Social relationships of gamers and their
parents
Su Li Chaia, Vivian Hsueh-Hua Chenb,
Angeline Khooa* 1
aNational Institute of Education, 1Nanyang
Walk, Singapore 637616, Singapore
bNanyang Technological
University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Singapore 639798, Singapore
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to understand how playing digital games
affect children and adolescents‟ relationships with their parents. Ninety
primary and secondary school students from 6 schools were randomly invited to
participate in a one-on-one qualitative semi-structured interview. Mixed
responses were received from the students, with regard to whether gaming
displaced time with their family and whether it caused conflicts with parents.
On a positive note, the majority of them felt that playing games did not
displace time with parents or lead to conflicts with parents. This paper
presents a detailed account of their perception and reasons on the issue.
1. Introduction
The massive popularity of digital games and significant amount of time
which children and adolescents have
spent playing them has been well documented in the literature. Recent
studies have noted that the amount of time which children and adolescents spent
on digital gaming is increasing. According to a report done by NDP Group (2007),
more than one-thirds of children from the age of 2 years to 17 years in the
United States are playing more video games compared to a year ago. 50% of these
children spent on average, 5 hours or less per week, while the other 50% of
these children spent about 6 to 16 hours per week on playing video games. In
Singapore, a recent study reported that most children and adolescents in
Singapore between the ages of 10 to 16 years play games (Choo et al, 2010). On
average, a child spent about 20 hours per week on games. Boys reported 22 hours
per week while girls reported 18 hours per week. Obviously, gaming has become a
social activity and constitutes a major part of their social experience (Choo,
et al, 2010). However, up to date, there is limited local research on the
possible impacts of gaming on children and adolescents‟ social lives. Further,
in view of the increasing amount of game play, research has argued that
excessive game play could lead to detrimental consequences. One of which consequences
is that gaming replaces social activities that are important to maintain one‟s
social connectivity withsignificant others such as family and friends.
1.1.Time displacement
An early Internet study by Nie and Hillygus (2002) reported that
individuals who frequently use the Internet tend to interact less with other
individuals even with just 2-5 hours of Internet time per week. For individuals
who used more than 10 hours of Internet per week, the
interaction time reduced even more significantly. According to the study by
Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society (SIQSS), it was
reported that 31% of US population who used Internet frequently spent 70
minutes lesser interacting with family, 25 minutes lesser sleeping and 30 minutes
lesser watching television, all on a daily basis compared to those who did not
use Internet frequently. Not surprisingly, when more time is allocated to the
Internet, time spent socializing with family, friends and other people, and
performing other social activities decreased. A similar phenomenon was observed
in digital games play. Studies reported that gaming not only displaced time
spent with other people and on other activities (Nie & Erbring, 2002), it
has also been associated with poorer relationships and increased conflicts with
family and friends (Padilla- Walker et al, 2009).
In a later study conducted by Cumming et al (2007), they specifically
examined this notion that playing video
games displace the time adolescents spent in other daily activities. The
study involved 1941 children aged 10 to 19 years. Data, in the form of type,
number, duration, location and identity of other persons (if the activity was
carried out with another person) were collected via twenty-four-hour time-use
diaries on a randomly chosen weekday and a weekend. Time-use diaries were used
to determine adolescents‟ time spent playing video games, with parents and friends,
reading and doing homework, and in sports and leisure activities. Results
revealed that gamers spent 30% and 34% lesser time on reading and doing
homework respectively when comparing to non-gamers. Furthermore,the amount of
time gamers spent on playing video games alone was found to be negatively
correlated with time spent on other activities with their parents and friends.
Hence, the finding further demonstrated that spending more time on playing
digital games could possibly displace time individuals spent on interacting
with other people and on doing other activities. Indeed, college students
surveyed in Jones et al (2003) study also expressed similar sentiments that
playing computer, video, online games took “some” or “a lot” of time away from
other leisure activities. Elsewhere, like Kolo and Baur‟s (2000) study, gamers of
Ultima Online also complained about the lack
of time to do other activities except for playing the game.
A number of studies have assessed the length of game play in relation to
gamers‟ social relationships with family, friends and/or other individuals and
found negative consequences. For instance, Padilla-Walker et al (2009) study
found that video game use was related to lower relational quality with parents
and friends, and usage might be a risk factor in affecting adult social
development. Cole and Griffiths (2007) explored the occurrence of social interactions
of 912 self-selected MMORPGs players in and outside of game. The sample age
ranged from 11 to 63 years. They found that the number of hours per week spent on
playing MMORPG game has a negative effect on relationships; the correlation is
weak but significant, particularly with friends or family members who did not
play the same game. For some players, they reported experiencing more conflicts
with partners, friends or relative whom felt that they were being neglected due
to their game playing (Woods et al, 2007).
1.2.Parent-child conflicts
In some studies, it has been reported that gamers experienced conflicts
with the people around him or her in
regarding to their game play. As mentioned above, for some players,
conflicts with their partners, friends or family members occurred when the
latter felt neglected due to the gamers‟ devotion to their games (Woods et al,
2007). Only a few studies which involving parents have examined the frequency
of conflicts with their children (for example Skoien & Berthelsen, 1996)
and even fewer have explored the issues in depth. In Skoien and Berthelsen‟s (1996)
study, about 10% of parent participants reported that they had frequently
experienced conflicts with their child because of game issues with regard to
such issues as buying games and amount of time to play. 54% reported occasional
conflicts, and 37% reported that they had not experience any conflicts with
their child because of digital gaming. Parents
and children often hold different views and opinions about digital games, such
as the appropriateness of game content, gaming habits and other real life
priorities, leading to different benchmarks about playing digital games and
amount of parental mediation (Nikken & Jansz, 2006). For instance, Aarsand
(2007) described a case study in which a
grandmother and her grandchild had different understanding on how much time was
required to finish a game. The grandmother gave a particular amount of gaming
time to her grandson, how he played the game was of little interest to her. He
had to stop playing when his time was up. In contrast, the grandson determined
the amount of time he required based on “task-bound reasoning” (p. 250), as he
wanted to complete the task before stopping the game. Moreover, parents who have a negative view about the effect of games tend to
restrict their children‟s gaming time more, especially if they thought that
their child is spending too much time on playing games instead of
participating in other more socially beneficial activities (Skoien &
Berthelsen, 1996). Hence, it is proposed that conflicts between parent and
child could arise due to differences in perception and expectations about game
play.
1.3.Purpose
of study
Existing
studies are mostly quantitative in nature. How children gamers view this issue
is understudied.
Considering
that family plays a major role in children and adolescents‟ lives, it is
important to investigate how gaming influences the family relationships between
children and their parents and vice versa. This study aims at gaining deeper
understanding of how the children gamers understand the impact of gaming in
their own daily lives as well as how their family relationship influence their
game play habits.
1.4.Research
questions
In
view of the concerns raised, two research questions were proposed:
RQ1: How does
playing games influence gamers‟ involvement in family activities?
RQ2: How does
playing games influence the frequency and nature of family conflict between
parents and
children?
2. Method
This
interview study is part of a larger national study to investigate the effects
of playing digital games on the
children
and adolescents in Singapore. Invitations were randomly sent out to primary and
secondary students who earlier participated in a quantitative study on digital
gaming. A total of 90 students agreed to take part, with parental consent.
There were 67 primary students (ages ranging from 11 to 12 years) and 23
secondary students (ages ranging from 13 to 15 years) from 6 schools.
One-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted to understand how playing
games influence their interactions and relationships with family members. The
duration of each interview lasted about 1 to 1.5 hours. Interviews were
audio-recorded with consent from the participants, and subsequently
transcribed. The transcripts were then coded for categories or themes by 2
coders, which the answers to the research questions were gleaned.
3. Findings
3.1.Time
displacement
With
regard to whether playing games displaced time with their parents, mixed
responses were received from both primary and secondary students. About half of
the students felt that gaming did not affect their time with parents while the
rest were split between agreeing and undecided.A minority of the students felt
that playing games affected their time with their family. When asked to explain
their reasons, one of common reasons given was that they spent much of their
time gaming. Consistent with the time displacement hypothesis, when more time
is spent playing on one activities, this naturally lead to lesser time and
subsequently lesser interactions with parents. As one of the students
mentioned, “I will spend more time with my games than with my parents, talk
less with them and relationship with them is lesser”. These students often gave
higher priority to gaming when they had to choose between playing games and
participating in shared activity with family, especially if they were not
interested in the activity that their parents had decided for them, for
example, shopping. As one student commented, “When they are going for shopping,
I too lazy to go out always, then I always stay at home alone, always, so I
play the game”. Another reason given was that they were so engrossed in the
game that interactions with family members, especially parents were reduced or
were only half-hearted as they had to consistently focus their attention to concentrate
on the games. Hence, the interviews revealed that for some students, their
relationships with parents could be neglected when they spent more time and
attention gaming.
However,
the majority of the students reported that gaming did not affect their time
with family, even though they may spend many hours gaming. Three reasons were
commonly cited, low amount of game play, gaming and family time did not clash,
and playing of games with parents. For the group of students who reported that
they spent very limited time on playing games, it is usually due to either a
low interest in playing video/computer games or they have strict parental
restriction on the amount of time they could play games. For the first group,
they were keener on other activities, such as playing sports or reading. For
the latter group, their parents, particularly mothers, controlled the amount of
time or decide when they could play games. As one mentioned, “Not really
because our mother only gives us limited time to play”. Permission to play
games was usually accompanied with the fulfilment of certain requirements, for
instance, after homework was completed or after exams, etc. When the parents
have control over children‟s time, gaming time is less likely to clash with
family time since it was their „under control‟. Another group of students felt
that gaming did not take away time from their family as their gaming and family
time did not clash. As one student explained, “Not really ah (sic) because
my parents usually come home late”.
Another
student commented that “Because the time I choose to play games my family is
busy doing work or something else”. It is observed that they usually game when
their parents were at work, or when their parents were busy with other tasks at
home and thus had no time to do activities together with them. Therefore, it
could be inferred that playing games provided some form of companionship for
these children and also functioned as a medium to pass time and relieve
boredom. Two secondary students stated that they usually made prior arrangements
with their family in regards to their gaming time and family time, so that they
would enjoy their gaming without interruption and at the same time, enjoy time
together with their family. For a small group of students, their family
activities involved playing games with their parents. Since they were doing the
same activity together, they did not feel that playing games displaced any time
with their parents.
3.2.Parent-child
conflicts
Although
the majority of students did not report conflicts, a handful of them reported
that they have often experienced unhappiness with their parents over playing of
games, especially when their play was interrupted, affecting their game
progress, for example, leveling halted. One student complained, “Sometimes I
will feel irritated because it‟s like a quite a long time never play computer
game. Then I only played for about one hour. Then my mother asks me to stop I
feel abit irritated”. In the case of another student, “I was starting to play
for like about 5 minutes then my mother ask me to stop. Then I only played for
a bit, so I was a bit angry. So I told my mother to let me play for a while
more then she didn‟t allow, then I got angry”. It is observed that for these
students, conflicts with parents commonly occurred when parents interrupted
their game play or confronted them about their “gaming time and frequency”.
Another student complained, “Ya, they think I spend too long on the computer
game then she‟ll (mother) start shouting. They get like naggy each time, like
angrier”. Sometime conflicts occurred when the student disregarded or breached
rules which parents have set regarding the playing of video/computer games. It seemed
that these parents do not understand video/computer games and tend to view it
negatively. Gaming is sometimes portrayed in the media in a negative light as
affecting, social performance. Parents tend to react negatively to their use,
and attempt to enforce strict control or access without communicating their
concerns to their children. Conflicts occurred as a result, especially for
adolescents who value autonomy. On the other hand, it was observed that
students who did not experience conflicts with parents, placed higher priorities
to other activities, such as studying and thus did not spend much time on
gaming, “My dad knows that I can control the time that I play la, so for me,
the most maybe one hour, nowadays la, then I‟ll stop already”. Some students
explained, they have an agreement with their parents about the tasks they were
expected to complete, in return for an amount of time to play games. One
reported, , “My family rule is if I want to play game, I need to finish some of
my homework before I can play half an hour to one hour computer games.” Most of
these students understood the reasons for the rules and abided by them. One
student said, “so they want me to have balance. So like I won‟t be playing too
much, can study too”. Another reported, “Because if you play too much games,
your eye sight will worsen and you need to wear spectacles.” In other words,
these students have internalized the reasons provided by parents and therefore
are more willing and agreeable to abide by rules which they have set.
4. Conclusion
Results
of the interviews with the students painted an interesting picture of the role
of gaming within the family context. Overall, there is also little evidence to
suggest that gaming has detrimental effects on parent-child relationships, although
a number of interviews did indicate that playing games could lead to potential
problems and conflicts for some parents and their children. There is a need for
parents to better understand the games that their children are playing. They
also need to enforce developmentally appropriate rules when controlling their children‟s
gaming habits. At the same time, it is also important to have enjoyable
activities together as a whole family.
Acknowledgements
The
authors would like to thank the Ministry of Education, Singapore and the Media
Development Authority for jointly funding the research project (Project
#EP1/06AK).
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Resumen del articulo científico
“Social relationships of gamers
and their parents”
Resumen
El propósito de este estudio es
entender como el uso de videojuegos afecta las relaciones de los niños y
adolescentes con sus padres. Se realizó una encuesta a noventa estudiantes de
primaria y secundaria de 6 escuelas sobre si el uso de videojuegos disminuía el
tiempo para compartir con su familia o si estos dan lugar a conflictos con sus
padres. La mayoría de ellos consideró que los videojuegos no disminuyen el
tiempo con su familia ni dan lugar a conflictos con los padres..
1.
Introducción
La gran cantidad de personas que
usan los videojuegos y la cantidad
significativa de tiempo que los niños y adolescentes dedican a estos ha sido
razón de diferentes estudios. Según diferentes estudios, se ha observado que la
cantidad de tiempo que los niños y adolescentes dedican a los videojuegos está aumentando.
Obviamente, los videojuegos juego se
han convertido en una actividad social y constituyen una parte importante de su
experiencia social. Las investigaciones han argumentado que el uso excesivo de videojuegos
puede llevar a consecuencias perjudiciales. Una de las consecuencias es que los
videojuegos sustituyen a las actividades sociales que son importantes para
mantener una conectividad social con otras personas, como la familia y los
amigos.
1.1.
Tiempo invertido en los videojuegos
Los videojuegos no sólo reducen
el tiempo dedicado a otras personas y a otras actividades, también ocasionan
malas relaciones y conflictos con familiares y amigos.
En un estudio se examinó específicamente
la noción de que los videojuegos que juegan los adolescentes disminuyen el
tiempo dedicado a otras actividades diarias. Los resultados revelaron que los
jugadores pasaron del 30% y un 34% menos tiempo en leer y hacer la tarea, respectivamente,
al compararlos con los no jugadores.
Diversos estudios han
evaluado el tiempo dedicado a un videojuego en relación con el tiempo dedicado
de los jugadores a relaciones sociales con familiares y amigos, se encuentran
consecuencias negativas. Por ejemplo, el uso de los videojuegos se relacionó
con una menor calidad relacional con los padres y amigos, y su uso puede ser un
factor de riesgo que afecta al desarrollo social de los adultos. También
se encontró que el número de horas
semanales dedicadas a un videojuego específico tiene un efecto negativo en las relaciones, la
correlación es débil, en especial con
amigos o familiares que no jugaron el mismo juego. Para algunos jugadores, que
reportaron haber experimentado más conflictos con los socios y amigos, sentían
que estaban siendo abandonados debido al uso del su videojuego.
1.2
Los conflictos entre padres e hijos
Sólo unos pocos estudios han
examinado la frecuencia de conflictos entre padres e hijos. Alrededor del 10%
de los padres participantes en el estudio informaron que habían experimentado
con frecuencia en conflictos con su hijo debido a problemas de juego con
respecto a cuestiones tales como la compra de juegos y la cantidad de tiempo
para jugar. 54% reportó conflictos ocasionales, y el 37% informó que no tenía
experiencia alguna en conflicto con su hijo a causa de los videojuegos.
Los padres y los niños a
menudo tienen puntos de vista y opiniones diferentes acerca de los videojuegos,
tales como la adecuación del contenido del juego, hábitos de juego y otras
prioridades de la vida real, lo que lleva a diferentes puntos de referencia
sobre los videojuegos y la cantidad de la mediación parental.
Por otra parte, los padres que tienen
una visión negativa sobre el efecto de los juegos tienden a restringir a sus
hijos el tiempo de juego, sobre todo si
se piensa que su hijo pasa demasiado tiempo en jugar en vez de participar en
otras actividades socialmente más beneficiosas Por lo tanto, se propone que los
conflictos entre padres e hijos podrían surgir debido a las diferencias en la
percepción y expectativas sobre el juego.
1.3 Propósito
de la investigación
La mayoría de los estudios relacionados con este tema son
cuestionados desde una perspectiva cuantitativa, mientras que la opinión de los
jugadores jóvenes no ha sido estudiada.
La familia hace parte importante de la vida de los niños. Por esto
con este estudio buscaron encontrar si los niños veían cómo el uso de los
videojuegos afectaba su relación con sus padres, y a la misma vez el cómo
mantener una buena relación con sus padres cambiaba sus hábitos de juego.
1.4 Preguntas de la investigación
Debido a las diferentes cuestiones a tratar plantearon dos
preguntas:
· ¿Cómo puede el uso de videojuegos
afectar la relación de los jugadores con sus familias?
· ¿Cómo el uso de videojuegos logra
afectar la frecuencia y la naturaleza de las discusiones familiares entre padres e hijos?
2.
Metodología
Este estudio hace parte de una investigación mucho más amplia que
se desarrolla de manera nacional, la cual cuestiona el uso de juegos por parte
de niños y jóvenes en Singapur.
Las invitaciones para participar en las entrevistas fueron
mandadas al azar a niños que antes habían participado en un estudio
cuantitativo acerca de juegos digitales. En total participaron 90 estudiantes
quienes hacían parte de 6 escuelas diferentes. 67 hacían parte de educación
primaria (edades entre los 11 y los 12 años), y los 23 restantes eran de
secundaria (edades entre los 13 y los 15 años).
Las entrevistas fueron llevadas a cabo entre una persona del
equipo y el niño. Cada entrevista duró entre una hora y una hora y media. Cada
entrevista fue audio-grabada con el consentimiento por parte del niño y después
fue transcrita. Las entrevistas fueron dividas en dos categorías según el tipo
de respuestas. En el artículo no se menciona cómo fueron divididas.
3.
Resultados
3.1 Tiempo invertido en el
uso de videojuegos
Acerca de
si los videojuegos apartan a los niños de sus padres varias respuestas fueron
encontradas: mitad de los estudiantes respondieron que no sentían que los
videojuegos los apartaran de sus padres, mientras que el resto respondió que si
veían distanciación entre ellos y los padres causado por el uso de los
videojuegos.
Una minoría dijo que sentían que los juegos afectaban su relación
con sus padres, debido a que pasaban la mayor parte de su tiempo jugando. Esto
afirmo una de las hipótesis que se tenían: el uso de videojuegos hace que
los niños pasan menos tiempo con sus padres, pues necesitan darle un gran nivel
de atención a los videojuegos. Se
encontró con que unos jóvenes le daban mayor prioridad a jugar los videojuegos
que a pasar tiempo de calidad con sus padres.
Una mayoría reportó que juagar los videojuegos no afectaba su
relación con sus padres. Se mencionaron tres diferentes razones: no juegan
casi, juegan con sus padres o el tiempo que pasan jugando videojuegos no
compromete el tiempo familiar, ya sea porque los padres no están o se
encuentran ocupados.
Los niños que pasaban menos horas jugando era porque no tenían interés en
jugar o porque sus padres se lo tenían prohibido o les controlaban las horas de
juego.
3.2 Conflicto padres-hijos
La mayoría de los niños no reportaron ningún tipo de conflictos,
pero si comentaron que los incomodaba el hecho que sus padres los
interrumpieran mientras juegan o que les pidieran que dejaran de jugar.
Pasa que muchos padres opinan que jugar vídeo juegos es nocivo para
los jóvenes, pues en la mayoría de veces aunque no sepan por experiencia
propia, los medios de
comunicación y la sociedad lo muestran como algo malo.
Se encontró que los estudiantes que no habían tenido ningún tipo
de conflictos con sus padres, le
daban mayor importancia a otro tipo de actividades, como por ejemplo al
estudio. Unos niños tenían diferentes tipos de acuerdos con sus padres, como
por ejemplo terminar primero sus tareas antes de poder jugar cierto tiempo. Las
personas encargadas del estudio comentaron que estos niños lograron
interiorizar las razones dadas por sus padres y por esto aceptar las reglas que
sus padres pusieron.
4.
Conclusión
El resultado de las entrevistas mostró una variante muy
interesante acerca del rol que tienen los vídeojuegos en el contexto familiar.
Primero que todo toca resaltar que hay muy poca evidencia que sugiera que el
uso de juegos afecte las relaciones entre padres e hijos, aunque con las
entrevistas su puede indicar que jugar estos juegos pueden llevar a problemas y
conflictos. Además se sugiere que los padres busquen informarse más sobre los vídeojuegos que juegan sus hijos para que tengan un mayor conocimiento acerca
de estos para que luego creen reglas para controlar los hábitos de juego que
tienen sus hijos. También se sugiere que se encuentren diferentes tipos de
actividades para que tanto padres e hijos desarrollen.
