As technology progresses and becomes more dominant one of the main things parents worry about is the amount of time their children spend on online gaming websites.
Over the past few years, there is no denying the fact that there has been an evident shift regarding how children get their entertainment. It seems that nowadays everything revolves around sitting and staring at a television or computer screen.
Nobody is saying that online games are the route of all evil. However, many parents worry that their child is getting addicted. It is important to find a balance; allow your children to play the games they love but make sure they also embrace other activities as well.
One of the ways you can do this is through using parental monitoring on your devices. By downloading such software you will be able to track your child’s game playing in order to deduce whether you think they are too addicted to the hobby.
Monitoring Time Spent on Online Gaming Websites
The most obvious way of using parental monitoring to your advantage is to discover how many hours per day or week your child spends playing online games. You should not only look at the total figure, but you should look at the average amount of time spent in one go. After all, if your child spends a solid four hours playing online games without stopping then this is never a good thing – especially for their eyes. This information will prove pivotal and you can put evident restrictions in place if need be.
Monitoring the Types of Games Played
Not only should you monitor the amount of time spent on these games but you should also keep an eye out for the type of games your child plays as well. Does your child tend to play violent games all of the time? If so, then you should limit this and do your best to reduce it. The impact of seeing images such as, blood, gore and criminal activities is never a good thing for a young brain to be seeing every day. As you know; children are impressionable.
Put Restrictions in Place-Based on Age Appropriateness
Parental Controls also give you the possibility to block websites and games you deem to be inappropriate. One of the most obvious and effective methods of this is putting age restriction tools in place. If your child accesses anything that is over their age in terms of appropriateness then you will receive an instant notification. In fact, you can even have access blocked altogether so that the possibility of locating these pages is zero.
Monitoring Game Chat Conversations
Another worrying thing for a lot of parents is the fact that most online games now come with a chat box feature. This means that their children can talk to other kids who are playing the games too. In many respects this is a great feature; it increases the social aspect and the fun entailed. Nevertheless, anyone has access to these chat boxes and thus you need to make sure your child is being safe i.e. not revealing any personal details. Thankfully, you can do this by monitoring the chats they have. If your child is talking to people he or she shouldn’t, you can take action. You may want to delete their social media accounts (if they have them) and you’ve noticed they’ve been using chat features in a way they shouldn’t. Head to https://setapp.com/how-to/permanently-delete-facebook to find out how to do this. After all, if they’re not using game chats in the way they should, they probably aren’t using social media in the right way either.
Is there ever a place for violent games for teenagers?
There is the constant rants and raves about how detrimental online violent video games are. A lot of people seem to believe that violent games are the source of all evil and that they create an array of problems. Whilst there is no disputing the fact that constant playing of violent games can be excessive and thus have a negative effect, a lot of people fail to see the other side that violent games can actually be beneficial as well. It is all about balance and knowing the nature of your child. So, read on to discover how violent video games can actually be a healthy outlet for teens as well…
Not all violent games are disturbing
First and foremost, it is crucial to note that because a game is violent it does not necessarily mean that it is disturbing. For example, Batman is considered to be a violent game because of the fights which occur, after all characters do die in the Batman games, and thus no one can deny that violence does occur. However, this violence is on a much lesser scale to the likes of God of War II. It is very important that people do not characterise all violent games together. There is a very wide scale and thus you should look a little bit further into the games your child plays before you deem them as having a negative impact.
Violent games can provide a great way to release negative emotions
If your child has had a bad day, if they have been bullied at school, if they have failed an exam, if they have argued with their siblings, then it is likely that they will need to find a path to channel these negative emotions and let them all out. After all, adults have their own ways of blowing off steam. Some people take up boxing as a hobby, others simply go and have a nap in order to sleep it off – everyone handles negative emotions differently. It may be the case that playing on a violent game allows your child to focus their attention onto something else and to blow off some steam. Therefore, if they get rid of this anger and feel better in the end then what’s the problem?
The common misconception
A lot of people make the mistake of thinking that all children play violent games and then they come out with a violent nature and act more aggressive as a result. However, more often than not it is actually a case of the opposite. This means that a lot of teenagers actually feel angry, stressed or upset, so they play a violent game in order to feel calmer and to release all of their negative energy. It is quite easy to simply assume that violent games have a negative impact, but what if it is the other way round?
If you are worried that your child is spending too much time on online gaming websites then all you need to do is get your hands on a parental control app or software solution. This will give you all the tools to ensure your child is playing responsibly and safely.
Collaborative post
