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New study suggests kids are now experiencing social pressures to buy in-game items
(patrickklepek.substack.com)
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this post was submitted on 27 Feb 2024
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As a parent to a kid smack dab in the middle of this right now I gotta say that while I welcome regulation on 1, 2 and 4 generally, not just for kids, I really and firmly believe parents who allow their kids to buy whatever they want in game (i.e. gift in game currency and leaves it at that) are horrendously lazy. And I have an analogy for that as well.
Back in my day what happened when kids got unsupervised cash was at best candy instead of lunch in school and at worst alcohol or cigarettes. Back in my parents time it was basically, due to before mentioned conformity, only cigarettes as the only possible outcome.
As such I really feel loot boxes is decidedly better than cigarettes and alcohol while being tied with candy for lunch.
3 is just a parental issue. It's the same as not knowing where your kid is and who he's playing/interacting with.
5 is a big societal issue right now. Social media is really fucking with not just kids but virtually all of us. Me being here is largely a way to combat my own unhealthy relationship to social media. We're extremely social creatures at our core and social media manipulates us in ways we have little chance of resisting with mindful consumption. It's cigarettes as they were back in the early 1900s.
I think most interesting thing about this discussion thread is that some of the trends back then are talked about like it was in the past. But, stuff like clothing, using allowance for candy or at worst cigarettes, etc is still something that all kids are still undergoing. It's just the same stuff older people went through, but with social media and increased digital engagement and public exposure on top of that. So doesn't seem like much has changed, but that now there is even more stuff than before to also juggle.
I'd argue that so far the load as it is, is from my outside perspective about the same as what I had. It's just split over more stuff and what pressure you face is much more related to the crowd you interact with. My son, like me, is more of a nerd while having a theater side that I don't. The pressure he faces is keeping up with YouTube trends, Roblox games and Minecraft mods that the creators that are popular play. While some of his friends flaunt in-game items and follow creators that do content that I personally don't find child appropriate I have had no issues so far talking about that with him and setting limits on what he's allowed to interact with and have managed to instill understanding about the ultimate pointlessness about avatar items. And given the vast sea of content there is there has been no issues finding appropriate content and he's confident enough to bring what he found/enjoyed to the group and not just mindlessly follow.
It helps that he really hates loot boxes IRL, like say kindereggs and gumball machines. He finds no enjoyment in the surprise part, only disappointment when it's not the one he wanted.
That said I understand that while I put in work as a parent the exact same amount of work might be woefully inadequate with another kid, due to no fault at all on the parenting. Hell I have three kids and they all have had vastly different challenges. Stuff that was easy with one took extreme effort with another. So I don't really fault parents for the small stuff, if a kid watches one YouTuber that really isn't age appropriate, OK. If they watch only stuff that is not at all for kids then I have an issue with that and have raised such concerns with them.
I think the one huge difference is that things are much more public and permanent than in the past. And sometimes people don't realize the consequences of what they share until it is far too late. Long time ago stupid things stayed in people's memories and now it can be digitized for record keeping. And social media makes it seem like somethings follow you home when in the past problems might just be at school, but now the issues and attention can continue online.
For sure, as I outlined social media is a completely different beast and one I do not permit my son to interact with and will hold out for as long as is reasonable.