Top Tips with Tania Bringing you tech tips from BT Skills for Tomorrow Make online gaming a positive experience for your family With the Summer holidays upon us, do you worry that your kids will be spending more time online gaming? Gaming has been the single most popular digital activity during lockdown with over half of school age children gaming every day from their mobile devices – and they’re not just using gaming platforms to ‘play games’. Research conducted by Internet Matters, a not-for-profit online safety organisation, suggests that children are using games to connect with friends, discover new interests and to learn and participate in online events - so just like playing physical games, playing games online is a huge part of your child’s development.
Whilst there are many positives to online gaming, there is still a real worry from parents, that their children spend too much time on multiplayer gaming. Seemingly unable to disengage or simply ‘pause’ the game. As the sun finally comes out, there is the daily battle of trying to get kids off the screen and outside for some physical exercise.
Gaming has been the single most popular digital activity during lockdown
Kids don’t have to be gamers to participate in the gaming world -
> 61% play alone > 48% play with others
64% say they watch videos of games they don’t play as a source of entertainment* How to make online gaming a positive experience for you family It’s a fine balance but make a start by talking to your children regularly about their online activity – make it part of the norm, just as you’d ask them about their day at school. As you feel more comfortable talking about their gaming activity, try introducing the following:
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