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Professionals working with video gamers tend to have some difficulties when knowing where to start with video gamers and even interventions. Here are some guiding principles and common questions that may help parents and therapists implement discussions on video games in the home or office.
My child plays video games after school with friends, I am worried they will not be social outside of their video games.
Video games allow the imagination to grow and take root in the player’s experience of life. There are instances where video game players have taken the concepts found within the video game itself and used them in their own lives in order to obtain a goal.
Furthermore, there are varying developmental stages in which children and adolescents grow, change, and develop their skills socially and interpersonally. Video games provide a safe place for these instances to take place and allow the child or adolescent to practice the social relationships building upon their interpersonal dynamics.
The virtual world also provides a safe place for the video gamer to experience different emotional content and friendships. It is also important to not invalidate their companionships from games played online as, even though they may not know one another face-to-face, they still are friends. By stating “they are not real friends” it provides an invalidation of the player’s experience and can do more harm than good to their emotional state and psyche.
How much screen time is too much?
Researchers do not have an answer to this question, as much of the research is convoluted and not clear on the impact of video games or screen time. Former statements on the topic have been retracted often and continue to change. Psychologists and medical professionals attempt to err on the side of caution when examining this question. For now, we do not have any definitive answer on what can be construed as “too much gaming.” The American Academy of Pediatrics has recently changed their guidelines and have become more family-centered on their suggestions. Clinicians base their work in this area on the suggestion that the family and caregivers develop a plan that takes into account the dynamics of each family member in order to determine the best course of action.
However, there are instances where the child or adolescent may play too many video games and neglect other aspects of their lives. It is important to impose some form of limitation before the video gamer can proceed with their gaming time. If a parent or caregiver begins to see changes in mood, such as irritation, then it may be important to set stricter limits until the video gamer can manage their own emotional moods proficiently.
Setting boundaries is the best course of action and an important one for all families to implement, not just with video games, but all instances where a child or adolescent may be having difficulties with any activity. Having a conversation about limits and encouraging the child to be a part of the conversation is exceptionally important. Children and adolescents require guidance and nurturing of course, but encouraging the child to be a part of the conversation allows them to have a lasting impact and begins their participation in the concept of setting their own limits in all activities of life.
When parents set the limits without a conversation or explanation, it can interfere with the child’s ability to do the same in the future. It is additionally important to ensure that the parents and caregivers are appropriately modeling behavior as well so children can learn from the people they are around the most — family.
Video game addiction is everywhere. Sound the alarm and get these kids help!
Video game addiction is not an actual disorder, but the term is used fairly often in society. It is a proposed disorder in the psychological models of thinking, however; if we look closely at their perceived criteria, one can see their models are currently unsubstantiated and not approached from an ethnographic standpoint.
This means they are determined by a confirmatory approach which only confirms what one is looking for, not whether the current criteria is actually correct. The concept of video game addiction is far from accurate with percentages in the 30-50%. These studies are usually poorly constructed, misconstrue high engagement with addiction, and variables examined are not usually a clear picture or indication of what the participants are experiencing.
Examining studies that take these variables into consideration with more appropriate experimental designs shows that the rate is closer to 1-2% of the video gamer population. What is even more concerning is the attempt at diagnosing a condition that is fairly misunderstood as researchers are not in a majority of consensus on what the proposed disorder is attempting to do.
Playing violent video games will make my child violent.
Hundreds of scientific studies have been conducted on the topic of violent video games and violent acts committed; these studies convincingly evaluated and found that there was no relationship between these variables.
What they did find is that playing violent video games has shown small and very short-term rises in aggression, but that they are short-lived; the player could be violent the first few minutes after stopping video gameplay but did not persist into long term aggression or violence.
In fact, as video games have become more violent and consumption of these games has risen, the overall violence rates have dropped significantly across the nation. As a result, a majority of researchers have concluded that there are no significant links between violent video gameplay, aggression, and violence committed by video gamers.
Other research that has been of importance to society is whether violent video games desensitize video gamers to violence. Emerging research has debunked this as well. The research showed humans have the ability to differentiate between real-world violence and video game violence, although developmentally the ability to appropriately differentiate between the two begins around the age of 7.
This is why there are rating systems incorporated into the gaming industry. Embracing age limits and restrictions makes video games safer for children. This means a player with a developed brain may kill, steal, or hurt another individual in the video game, but they are not going to commit the same acts outside of the video game because morally they understand the difference between the two.
My kids play video games all the time and I am afraid that they will fall cognitively, interpersonally, and physically behind.
We have no real evidence that shows video gamers are cognitively or physically deficient. A more likely probing of the situation would reveal poor eating habits and a lack of exercise within the child’s immediate environments.
There are ways to manage these difficulties appropriately, such as choosing video games requiring physical exertion as they have been shown to increase physical activity and in some cases help people lose weight.
Speaking cognitively, research around the topic of cognitive and intellectual abilities of video gamers have shown that playing these games can have a multitude of positive aspects associated with the play. For instance: Video games have been shown to increase frustration tolerance, foster teamwork and cooperative play, build interpersonal relationships and skills, facilitate goal setting and task persistence, foster identity formation, learning, leadership, and develop a range of visual-spatial skills.
Indeed, there are many positive aspects of video gaming, but parents need to guide their children so they can reach the maximum benefits. How much time do the children spend playing, are school grades appropriate, can the skills be extrapolated into real-life situations, the appropriate building of the tolerance, and so on. This is where appropriate boundaries at home come into play along with the guidance of a trained therapist to help the family understand the concepts and implementation.
Do video games cause depression, anxiety, or ADHD?
A very common question to be asked in therapeutic settings for sure. First, there is no evidence that video games cause depression, anxiety, or ADHD. We do have scientific evidence that video gamers with these conditions appear to be attracted to video games as a way to cope with their conditions.
For instance, a person with social isolation due to an illness or lack of immediate community will reach out to friends in video games for support and help with difficulties. A person who may be observed as anxious in real-life environments may feel safer interpersonally developing relationships across the virtual spaces which may calm anxious feelings. Someone who has ADHD-like symptoms or diagnosis will play video games because the ability to focus on the game playing can improve attention and reduce impulsivity.
Overall, these studies have shown video games provide a quite beneficial coping ability for those struggling with mental health. In a nutshell, video games have the ability to help with these difficulties rather than cause them, but should not be used as the sole method to cope with emotions — anything without moderation can be detrimental.
My child will become a bully due to playing video games.
Video games have the ability to make people feel very powerful through their character and archetypal play. With great power always comes great responsibility. Those who choose to misuse power become villains. These powerful feelings are great to have and can influence the player to feel just as powerful in real life while increasing self-esteem. Sometimes those powerful emotions can bleed over into real life and video gamers feel as if they can take on the world.
Research has shown that video games can reinforce some beliefs in the short-term, for example, bullying and sexism, but misogynistic discussions and content within video games have not been shown to cause corresponding real-life behavior in video gamers who are not already sexist or bullies.
What this means is that these concepts and moral difficulties found online and in real life are not a result of video games, but are already present in the individual playing the game. They may be exacerbated for a brief moment after playing the game, but are not long-lasting pending a person’s moral code and personality.
It is important to talk to children about discrimination towards other individuals regardless of gender, orientation, or ethnicity. It should never be acceptable to watch another individual suffer or be bullied by another individual and sit idly doing nothing to protect another individual. Teach children and adolescents that taking a stand against these prejudices and behaviors is the correct and moral way to approach the subject.
