Kids, Parents, and the Digital Age

So, I received this article in my news feeds this morning. It reminded me of what was read in the article Next. There are parents who don't want to play the video games with their kids because they believe in the "the violence, the obsession," and they don't think it's good for them. My reaction was, if the parents don't believe that the violence and obsession is good for them, then why are they permitting the kid to play the games alone. Do they talk about what the game is about and how it can affect the kid's normal life? From the talk in the article, it seems no. The article also states that those parents who do play the video games with their kids are normally the ones that are younger, part-time employed, and possibly single.

The poll results were interesting:

• 81 percent of children age four to 17 play computer or video games at least occasionally, compared with 38 percent of adults
• 59 percent of those age 18 to 29 play at least sometimes, double the rate for people age 50 to 64
• There is little difference among users by race or region, with middle-income earners likeliest to indulge
• Casual games like card or board games were the favorite of 31 percent of gamers, about twice the number who like action games, the next most popular alternative. About half of women cited casual games as their favorites, triple the number of men who did so, while twice as many males than females preferred action games.

It seems that with the digital world, even the card games have gone high tech. I remember my parents playing card games with us--they still do when we get together. But with all the focus on digital entertainment, the old stand-bys of playing outside or playing a board game together have gone out the window and instead of the parents getting involved in the new gaming the way that they would with the older "manual" games, they have decided it isn't worth their time or effort.

Odd huh? They want to communicate and bond with their kids, but it has to be their way instead of learning what they like to do.