The other day my son asked me if I played video games growing up. I quickly replied oh yes. I remember trying to get the rings for sonic and jumping over brick walls to help Mario get to wherever he was going and of course getting the key to release donkey kong. He has a friend who does play Roblox and the other day my son came home asking me to download Roblox. I am not the greatest techie but also I am not in a hurry to have my son start playing video games. I know right now as he is (6) the pressure is not on as yet but as I know in the coming years he will make friends wherever he goes be it church or school and he may feel left out of the video gaming conversation and like I tell my husband lets get there when we get there. But for now we are no hurry to “download Roblox” or go looking for Minecraft.
Yes we did play video games growing up. There was Sega Nintendo etc etc. But comparing these games to video games of todays day and age are apples oranges. Reason being :
1.) The Design – The games nowadays are made in such a way as to hook and habit form. It has slowly shifted from all “fun and games” into this constantly on , constantly wanting to level-up mode that I just worry where the end is. From loot boxes to in-game purchases for skins etc etc I just feel it has become commercialized to the point it is no fun anymore. Back in the day you reached the end, it said Game Over and you moved on to another activity. These days because it is the bottomless pit of entertainment – it is intentionally designed to keep a gamer playing for hours it can slowly become problematic.
2.) The things that video games are displacing. The burden of time spent video gaming is leaving physical and emotional casualties in its wake. It is just harder to participate in the real world after video gaming for so long primarily because of the high dopamine levels that are released during gaming that are not as high as say playing a board game or learning to play an instrument.
So my answer to our son on when he can start playing video games at the moment remains – “Daddy and I do not feel you are ready yet for video games and we really enjoy spending time with you while you are young. ” I know this will evolve as he grows and the pressure continues to mount, but it is my hope that we will have created alternate opportunities of entertainment for him to see and experience the world.