This will be a relatively off-topic rant on a subject that generates considerable controversy among hand-wringers, busybodies, pearl-clutchers, and the like: screen time/video game time for children. It’s something that most people worry endlessly over. I worry as well, particularly when the screen time involves passive viewing of movies/TV/YouTube programming. What I don’t worry about nearly as much are video games for children. That’s not to say that limits shouldn’t be placed on the amount of time played, but we are overlooking a very significant benefit of goal-oriented, creative video games that children would never receive otherwise: the ability to cope with failure at an early age. Another way to say this, or an adjacent benefit, would be the healthy development of confidence in one’s own ability to accomplish something, whether it’s a logic problem, riddle, et cetera. Amid all the hysteria over “screen time”, I think that this huge benefit should be addressed. Just think about it: the ability to cope with failure, and the stubbornness to keep trying at a new or unfamiliar activity, is a skill that has to be learned. How many other opportunities do kids today get to experience something like that? Are they really getting that from school? Are parents providing it?
Surely many parents with children who play these types of goal-oriented games have witnessed a similar development. And I believe it is significant for their success later in life. The resilience to cope with failure must be learned. But children can only develop that resilience when they believe that they have the agency to also achieve success. Many video games are providing this type of unique experience to children who otherwise would never be placed in a situation where failure
I have not ventured into the wilds of the internet to find out if researchers or anyone else has noticed this phenomenon. I can only speak personally. But, from what I’ve seen, the positive effect goal-oriented/creativity-oriented video games on the character of children is profound.
The resilience to handle failure or rejection is a hallmark of emotional maturity. It is a wonder to see this type of emotional maturity displayed in full in a 10 year-old, and how this confidence in his own abilities carries over into the real world.
Of course, video games should not be a child’s only source stimulation. No one is saying that it should. But we sell kids short by depriving them of these creative outlets.
And the games today are endlessly creative. It really is unbelievable. Most worrywarts have in mind only the ultra-violent games when they descend into a paranoid delusion. And yes, those games are terrible. But there is so much more than just that. Log in to Roblox and you’ll find hundreds of thousands of the most creative, funny, and challenging games in existence. All to play for free. Or check out Minecraft. Or even older NES/SNES games like Zelda. They’re challenging, and fun. Kids want to be challenged. It’s in their nature to develop the resilience and emotional independence that is offered in such scant amounts in every other aspect of their lives.
I could continue on with other benefits that I’ve noticed from these games: a lengthening of attention spans, an enrichment and stimulation of the imagination, emotional independence, the crucial development of patience, the capacity for sustained concentration on a single complex problem, and others.
There are far worse things that kids can get mixed up with now than video games. Growing up, we adults have seen childhood friends get involved in the most self-destructive and mindless wastes of time. And the character traits that grew out of those experiences have shackled them throughout their lives. But I’ve known kids who loved video games with a passion, who grew to become some of the most driven, interesting, and independent people I’ve ever known. Did the games do it, or was the character already there?
I’ll leave it at that for now.
