, it’s a must. Positive characters turn us into great saviors, travelers, and fighters. Visualization of the story influenced by your actions immerses better than by books.
Horizon Zero Dawn features a powerful woman character. The setting takes place in the distant future where people live in nature. And fight mechanical animals and each other to survive. A young woman sets on a quest to find answers. Explore the beautiful map and save the world that is on the edge of collapse.
7. Investment in Today: Getting Families Together
Do you want to spend more time with your child? Enjoy the hooking hobby together! This will make you closer. Besides, you’ll control what they enjoy to restrict unwanted content. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is suitable for all ages. It’s a life simulator with a Party Play mode. Thanks to this, up to 4 people can enjoy missions together. Most kids invite friends, but you can also let your family members join the fun.
8. Investment in the Future: Video Gaming Careers
Professional gamers participate in championships and win huge amounts of money. But not all become e-sportsmen. There are many other directions to head to: developers, engineers, etc. In short, anything that’s connected to coding (STEM fields) is a promising career.
Summing Up
Before you launch the hurricane against my arguments, consider this. I am not for allowing kids to spend days in front of their screens. Everything must be in moderation. Should children be allowed to play video games? Yes, they should but with limitations. There must be time to play and do other things (such as homework). It’s a wiser strategy than useless bans. Don’t listen to so-called conventional wisdom. Trust the facts powered by studies. And let your gut guide you in the right direction.
Games, like social media sites, are literally designed to be addictive. That’s their primary evolutionary pressure, to be addictive. When you’re playing one game, you’re not playing its competitors. It’s a strictly limited pie (24h) that game makers compete for a larger piece of.
In games, everything is much (much!) easier than in reality. How much effort do you have to spend to get decent at something like Mortal Combat? Compared to being a decent RL UFC competitor? Have you completed a rally race IRL? Do you know, and have overcome the fear of a real life or death situation? Games condition for easy rewards.
Socialization in games does exist, but is way off normal. You may be interacting with a 40 year old dude thinking he’s a 12 year old and vice versa. That it is possible shows how unreal the social part of gaming is.
#1 here proves too much: while you’re reading my blog, you’re not reading others; while you’re watching a movie, you’re not watching other movies; while you’re attending the Metropolitan Museum of Art, you’re not visiting the science museum. But I wouldn’t call these activities addictive in the way social media aims to be.
point taken, but I think those activities are not exactly the same. You need to create a whole new movie for me to keep watching—you cannot create it once and have me watch it for two years straight. It’s a one time thing. Ditto the rest of your examples. They’re naturally limited in time.
By the way that’s exactly why shows in place of movies. Much lower expense on each episode plus addiction equals airtime and income. Movies are not made to be addictive, but shows are.
Whereas social media and games don’t have this problem. Contemporary games are endless, create once and run forever—until a better one comes along.
I think that’s a useful distinction. A lot of games do have natural endings, though some (especially online multiplayer games) don’t. I’ve definitely put much more time than I wanted into Overwatch and Rocket League; but I haven’t had that can’t-stay-away problem with most single-player offline games. Especially ones with definite narrative arcs, like, say, Final Fantasy 7 (both versions). Those are technically replayable, but like you say about movies, I don’t reach the end and think “just one more time through!”
I made online gaming friends 15 years ago and I’m still good friends with some of them today.
Not that this makes you wrong, and the social part of gaming is different today, but it’s at least possible to have good social interactions via online gaming.
I think maybe it was easier to make long-lasting friends in the past? In the past an online multiplayer game would have servers hosted by users rather than the company who made the game. A community could spring up around a single server with forums and IRC channels and you’d play with the same people every day.
I think you dismiss fear #1, “Addiction”, too quickly. When I was fifteen, I realized that games were hijacking the productive impulse to better my life. Some part of my brain had conflated being good at CS:GO with status/achievement in the real world, and as a result, I sank hundreds of hours of otherwise useful time into the game. I made a concerted effort to quit, and I don’t regret it in the slightest.
Similar to other media, some works are designed better and some worse. For example games like Outer Wilds and The Witness doesn’t try to make you addicted, a lotus-eater.
Instead of having the policy to shut the whole medium out (I’m not saying that you are just because you quit CS:GO), I’m instead trying to make a conscious effort to find the better alternatives that don’t addict me.
I’m not saying that games on average do this well, but I think there is potential for really good experiences from using the dynamic interactive medium for many things, e.g. learning and entertainment.
I’m not sure about the exact bounds for how little time one could spend on leisure instead of important work, but I think optimizing well-being in life is rational too, as Julia Galef argued against Straw Vulcan principle #5: Being rational means valuing only quantifiable things, like money, efficiency, or productivity.