This question is inspired by the Australian law that bans people under the age of 16 from social media. But then when I though about it, couldn’t the same argument be made for video games? I mean there are kids just waste their time on video games and not do any of their school assignments.
This purpose of post isn’t me arguing for or against the Australian law or any hypothetical law about a similar ban on video games, I just want to see Lemmy’s opinions on video games compared to social media. To me they seem like both have valid arguments of being harmful.
Edit: Added “Why or why not?” to the question.
Certain TYPES of video games, probably. If there’s an active lootbox or gambling component? Definitely. Online competitive multiplayer? Most likely.
But a normal single player, offline video game is not harmful in the same way a social media site is.
Online can be ok, but I do think that a game should take the Nintendo approach to online gameplay if it wants to be accessible to kids. Games like Splatoon or Mario Kart have online components that seem kid-friendly enough to me.
I always hate to dip into to “back in my day” territory, but I am grateful I grew up when I did, when all games were offline experiences. I never had to grow up with “the algorithm,” and my social gaming experience was just talking about them with friends at school the next day. I know times change, and tastes along with it, but I have to believe 10-year-old me wouldn’t enjoy today’s games as much. I was a shy kid and would have hated randos intruding in my gaming time.