Video games have not always enjoyed a good reputation and that is why parents are concerned when our children are interested in them. It is undeniable that there are certain negative aspects that we must control, however, the benefits of video games for children are numerous.
The videogames they are addictive and in this characteristic lies the greatest risk. But under proper supervision to avoid dependencies and obsessions, they provide some interesting benefits: hours of fun and the development of certain cognitive habilyties.
Benefits of video games
Video games have a great playful component. They are one more way that children have to have fun and as with any other game, it is adults who must check that their content is appropriate for their age and that they are used properly. If we do so, these can help them develop some cognitive and social skills:
- Fine-tune hand-eye coordination. Or what is the same they help to develop the coordinated control of the movement of the eye with the reaction of the hand.
- Greater visual acuity. People who play video games often have greater visual acuity. That is to say, they have a greater capacity to recognize the objects and shapes in the images they observe even when they are moving or veiled.
- They train attention. Children who are unable to pay attention to other elements or activities for several minutes, manage to do so with video games because they find them motivating. In a video game, in addition, there are numerous elements on the screen and sounds that compete for attention and that force the child to change the focus to advance.
- They develop visuospatial skills. Many games take place in 3D virtual settings, so that while playing them children have the opportunity to practice their visuospatial skills, and therefore better understand distance and space.
- Logic reasoning. Video games are full of challenges that must be solved. Some require the child to work on different reasoning to make decisions about the actions they are going to carry out in order to move forward. Some researchers go further and say that children improve in three areas: planning, organization and flexible thinking, but there is no evidence that they can later apply them to real life.
- Literacy consolidation. In those in which the narrative has a greater weight, video games will allow them to work on oral or written comprehension. Graphic adventure video games are especially interesting for this.
- Frustration tolerance. Not advancing at the pace they'd like or not reaching the level their friends are at can be frustrating for children. And this is a good opportunity to work on frustration tolerance. Because thanks to the motivation that video games generate in them, you can be sure that after the initial anger or tantrum, they will keep trying.
- Team play. Video games have long since ceased to be a solitary game. The networks have allowed that in addition to sharing the second command with a friend, children can play online with others. They can thus become a virtual playground in which relationships are established, tricks are exchanged or forces are joined to win.
Do not forget to ...
The benefits are numerous, however, as parents we must ensure that it is played under certain criteria to avoid the benefits being overshadowed by the drawbacks. And what are those criteria?
- Set schedules for video games that do not exceed an hour for children under 10 years of age and 2 hours for adults and agree on the consequences if they are not complied with. It is important that they are the ones who take responsibility for meeting the schedules and that we do not threaten them if they do not. In these cases it will be enough to remind them of the consequences and comply with them.
- Choose age-appropriate video games and supervise or accompany in the game when they are small.
- explain why to respect schedules, the importance of not playing online alone, or sharing private information.
- Offer them attractive alternatives so they don't just want to play video games.
These criteria are very important to avoid misunderstandings, quarrels, fights... For this, yes, they must also be explained to children, so that they understand what they should and should not do, why and what are the consequences of not complying with what agreed.