The 2008 Video and Computer Game Report Card

The economy is in trouble, but the retailers are valiantly putting up all the decorations.  People will and should be more careful how they spend this season.  Especially for children, spend your money wisely.  Make your gift be one that enriches their curiosity, triggers their imagination, fills a need-not just a want, and wires their brains in healthy, positive ways. 

Along with the report card this year, the Institute has put together a MediaWise Holiday List of award winning (Parent’s Choice and NAPPA) toys and games for the whole family that will give your child hours of alternatives to electronic screens.  Your online shopping supports the work of the Institute.

The National Institute on Media and the Family releases its 13th annual Video and Computer Game Report Card this week.  This report card attempts to hold a mirror up to the video game industry, retailers and parents, summarizing the latest research on how video games affect kids and includes a list of video games to avoid as well as ones that are fun and challenging for kids.  
The video game industry is hoping that it is recession proof.  Many video games are fun and creative – find and buy those that are.  Research the games before you go out to shop.  It’s so easy to impulse buy – it’s just a game, right?   Look at the ratings – they will tell you if the game has gory violence, sex, blood and gore, drugs, crude language, nudity and more…..sounds like just the present for kids at the holidays, right?  Say “no” to your kids if they want an “M” rated (for Mature) game.  Check out the “T” (Teen) rated games and make sure, the content is OK for your adolescent child.  Avoid first-person, shooter games – these often have violent content.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board has added new game summaries and designed an easier website to help parents find information about video game content.   Check out their website.

New international research conducted with teens from Japan and the United States found that over time, kids who play violent video games do become more aggressive.   So choose your gifts wisely this season.   Lots of families are enjoying playing video games together, make video games a healthy part of your family time. 

The folks here at the National Institute on Media and the Family wish you a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Dr. Dave

I knew I was in trouble when a few flakes of snow prompted me to listen my favorite holiday music.  Halloween seems like eons ago and is Thanksgiving really next week?  My excursion to the mall leapfrogged me right into the holiday season.

Whether you enjoy every minute of the holiday season or just the thought of reindeer and bells makes you depressed, this is the time, right now to make your holiday list.  I’m not talking about your gift list or your  usual “holiday to do” list.   Get your favorite pen or colorful marker, some bright paper and gather your family around, if you can.  Headline the paper: What’s Really Important This Holiday.   Underneath this heading make three columns.  Label them: For Myself, With My Family, For Others.   Your paper should look like this:
           

Ask everyone to name one important activity or ritual to do for themselves, to do as a family, and to do for others.   What activities will really make this holiday season special and non-stressful.  What’s really important?  You might find out that your kids really enjoy baking cookies or decorating a tree or deciding on a toy for a local charity.  You might find out that you really want to enjoy a cup of tea, quietly reading the letters from relatives you seldom see.

If you find that your kids can’t think of one family ritual to do together, than take time this season to start a holiday family ritual that everyone enjoys.  It might be making popcorn and watching your favorite holiday movie, decorating together, making gifts together, getting together with one other family and sharing a meal and a holiday story, or taking a winter walk followed by hot chocolate.  Find something special that will mark the season and give your kids a memory to hold for a lifetime.

It’s easy to get caught up in a list of “shoulds” and get overwhelmed and over-stressed.  Practice saying “no”, if saying yes means that you can’t pay attention to this list.  The holidays are stressful, let’s face it, but you can be in control and limit your extra activities, cut back so that you have the time and the energy to do and to enjoy what your family has decided is really important.
How do you handle the holiday stress?

Dr. Dave

A cooperative of four Minnesota school districts launched their Say Yes to No campaign last week.  The districts of Lake Crystal, Medelia, Truman, and Maple River gathered their parents, staff and community members together for kick-off events.   Around 250 staff gathered in the afternoon to hear a Say Yes to No presentation and that night 300 parents and community members gathered to hear what Say Yes to No is all about.  Follow up book reads and discussions are planned all over the four school districts.

I asked the teachers in the afternoon if anyone was surprised that the research shows that self-discipline is twice the predictor of school success as intelligence.  None of the 250 teachers were surprised.  A typical response was that “I’d much rather have a student motivated to learn, than someone smart, but who doesn’t care.”

I also asked the teachers who had been teaching for more than 10 years if it is more difficult to keep kids’ attention today than ten years ago.  Every one of these veteran teachers said “Yes.”

The principals knew that parents were concerned when over 300 people showed up that night.  Parents know that something is out of whack, that their children are distracted.   Say Yes to No struck a chord with these parents, as it is in other communities.   Many of them said they were going to try the “Marshmallow Story” with their own kids.   Self discipline is a key character trait that leads to success in school and in life.  Self discipline helps kids stay on task, helps them finish a task, stay focused, be engaged, take on a challenge, make better decisions and resist the siren call of entitlement: “Gotta have it and gotta have it now!”   Parents who say “no” and use the parenting skills of No are re-discovering parenting strategies that work.

Dr. Dave

This week brought the end of a long, hard fought election campaign.   I, like most of you, was glued to the screen, following the ups and downs of each reported return.   The new media was hopping at our house Tuesday night.  We had TVs, computers and cell phones all spouting returns at the same time. 

When all was decided, I heard a theme, cited by both President-elect Obama and Senator McCain, and echoed on the newscasts.  Our economy is a mess and hard times lurk right around the corner.   The only way out of this situation is for the American people to pull together, make the hard choices and do the hard work it’s going to take.  It amazed me as this theme was echoed by commentator after commentator on the various networks we watched.  The conversation about our national purpose is changing.

I began to wonder if a speech writer hadn’t been involved in one of our Say Yes To No campaigns.   What was really being called for was self-discipline.    The character trait our kids need if they are going to be successful in school and in life.   Self-discipline enables a child to finish a task, put in the hard work needed for practicing a skill, choose work when needed over play, set and accomplish a goal, work independently, work with a group, and enjoy a reward well-earned.  Self-discipline ensures that a child’s self-esteem is built on real accomplishments and the satisfaction of a job well done.   Parents and teachers have been joining Say Yes to No book reads and conversation groups, learning how No gives their kids the gift of self discipline.

Do you have a Say Yes to No story to share?

Dr. Dave

If we were ever wondering about the power of the new media, we have to look no further than this current election.  Voters in unprecedented numbers have taken to the Internet via computers and cell phones to participate in this election in a way never seen before.  From fundraising, to YouTube videos and text messaging, people have created media and influenced news in a powerful new way.  

The immediacy of this media is apparent when billions of people are updated at the moment, before the headline reaches the TV anchors or newspapers.   Campaigns and news outlets have had to adjust to the fact that once their news or campaign videos hit the Internet, videos are cut up, re-worked, and re-used in ways out of their control.   The average voter is in control of content more than ever before in history.

I’ve often said, “Whoever tells the stories, defines the culture.”   The new media has opened the door to powerful new storytellers: you and I.  It’s more important than ever before for people to be Mediawise®.  Rumors fly faster than it takes to hit the enter button.    Videos hitting our emotional centers in the brain make us laugh out loud or tug at our heartstrings.  Mediawise participation with this new media gives us the skills to use all of our brains to make judgments based on the facts and thinking part of our brains along with the emotional centers.  Responsibility is a key Mediawise skill also.  This new media can inform, entertain, and sway our vote, but it can also hurt and demean when used by adolescent cyber-bullies.

I wish I could say that when the votes are all tallied on Tuesday, that we could sit back and reflect on the wondrous new landscape this new media has brought us to, but unfortunately reflection is hard in this split second world.   Reflection is also one of the old media traits we should hang on to.

How has the new media changed the way you get news?

Dr. Dave