When it comes to bonding time between parent and child, video games are high on the list of things to do together. Parents might be concerned about too much screen time and violence being exposed to their children when it comes to that activity. In the article “ Getting a High-Speed Family Connection: Associations Between Family Media Use and Family Connection” they say that “Although parents and adolescents may not share the same social perception of what they are playing or viewing on television, the act of engaging in media together may increase connection, especially if family members are in agreement regarding the activity (e.g., they all enjoy the program they are watching together).” This helps explain why a lot of parents decide to play video games, because it is something they could enjoy with their child. In another article, “How Family Members Stay in Touch: A Quantitative Investigation of Core Family Networks”, they explain that “no previous research that we are aware of has examined how the wide range of new technologies (cellular telephones and e-mail) fit into the myriad ways families can maintain their core ties; that is, how families use the media multiplexity and under what structural conditions these choices are made.” So, while it is understandable that parents are concerned, they are only concerned because everybody is telling them they should be. Even though there is no research indicating proof of the negative affect that video games have on children. However, seeing that parents have this concern, these are some things that I would recommend for them: pick a day out of the week, maybe two days out of the week to decide on when you and your child will play video games. Decide on how long you think is reasonable to play. Let’s say you decide an hour, and on those days where it’s just the two of you playing for that hour, after that hour, that’s it. No more screen time that day. Then you can decide on another day where your child can play video games by themselves. That way, your child will only play 4 hours of video gaming through the week, or however many hours you want them to play. If you are concerned about the violence on the game, don’t buy them the game. Plain and simple. There are plenty of games out there that are not violent at all and are made just for kids. As a parent, you have to make the decision if you want your child to be exposed to violent games or not.
Reference:
https://canvas.umn.edu/courses/77092/files/2852811/download?wrap=1
https://canvas.umn.edu/courses/77092/files/2852750/download?wrap=1
Life in Technology 