Games

And Now Something That’s Been Done Before

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27 February 2017

By Alex Khalil

Every few years or so, we’ll get a bulky story, citing some studies as to why younger children should not be subjected to technology so early in their lives.

It’s a fact that it’s basically impossible to avoid technology. It’s in our homes, Wi-Fi permeates every level of our society, along with screens, sounds, everything. It’s probably even more difficult to keep our kids away from it too, given that it’s a safe bet to keep them quiet and occupied.

So, what’s the damage, and what can you do to prevent that damage?

First, let’s get the elephant in the room out shall we?

Children are impressionable. Incredibly so. It’s how they learn and adapt to their environment, so naturally they will pick up on things like accents, words and actions. So, say we introduce them to things like uncontextualised violence or certain themes, they would then see that and want to impersonate it.

Trust me when I say that there are a ton of games and movies that depict such things. GTA is often the culprit. But let me show you something:

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See that? That’s an age rating. Something that depicts the recommended age to play that game, to make sense of what’s going on. However, parents will buy the game without doing any prior research and then complain when their child becomes aggressive or says the F word.

That should be the first line of argument. Do your research. Know what you’re buying for your kid.

Now after this we do have things like addiction, and yes, even anxiety can be caused by overexposure to technology.

So, what about alternatives?

Well, there are ways technology can go hand in hand with alternatives to sitting indoors staring at a screen.

Things like Pokémon Go make it so you can have an afternoon wandering around catching stuff instead of sat indoors. Plus, we tackle things like obesity with exercise.

Instead of a video game, try a board game. Over the last few years we’ve had some amazing board games. Things like Axis and Allies, Risk, Trivial Pursuit and (although it’s a bit pricey) even X-Wing can be fantastic and engaging board games that you can grasp in about 40 minutes.

There are tons of alternatives to screens.

But all in all, it’s a bit hypocritical, because how else would you be reading this?

And how else would I be writing it?

With my mind?

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It’s also worth noting that people said the exact same thing when comic books became popular.

Good day.

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