Computer games and Children

At the first time when I read the statement that “Surveys show that 30 percent of computer game players are under the age of 10.” reported in an exercise of making a strong argument in Quest 3 Reading and Writing on page 219 (2007), my thought quickly responded that responsible organizations such as Governments, Schools, or Parents must do something in order to protect our children from computer games. However, after that, I spend time and carefully think of this factual statement, and I receive a lot of questions. For example, why is this figure so huge; that is, 30 percent of players? Are computer games always bad things? Should we restrict children under 10 years to play computer games? Finally, I tell myself that I was wrong, and we should not restrict them to play games, but we should choose good games and play these games with our children.

Having much free time of children who are less than 10 years old than other range of ages, and being easy to use and access computer applications are the factors that maybe drive the quite high proportion of game players of under 10 years children. Children who are less 10 years old generally study in or under a primary level; additionally, study loads of this school level are less than other higher level schools such as high school and undergraduate school. Therefore, they have much free time to spend to their hobbies. Furthermore, nowadays, the advance development of information technology leads it to be easier to use; for example, last two days, I heard the news that one zoo is practicing orangutans to use tablet PC in order to communicate with people.

Creative computer games can help children to develop their skills. For example, when I studied in the primary school, my teacher used the computer game to develop and practice students typing skills. (I am sorry that I cannot remember its name, but in the game, my target is that I must protect the city from letter bombs that are launched from an enemy jet by putting the exact letter on a keyboard to destroy the letter bomb.) I spent much time to practice this game in school’s computer lab in order to win the competition arranged by the teacher, and this caused me to have an advantage when I learned in the high school and the university because I can fluently and quickly type my academic works.

Restriction is not a sustainable solution. The more you restrict them, the more they are interested, and if children try to access games by themselves without a good guidance, the risk will increase exponentially. Therefore, the sustainable ways are teaching them, coaching them, building their logical thinking skill, and balancing their life. Children who are less than 10 years are as the white papers, and this range of age is the highest period that they will care and listen their parents (before they change their minds to care their friends), so they require parents’ spending a lot of time to live and learn with them. As a result, parents must catch this chance in order to root the good way to draw their papers by themselves into their minds.

All things considered, we should not restrict children to play computer games, but we should choose good games and play these games with our children.

Reference

Hartmann, P. & Blass, L. (2007). Quest 3 Reading and Writing (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.