Parents Guide to Gaming

Welcome to 2019! 
Now that we are in the third month of the new year I assume all the children have had time to get a good grasp of their latest handheld device or console. I just finished a book by Larry Rosen IDisorder. Dr. Rosen has conducted several research studies on the topic of media and device usage among teens and young adults. Although this read is not for everyone, I did find his research, and recommendations very interesting. 

Dr. Rosen does not go into great detail on how to keep children safe online but how parents can promote a healthy technological life for you and your children. In other words, technology is everywhere and will be in even more places as technology advances. What if you and your family sat down for a scheduled meal in the evening and your family was able to carry on a conversation for 1 hour without handheld devices or mobile phones.



The common problem with technology is that it is very, very, difficult to set aside for any amount of time.Rosen (2012) …

Cyberbullying on Social Media How does it affect Teens Today?Teens have the world at their fingertips if they own a mobile device or computer. In a matter of seconds, teens can be connected to someone from another country, stream live footage of their family, update their status with location and post pictures of themselves for the world to see.Teens now have the ability to interact with people from across the globe and across the classroom with the power of their mobile device.

How can we learn from playing video games and how is this influential to our adult life?
Addressing the broad topic of what can children and teenagers learn from playing video games should be how children can learn from playing video games. Research by Daphne, et al. (2012) examined; reaction time, cognition, memory, processing speed, and visualization perception. Each skill is leaned and enhanced by playing action video games. Children and teenagers have the will to learn these skills.

Over the past ten years, the gaming industry has changed drastically.  Although more women are working in the gaming world, the number of women in the development of games or (devs) is still meager as compared to the number of men in developer roles.  Gaming developers are responsible for creating the virtual worlds within games.  As compared to ten years ago, the number of women in the gaming industry has only slightly increased; however, there has been no significant change to the amount of women coding, script writing, and graphics development. Why do women in gaming primarily hold positions in administration, management, and advertising, when women have creativity and technological attributes that could significantly contribute to the development of games?

Cyberbullying In-GameBullying in a game can be difficult to deal with especially if you are a kid trying to have fun in a game. As a parent, there may be a few in-game concepts that you may not have a full understanding of which are critical to your gamer.

Screen time- to dual, or not to dual?
Screen time is the amount of time that your child spends looking at a screen of any type such as; a phone, tablet, computer, or Mac while playing a game or watching a movie. The screen still considered any screen. In some cases children are watching a movie while playing a game, this is called dual screen time. Distractions from one or the other may dilute the meaning or objective from one or the other. If your child is playing a game on their handheld device or phone, their attention is split in an attempt to grasp the movie they are watching.

Effects of Pro-Social Gaming
Not the same old topic of gaming… Researchers have been referring to gaming as the cause of aggressive behavior in children and young adults for the past few years. However, Greitemeyer and Osswald (2009) argued that gaming does not cause aggression when one is playing a pro-social game.