First Point

Hello Everyone!

Welcome back to my blog, today we are going to be focusing on how school age children playing video games encourages socialization.

How you ask?

What many individuals do not realize is that video games that children play now and the games they played 10-20 years ago have changed greatly (Granic, Lobel & Engels, 2014, p. 72). Many believe that video games are just "electronic babysitter" to keep children busy but when in reality there is a very complex relationship between children playing video games and building on their socialization skills (Bassiouni & Hackley, 2015, p. 130). Over the past few year, video games have evolved into online worlds where children can play and communicate with other children playing the same game. Research states, "[o]ver 70% of gamers play their games with a friend..." (Granic et al, 2014, p. 73). Video games like World of Warcraft, Minecraft and Farmville give children the opportunity to build on social skills like teamwork, communication and negotiation as they are required to work with other to be successful in the game (Bassiouni & Hackley, 2015, p. 130). In addition, video games can also extend peer socialization outside of the school environment, gaming gives children the opportunity to communicate with peers by discussing their gaming experiences, sharing tips and strategies and also creating future conversation for the next time they see each other face to face (Bassiouni & Hackley, 2015, p. 130).  Lastly, through their experiences of playing video games children gain the confidence to communicate and interact with family member better and are able to open up about issues that affect or bother them (Bassiouni & Hackley, 2015, p. 131).  Overall, this  research displays and supports the relationship between video games and the encouragement of socialization skills for children.

Thanks for tuning in!

Talk to you later,

- The Positive Gamer

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