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Making Online Gaming A Positive Experience For Your Family
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Top Tips with Tania
Bringing you tech tips from BT Skills for Tomorrow
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-profi t 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.
Gaming has been the single most popular digital activity during lockdown
> 61% play alone
> 48% play with others 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 fi nally comes out, there is the daily battle of trying to get kids off the screen and outside for some physical exercise.
Kids don’t have to be gamers to participate in the gaming world -
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 fi ne 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:
Make online gaming a positive experience for your family
o Work with your child to agree what games and what times in the week they can play - that works for the whole family.
o Try and be fl exible if there is a particular time that your child will be meeting with their friends for a specifi c game.
o Why not consider a family game night where the whole family gets involved?
• Agree rules and boundaries - Ensure your child knows what to do if they:
- are contacted by a stranger
- are being bullied or witness bullying in a game
- feel they have to play/show the same behaviour as others i.e., an expectation to behave in a certain way when gaming
Setting Controls
Although not 100% effective, parental controls and privacy settings can provide confi dence that you’re giving your child the best chance to be protected from harm.
Reviewing the settings on the app or games console, as well as wi-fi settings should provide a good digital boundary and the main things to consider are: o Set up their user profi le to include age appropriate language and game content, ensuring security is always set high on their profi les and accounts
o Ensure your child is aware that they should never give away personal information over the internet whilst playing or downloading games
o Help your child create and use strong passwords, which should never be shared
Want to help your family get the most out of tech?
• Head to BT Skills for Tomorrow to fi nd a range of free courses and advice – from parental controls and gaming advice to digital wellbeing.
Tania Young leads on BT’s Digital Skills programme for older and vulnerable customers.
*Source:
