Mothers’ Attitudes towards Children’s Use of Electronic Games and their Impact on Them: A ‏Survey

Abstract

The study aimed to identify the impact of the rate of follow-up and use of electronic games on children between the ages of (6-15) years from the mothers’ point of view to find out some of its negative and positive aspects. This study is a descriptive study which used the survey method through a sample of mothers by answering a questionnaire containing 17 questions that aims to describe the impact of the use of electronic games on children in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. It relied on the media survey method through a sample of the mothers' audience, to know how their children use electronic games, and the effects achieved by them from following these games and their impact on their academic achievement, and among the most important results of the study: The results of the study are consistent with the findings of previous studies in terms of clear psychological and academic change for children. The males showed frequent usage for mobile devices and PlayStation in close proportions while females tend to use mobile phones more than males and do not tend to use PlayStation. However, neither gender tends to use Xbox. The males are the most persistent in sitting on different electronic games. They prefer to use adventure and action games and then educational games, so the negative impact towards dealing violently and delaying their academic achievement was higher than that of females. Females preferred adventure games, educational games, then puzzles. They do not persist in sitting on different devices as much as males do, so the percentage of dealing with others more violent and the delay in academic achievement is   less. Males prefer to use horror games compared to females. The results generally indicate that playing games negatively affects children in dealing with others violently and a steep decrease in their school achievement, and males were more affected than females. There is a convergence in the proportions of positive effects between males and females towards attaching electronic games to their daily lives, and the negative effects were higher than the positive ones.