What you should know if your children play video games.
The video game industry moves more than 120 billion dollars a year.
It is very likely that your children play video games, but do they do it appropriately? Do they play games adapted to their age? Do you have agreed upon usage times?
The World Health Organization included "video game use disorder" in the international classification of diseases, in the section "Disorders due to addictive behaviors" and says:
“Video game use disorder is characterized by a persistent or recurrent pattern of gaming behavior (“digital gaming” or “video gaming”), which may be online (i.e., over the Internet) or offline, and which is manifested by: 1. impairment in control over play (e.g. onset, frequency, intensity, duration, termination, context); 2. increase in the priority given to play to the extent that it takes precedence over other interests and activities of daily life; and 3. continuation or increase of gambling even though it has negative consequences. The pattern of behavior is severe enough to result in significant impairment at the personal, family, social, educational, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. The pattern of behavior may be continuous or episodic and recurrent, and is usually evident for a period of at least 12 months for the diagnosis to be assigned, although the required duration may be shortened if all diagnostic requirements are met and symptoms are severe. "
It is found in the same section as gambling addiction.
It is very important to first understand the origin. Why do they like video games so much? Since it doesn't just happen to your child.
When playing video games, your brain releases large amounts of dopamine, a pleasure neurotransmitter. In this post you will be able to understand a little more what is happening. In addition , we also recommend the live video on “Understanding the brain to make better decisions with screens” that we did with María Couso from Playfunlearning within the framework of the “Leisure Week without Screens”
But we are going to propose solutions. How do we turn the tables to spend more time offline?
- We have to set clear rules and schedules.
- Review what he plays, whether or not it is suitable for his age. Here is a classification by country.
- And review the places where you do it, it should be in common spaces.
An empathetic way to unplug them from online activity is to look for books or board games about their favorite online activities. We give you some ideas:
- FORNITE vs MONOPOLY Fornite, Fornite books, Fornite characters, puzzles ...
- Supermario vs Monopoly supermario, books, comics...
- Minecraft board game, lego or book.
- Candy Craft board game.
- Games related to Among us.
- Build your own board game of Among us, Fornite, etc...
- Play your favorite games analogously. Among us is a hit in the schoolyard.
- Books by youtubers that you like.
- Comics of favorite games or characters…
We must present Leisure Week without screens as a challenge so that we all have a healthy relationship with technologies. And take baby steps so that they spend more time offline. But it is important to take their tastes into account and in addition to trying new things, devirtualize those things that they like to do online.
Don't miss the live show with Felipe Jara, head of the Digital Creation School. They propose that our children go from being content consumers to creators :)
Cheer up families!
