Are you worried that your child is playing games all the time? Do games hinder children’s growth?

I’m worried that my child is playing games all the time. This is a common question that has been asked for a long time.
Why would you consult me? It was strange, but it seems like they are really worried and want to talk to someone who knows a lot about games, and if possible, someone who is involved in the game industry to advise their children.

This is something that is often consulted by mothers with a relatively wide range of children, from early elementary school students to high school students.

In this article, I would like to share my thoughts on this consultation.

If you are worried that your child is playing games all the time, the degree will vary depending on the situation, but you may be worried that your child’s grades will deteriorate.

Do they become violent or introverted? In other words, do they have an impact on their personality development?

It’s mostly these two points.

I am neither an educator nor a researcher, so I will speak subjectively based on my experience.

First of all, my opinion is that it is normal for children, especially boys, to like games, and there is nothing particularly strange about it. That’s why games are an industry and there is a market for them.

Children generally like the process of inventing strategies, practicing and improving, and showing off their achievements with friends, so it’s easy for them to get addicted to games.

If that’s the case, I think it’s a parent’s wish to do that while studying, but compared to studying, games are easier to take on new challenges and are designed so that you can get results quickly, so I think playing games is better. It is said that it is easy to have fun and feel a sense of accomplishment. Therefore, games are more interesting and fun for children.

I don’t think you can’t study just because you play games. Rather, I think games can also serve as a place to try out different ways of thinking. So I don’t feel like playing games will make you dumb.
There have been various papers published on this subject, and they are generally proving the same direction as my idea, so if you are interested, please do a search.

However, this does not mean that we recommend that children only play games. It is true that playing games does not improve one’s grades at school, and in fact tends to lower them.

Lower school test scores are not a good thing. This is because the studies taught at school are important as the basic knowledge of life. Don’t neglect it.

The reason why playing games lowers school grades is because games are designed to immerse children, and as a result, children tend to spend their time playing games and not studying. If that happens, it’s normal for your grades to drop, and it’s not because the game is bad, but because you simply don’t have enough time to study.

To all the students watching this video, please study carefully.

Generally speaking, I first tell the client about this, and then, if their grades are actually declining, I ask them to make sure they have time to study and then make time to play games. For high school students, I think it’s up to them, but for elementary school and junior high school students, it’s important to create rules at home.

This problem is not limited to games, but applies to all highly addictive content such as SNS and smartphones. Watching TikTok for hours a day is a problem in the same sense as playing too many games.

Another issue is that playing games may have a negative impact on children’s personality development.Although various papers have already been published on this topic, I don’t think it has much to do with it.