All About Kids' Gaming: Addiction, What Age Is Suitable, etc

[Blobbi]

tamarind:

I have been teaching hundreds of young adults between 17 and 19 years old. The negative effects of playing PSP, computer games, etc are so obvious. Even when they are not playing games, I find that they are not able to focus even for 15 minutes. They get bored so easily. I am teaching Maths and it is a killer for them. They have become too lazy to use their brain. Solving maths problems uses a different part of the brain, it is not the same as playing computer games.


It is not only the amount of time spent on playing the games. Even after the child stops playing, his mind is still thinking about the games. He loses the motivation to practice maths problems, and would rather go and play games because it is easier.

Some parents thought that playing lots of computer games means that the child is very \"good\" with computers. This is a big mistake. These students have a lot of problems understanding the basics of C programming, they cannot even write simple software programs.

The most worrying part is that many students, especially boys, do not even care about failing their modules. The fact is that if a student fail a module twice, he will be out of the institution. I have students repeating maths and still do not want to work hard. To them playing computer games is more important. 玩物丧志。

Of course there are very few students who play computer games and still do well. I tell these students that if they stop playing completely, their grades will definitely be even better.

I have encountered a mommy whose son is already 20 years old, failed many modules, and has to repeat. She told me that her son is addicted to computer games and there is nothing that she can do about it. She asked me what to do, but I have no answer. It is already too late to do anything for her son.

I don't know whether my kids are the kind who have self discipline and will not get addicted. But I would rather be safe than sorry. PSP and other handheld games are definitely not allowed. My girl sometimes like to play the simple games on my handphone but she gets bored with it quickly. Both my kids like to play the simple games at http://www.starfall.com, and that is good enough to let them practice computer skills.

For parents who do not know what their kids can do besides playing electronics games, take a look at this thread :

http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=7530

:shock: Thank you for your valuable observations, Tamarind. I will definitely heed your advice.
:thankyou:

[KingRascal]

This topic really comes in the right time. With Christmas round the corner, computer games are the hot gifts. Just last week at Suntec, outside Carrefour, Wii was aggressively promoting their games with a big-screen and demonstrators. The sales queue was damned long…

[en107rn.01056yahoo.01056com.01056sg]

[quote](I once saw a mother on handphone games, son on psp, while they were waiting for food to arrive in a restaurant, and the Daddy on Blackberry...emails or games, i don't know ) [/quote]
Did you happen to see me and family? But then no daughter mentioned, so cannot be lah. :lol:

I agree that any kind of games, be it a PSP, computer games, Wii, Nintendo, if not controlled, kids/adults can be addicted. To buy or not it's a personal choice.

I think it's okay to play during school holidays, within a prescribed period of time. I am aware of the anti-social attitude and my kids have been warned.

So if parents still decide to buy, please beware of the downside.

[en107rn.01056yahoo.01056com.01056sg]

[quote]EN wrote:


Handheld games are good for long drives into Malaysia or while the adults are pre-occupied with urgent stuff outside.



For the same reason why I do not mount DVD on the roof of my car and why I do not let DS1 read in the car. I thot playing PSP in the car would be equally bad for their eyes? [/quote]The long journey to Malaysia happen at most 3 times a year. But it's the reading in the car that I find very difficult to control.

[corneyAmber]

We are a family not addicted to any form of computer games, at least not dh, not myself, kid is yet to be seen, not, as of now but maybe have potential because of peer influence.


We had xBox because it was a gift for us but my kid and I had never played on it before. Then dh introduced Wii to us and we had good family fun together on it. It was mainly for family bonding....if any of us not around, none of us would feel the passion to play it....so it sits as white as an elephant in the storage now.

Even iphone games cannot sustain my interest for long. Only once in a while my kid gets to play it like a form of reward for good behaviour. Still nothing like addiction. No PSP, no DSLite but my kid knows them all because of her friends.

I think computer games are wasted on us as of now...we sound like boring people right? :lol:

[KingRascal]

EN:

Did you happen to see me and family? But then no daughter mentioned, so cannot be lah. :lol:

:lol: :lol: no daughter, so not you, hehe. but sorry, no offence if I have quoted this as an example... I am also guilty of this at times but I always pulled the situation back. Once my DH kept playing his games on Blackberry. I know from the finger movements if he's clearing emails or playing games. I used to allow him to do that and even allowed DS to play with him if he finished his food fast (he's a very slow eater, and thus I though it would be an incentive for him). As a result I realised he was hooked onto the games there with the daddy, and he looked forward to meet my sister who has lots of games in her iphone.

I have managed to counsel my DH to play lesser games on his handset (though I know he was unhappy when I nagged at home alot then). Things have improved and I don't see him playing at the restaurant and in front of the TV at home anymore. However occasionally I would let loose and allow DS to play again, especially at eating places outside. Haiz, another mini war would start again sooner or later...guess we just have to be mindful to look out for danger zones.

Reason why I \"let loose\" at times - if I don't let DS play some of these games, am I being too strict? Am I depriving him of fun? Am I making him feel lousy when friends around him are already indulging in alot more than he does? Of course we can say that we can engage them in different types of outdoor activities. However we have to be realistic that computer games would be an in-thing in their convernsations.

Does anyone of you feel the same way as I do? Side track a bit, I am also trying to brainwash him lately with those articles I read on facebook crimes. Not sure if I am doing the right thing for now, but I chose to be safe than sorry for now. Sorry if my principles are not aligned with some of you who feel that technology is the way to go with proper education. I chose to feel that when temptation comes, the children, still nt as mature as we think they are when it comes to safety, may fall for traps. So I choose to be careful with this.

Haiz, pardon me for my long postings...cos the Christmas gathering last night really was an awakening call. I have to ask myself how I intend to manage the next such gatherings...do I allow him to play with them so that he does not feel left out? Or do I want to ask him to bring his board games or iq game set thingy? I really don't know for now...

I am resisting getting iphone lately as it's so tempting to download so many nice games!! I am end up playing them! So I chose not to jump on the wagon of iphone war now.

[en107rn.01056yahoo.01056com.01056sg]

I like to play games on my BlackBerry too. But there are times that I'm clearing urgent e-mails.

[quote]Reason why I \"let loose\" at times - if I don't let DS play some of these games, am I being too strict? Am I depriving him of fun? Am I making him feel lousy when friends around him are already indulging in alot more than he does? [/quote]Same feeling. I feel lousy if I don't indulge. DS is really a good and obedient boy. So a bit of play, I think is acceptable.
[quote]Haiz, pardon me for my long postings...cos the Christmas gathering last night really was an awakening call. I have to ask myself how I intend to manage the next such gatherings...do I allow him to play with them so that he does not feel left out? Or do I want to ask him to bring his board games or iq game set thingy? I really don't know for now...[/quote]Bring a game that everyone can play. In the last gathering at my place, there's no issue of computer games or PSP. All children chill out in ds' room playing whatever games there were. But when the gathering was in MIL place, the computer room was not lock and so the bigger boys including my kids were interacting /socialising in front of the computer. DH was wary, so he kept popping in and out to see what activities they were doing. Ended up, DH remain stucked in the room with the kids.

[titank]

Wow seem like getting PSP have may pros & cons yeah. Anyway DS entering P1 next year, guess wait until he is P2 or P3 then consider getting one.

[tamarind]

This is what my 6 year old daughter do when she has to wait.


Reading her Rainbow Fairy book while waiting for me at a shop in Shibuya, Tokyo :
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_w1nyHWTEh94/SgS-kH9fAeI/AAAAAAAABB0/uD-xolLjPOY/s400/DSCF6298.JPG\">

Reading while waiting to get into Tokyo Disneylsea :
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_w1nyHWTEh94/SmwSmHe7daI/AAAAAAAABK0/thFq4Z_uhC4/s400/DSCF6441.JPG\">

Drawing while waiting for me to finish my breakfast :
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_w1nyHWTEh94/Sy6f3D7PsLI/AAAAAAAABZ0/AZyTBGdYBI4/s400/DSCF6361.JPG\">

I am not boasting that my daughter likes to read a lot or that she is very well behaved (she is not as obedient as I wish). I am just showing that it is possible to do without a PSP to keep a child occupied. We just have to train them from young. Do you remember that we all grow up without PSP ?

In my early 20s, I used to spend many hours a day playing games, now I felt dreadful when I think about games I have many years of experience writing software programs, that is why I know how these things work and how meaningless it is to spend so much time on them. There are so many other things which are more meaningful, like creating new software programs and games, writing in blogs and forums, etc.

I just posted some ideas for older kids and boys to do at home in this thread :
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?p=91238#91238

[corneyAmber]

Tamarind, I agree with you. My kid reads and draws alot too(I also feel not obedient enough but I feel my expectation is too high sometimes. ) and have other forms of paper or board games to keep her occupied other than the electronic ones. But sometimes I wonder if playing electronic games help to build the kids reflex better since they are always challenged in that area when playing the games.