Griffiths, MD

English

Nottingham Trent Institutional Repository (IRep)

Over the last ten years, I have receivedmany letters and ‘phonecalls from parentsand teachers wanting advice concerningvideogames. Typical examples include 'Is mychild playing too much?', 'Will playingvideogames spoil my pupils' education?', 'Arevideogames bad for children's health? and'How do I know if a child is spending too longplaying videogames?".To answer these and other questions in asimple and helpful way, I have written this arti-cle as a way of disseminating this informationquickly and easily.A few rulesTo begin with parents (and in someinstances teachers) should begin by finding outwhat videogames their children are actuallyplaying! Parents and teachers might find thatsome of them contain material that they wouldprefer them not to be having exposure to. If theyhave objections to the content of the games theyshould facilitate discussion with children aboutthis, and if appropriate, have a few rules. A fewaims with children should be : To help them choose suitable games which are stillfun To talk with them about the content of the games sothat they understand the difference betweenmake-believe and reality To discourage solitary game playing To guard against obsessive playing To follow recommendations on the possible risks out-lined by videogame manufacturers To ensure that they have plenty of other activities topursue in their free time besides the playing ofvideogamesEducationalParents and teachers need to remember thatin the right context videogames can be educa-tional (helping children to think and learn morequickly), can help raise a child's self-esteem,and can increase the speed of their reactiontimes. Many of these benefits were outlined in aprevious issue of ‘Education and Health’(Griffiths, 2002). Parents and teachers can alsouse videogames as a starting point for otheractivities like painting, drawing, acting or sto-rytelling. All of these things will help a child atschool. It needs to be remembered thatvideogame playing is just one of many activitiesthat a child can do alongside sporting activities,school clubs, reading and watching the televi-sion. These can all contribute to a balancedrecreational diet.How much is too much?When does it become a problem? The mostasked question a parent wants answering is"How much videogame playing is too much?".To help answer this question I devised thefollowing checklist. It is designed to check if achild's videogame playing is getting out of48 Education and Health Vol. 21 No.3, 2003Parents andteachers need toremember that inthe right contextvideogames can beeducational(helping childrento think and learnmore quickly), canhelp raise a child'sself-esteem, andcan increase thespeed of theirreaction times.Dr Mark Griffiths is Professorof Gambling Studies in thePsychology Division,Nottingham Trent University.If a child’s videogame playing is getting out of hand, this article provides a number of solutions andalso suggests that moderate videogame playing can have potential benefits.Mark GriffithsVideogames : Advice forparents and teachersAnswers for parents and teachers, concernedabout videogames and young people, and somepotential benefits of videogame playing.hand:Ask these simple questions.Does the child... play videogames almost every day? often play videogames for long periods (over 3 to 4hours at a time)? play videogames for excitement or 'buzz'? get restless, irritable, and moody if they can't playvideogames? sacrifice social and sporting activities to playvideogames? play videogames instead of doing their homework? try to cut down their videogame playing but can't?If the answer is 'yes' to more than four ofthese questions, then the child may be playingtoo much.What can you do?So what can you do if a child is playingvideogames too much? First of all, check the content of the games. Try andgive children games that are educational rather thanthe violent ones. Parents usually have control overwhat their child watches on television - videogamesshould not be any different. Secondly, try to encourage video game playing ingroups rather than as a solitary activity. This will leadto children talking and working together. Thirdly, set time limits on children's playing time. Tellthem that they can play for a couple of hours afterthey have done their homework or their chores - notbefore. Fourthly, parents should always get their children tofollow the recommendations by the videogame man-ufacturers (e.g., sit at least two feet from the screen,play in a well-lit room, never have the screen at maxi-mum brightness, and never play videogames whenfeeling tired). Finally, if all else fails, temporarily take away thegames console and then give it back to them on apart-time basis when appropriate.Some final thoughtsI have spent many years examining boththe possible dangers and the potential benefitsof videogame playing. Evidence suggests thatin the right context videogames can have posi-tive health and educational benefits to a largerange of different sub-groups.What is also clear from the case studies dis-playing the more negative consequences ofplaying is that they all involved children whowere excessive users of videogames. Fromprevalence studies in this area, there is little evi-dence of serious acute adverse effects on healthfrom moderate play. In fact, in one of my stud-ies, I found that moderate videogame playerswere more likely to have friends, do homework,and engage in sporting activities, than thosewho played no videogames at all!For excessive videogame players, adverseeffects are likely to be relatively minor, and tem-porary, resolving spontaneously withdecreased frequency of play, or to affect only asmall subgroup of players. Excessive playersare the most at-risk from developing healthproblems although more research is needed.Videogames potentialIf care is taken in the design, and if they areput into the right context, videogames have thepotential to be used as training aids in class-rooms and therapeutic settings, and to provideskills in psychomotor coordination, and in sim-ulations of real life events (e.g., training recruitsfor the armed forces). There is, however, a needfor a general taxonomy of videogames as itcould be the case that particular types of gameshave very positive effects while other types arenot so positive.ReferenceGriffiths, MD. (2002). The educational benefits of videogames.Education and Health, 20(2): 47-51.Available at http://www.sheu.org.uk/pubs/eh.htmVol. 21 No.3, 2003 Education and Health 49For excessivevideogame players,adverse effects arelikely to berelatively minor,and temporary,resolvingspontaneously withdecreasedfrequency of play,or to affect only asmall subgroup ofplayers.

Education and Health 49 For excessive videogame players, adverse effects are likely to be relatively minor, and temporary, resolving spontaneously with decreased frequency of play, or to affect only a small subgroup of players.

Videogames: advice for parents and teachers

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