I have always been a really avid console gamer. Ever since I was young I have been caught up in the world of playing computer games, Playstation and Xbox. I have certainly noticed how games have changed over the time I have been playing. Games have become so much more graphic and realistic. I am amazed at how many primary college students I have taught, who play violent games like Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto.
I did a quick survey in my class this afternoon. Of the 51 students in class today, 27 have played Call of Duty and 26 have played Grand Theft Auto. That means about 50% of our class have played R18 games. So let me finish with this.
If we don’t let our children watch R18 movies, then why do we let them play R18 games?
Susan Wells says
Totally agree Shane! I have children in my class that play Halo. They are in Kindergarten. When they get in trouble for playing violent games in the playground their parents can’t understand why they are behaving this way.
Michelle Hurley says
For the past 6-12 months I have come across this problem. Whenever my son has wanted a new game, he always picks up the violent games and my response is NO, I don’t like the language and the violence. I have tried to explain to my child that it is not acceptable and that these sorts of games can lead to violence even in adults who bring this fiction into reality. The games that I pick out are apparently BORING so to date we haven’t bought any new games. It is hard but you have to be the parent and this unfortunately means an unhappy kid.
Gina Siller says
Hi Shane, and IFS community.
Thanks Shane for conducting your quick poll in class, it truly is astounding and frightening when we realise how much our children are exposed to content that is not age appropriate.
I recently completed a prac at a local college and realised how many of my students had a facebook account, and an instagram account. Facebook does require a minimum age of 13 to join however, there is no one to age verify. In fact, Mark Zuckerberg recently explained how eventually he would like to see this minimum age requirement removed (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/facebook/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-minimum-age-limit-should-be-removed/1506).
Instagram also has a similar age policy that requires users to sign up but again, the minimum age of 13 cannot be enforced.
Since Facebook acquired Instagram, both now share the hashtag platform, where you place a hashtag (#) before a “keyword” you wish to search.
Sadly, even a hashtag search of a seemingly innocent keyword can bring up images that are certainly not age appropriate, let alone suitable to be on both of these social networking sites.