AD| Is the rise of computer games and mobile phones having a detrimental impact on our youth?

In a world of ever improving understanding of technology, advances in science and such like, I’m saddened to see that a lot of people, parents mainly, are yet to understand the impact of computer games and mobile phones on our children.

I read a while ago that parents tend to approach video games like junk food: games are fine in moderation but ultimately they are an evil temptation that’s more bad than good.

Can the same thing be said for mobile phones? I imagine so.

Personally I have nothing against anyone wanting to play computer games or such like on their mobile phones. Before I had children my husband and I would often be found sat in our living room playing first person shooter games against one another.

What do I object to is children being allowed to play these games when they’re clearly too young for them and when they’re not supervised whilst playing them as this ultimately means children can spend hours a day staring at a computer or mobile phone screen.

Words I often hear on my children’s school playground are Minecraft and Fortnite. I’ve heard of these games, but have never played them myself and neither have my children. Plenty of children in their class, however, have played these games. Admittedly this is usually because they have older siblings who play these games.

As far as I’m aware Fortnite has a PEGI rating of 12, and PEGI have said this is due to the: ‘frequent scenes of mild violence’. As such it is not suitable for persons under 12 years of age.

My children are in year two as they’re seven years old and I have to admit it does worry me when I hear that children in their class are playing games far too old for their age.

I do question what basis parents have allowed or even what their thought process is when they make the decision to let their young children play these types of games when they’re clearly not old enough?

I’d much rather see them being encouraged to play outdoors, or if they really insist on playing computer games and on mobile phones that the games they’re playing are at least age appropriate.

I’ve said it before plenty of times on my blog and I’ll say it again. I firmly believe children should be playing outdoors not indoors on computer games or on mobile phones.

If the money spent on video games was perhaps put towards some wooden climbing frames from a company such as Fatmoose, I’m sure when given a choice, children would much rather play outdoors on a climbing frame with their friends in real life than sit in a darkened room on their own talking to their friends via a headset?

I don’t know. Perhaps I’ve spoken out of turn? Perhaps you may think me old fashioned, but I genuinely worry about the impact this has on young children. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below.

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