HERE is the continuation from last week on how, based on data from Kaspersky Safe Kids, we can flip or utilize our children’s digital world toward learning 21st-century learning skills.
3. DIY (do it yourself): A popular category of videos which shows how to create a product with a step-by-step guide. It can be anything from a birdhouse to assembling a computer or garden furniture. These videos are very popular, as they can be used to start an interesting hobby, or discover like-minded people. Among the most frequent requests in the children’s category includes 5-Minute Craft, a channel with a large number of subscribers (76.3 million).
4. Educational: Modern social networks and platforms contain a wide variety of educational content. So it is worth getting to know the subjects your children are interested in, so that you can better relate to them. Among the most popular queries in the education category are Geometry Dash, a popular 2D computer game that consists of passing a level with many obstacles to rhythmic music. Apart from the built-in levels, players can create their own and upload them for other players to complete; and Kurzgesagt, a YouTube channel explaining science and the world we live in with fun and interesting graphics.
5. Game-related requests:
MrBeast—a popular gaming blogger with almost 93.6 million subscribers on YouTube, credited with pioneering a genre of YouTube videos that centers on expensive stunts. Now the content is mostly entertainment.
Minecraft—one of the most popular games among children because it’s very simple. The players are in a simple three-dimensional world and can build freely, creating complex structures from these cubes. There is a huge community of fans around this game, and many popular blogs on various platforms, such as YouTube or Twitch. For instance, DanTDM, Jelly, theAtlanticCraft. For Twitch, the most popular are TommyInnit, LyonWGFClub, RanbooLive.
Roblox—an online multiplayer platform that allows users to play games they have created as well as games from other users. The platform features user-created games and virtual worlds, ranging from traditional racing and role-playing games (RPGs) to simulations and obstacle courses. This game is also devoted to a large number of blogs and bloggers, such as Noquia2013, Ulove 11, and Sasseh.
Brawls Stars—a multiplayer game that aims to advance along the gaming trophy road, where users participate in battles with other players, as well as discovering and improving new playable characters with unique abilities and characteristics. Popular Twitch channels for this game include BrawlsStars, TheAlvaro845 and Trebor.
Memes—“Animation memes” are the most popular meme requests among kids. They are typically short animations of a character dancing or sometimes singing along to music with the intent to be spread or repeated by other animators with their own characters. An example of a most searched meme is Beluga cat. Lots of people will have seen this meme at least once.
My son Marcus has always been a hobbyist. At three, he started to like Disney Cars. I remember him having all the sizes you can imagine of Lightning McQueen. When he started his digital world around the age of six, his favorite screen-time character or his latest favorite game would be the topic of our once-a-week alone time.
At six, when he liked Yokai, he would explain the differences of each discs, as well as the stories that played out onscreen. There was an evening when he told me this super long story of Naruto. When he was into NBA Y2K, he explained to me the rationale on how he was trading players. I remember asking him why he did not get the top players to fill up his team. He explained to me that he wanted to bet on certain players because they still cost low so he earned more when they got better. At 10, he played with Fortnite and I saw him develop his leadership skills whenever he would lead team games. He also explained the “skins” he chose.
Having related my son’s screen-time hobbies above, I have had regular reminders and cautions with him on the detrimental effects of too much video games. He is an avid basketball player, so I would often joke with him and say, “If you just spend the hours you spend on your video games on basketball….” He would defend and declare that playing video games is a good thing. Thus, it was a funny incident when he shared to me a speech of his chosen topic that he had to write and share in class last schoolyear:
“Hello, and today I will be talking about how video games can help you in school.
“My parents, like many others, often blame things on ideas they don’t understand. For me, it was always about video games. Whenever I tell my mom that I’m tired, she (would say), ‘Oh it’s the video games.’ If I said that my head hurt, ‘Oh, it’s the PS4.’ And if I say that I get a bad grade, can you guess what my mom would say? Yes, ‘It’s because of the video games.’ I am here to prove them wrong, by talking about how video games can actually help you in school….”
To be continued….