Parents Guide to Gaming

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.

Gaming on a Phone Versus a Handheld Device Gaming on a phone works in a snap, hand your phone over to your child while waiting in line or eating out and they can enjoy a few moments of quick play. This is quick and easy to do yet, is it safe for the child? Never underestimate your kids he or she knows things about your phone that we adults are still trying to figure out.