Most children nowadays love to play video games. In fact, according to an article on Healthline, more than 90% of kids today play games. With consoles and PCs becoming cheaper as time continues, it’s become more of a must-have at home than a want. But a new trend has emerged in homes across the world, streaming. Live streaming is where someone watches a person playing a video game in real-time, yes, you heard that right. They aren’t only playing games themselves, they are also watching a live feed of someone playing the game. And it’s making a ton of people richer than you could ever imagine. A famous Fortnite streamer that goes by the name Ninja, is estimated to have a net worth of $25 million from streaming. These streamers make money from not only the streams themselves but also through paid advertisements, subscriptions, donations, T.V. and brand deals and more. His target audience? Kids. Children who are fans of Fortnite are obsessed.
As parents what is it we should know about streaming? It seems pretty harmless. Should we be concerned that our children are glued to the screen watching hours of this mind-numbing content? I’m going to run through some of the details of gaming streams and similar types of entertainment that kids are absolutely obsessed with. Let’s start at the beginning.
Photo by ELLA DON on Unsplash
What are Gaming Streams?
In essence, children are choosing to watch people play their favourite game instead of actually playing the game themself. Popular media consumption websites such as Twitch, and Youtube Gaming specifically cater to these audiences. They can sometimes be referred to as “Let’s Play” videos, they usually depict a larger-than-life personality providing commentary while playing the game. The most popular streamers are typically funny, informative, or professionals at the game, and have a large fan base that loves watching their reactions and listening to them dissect the game move-by-move.
As a parent, you might wonder why your kids would rather watch someone play their favourite video game than actually pick up the controller. But in comparison, many adults choose to watch spectator sports such as Soccer, Football, Hockey or Basketball and have never actually played the sports before – including me. So it’s actually not far from what a ton of people around the world already do, it’s just modern entertainment in a different form.
Taking a step back at the competitive gaming industry, esports, as they call it, has an insane viewership with more than 474 million people watching these gaming tournaments in 2021 alone. With some of the prize pools worth millions! As you can see gaming is no small potatoes.
Are There Any Benefits of my Kids Watching Gaming Streams?
Many parents are concerned with the number of hours their kids might be watching these streams, but nevertheless, there are some benefits that we should discuss.
Developing Visual Learning and Increasing Skills
Kids are learning to problem solve when they watch someone bypass a part of the game they’ve been stuck on. Instead of just getting frustrated and quitting, or moving on to something else, they are determined to figure it out. So they research and find someone who’s already done it.
The process of thinking about gameplay can really help channel your kid’s energy in a positive way, it’s a great way to encourage confidence that they can achieve something in-game or accomplish it themselves. Improving the skill set of confidence, problem-solving and using their cognitive energy to solve these in-game issues, have a prolific impact in the outside world as they mature and develop to be adults. In fact, studies have shown gamers are better learners, better drivers, and better at catching fraud than scientists.
Building Social Connections and Sense of Community
In reality, most kids watch these streams and videos for mainly entertainment purposes, but these streamers and gaming giants can also find themselves in a community of like-minded individuals, talking about the same issues, meeting similar people in their classrooms or friend settings, and being able to talk about something in common. These games tend to have massive communities around shared interests, children can use these to build their social connection and share content with their friends building stronger relationships.
Okay, Are There Any Negatives of my Kids Watching These Streams?
Your first instinct might be to kick them off their device and send them outside to use their imaginations. Which, I’m all for. But in my opinion, it’s more important to balance their digital lives, and set controls on their content – and not just block them entirely.
Inappropriate Content
Of course, there are a lot of streamers that play games like Minecraft, or Mario, which are entirely age-appropriate. However, there are many streamers that play more violent or adult-oriented games such as Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty or Dead by Daylight. So you might not be allowing them to play these games at home, but you can be certain it’s very enticing to watch them if they know they aren’t allowed.
Influencers and Personalities
The people that stream these games, as I said earlier, are usually larger-than-life characters that gain viewership by promoting racy content, coarse language or controversial videos that we’d prefer not to expose our children to. If you look at some of the most popular videos on YouTube, a large portion of them are kids freaking out after losing – yelling at their parents, who are in on the prank. People who scream and yell and are outright loud and obnoxious. Or adults who aren’t catering their content to kids. As a result, it can be hard to find age-appropriate videos based on the streamer behind the camera.
Time Online
A lot of these gaming streams can last for many hours long, so it’s easy to sit mindlessly watching. You can spend the whole day watching these for entertainment. So the same philosophy I recommend for their digital life applies to this content as well. Set limits, monitor, talk to your kids and keep yourself educated.
Pointers on How to Keep Your Kids Safe
- Set screen time limits
- Establish boundaries
- Approve content or creators they are allowed to watch
- Limit exposure to content you don’t want them to watch
- Understand most of the games streamed are violent
- Know that a lot of the content creators use mature language
- Twitch and YouTube gaming run targeted advertisements – talk to your kids
- Educate and teach your kids what is appropriate and what isn’t for them to watch
