For the last month, 6th grade students have been chatting with professionals who use technology on a daily basis.  Hopefully you’ve heard some stories about Michael’s (Google engineer) dog-friendly workplace or Emily’s (Cheezburger Network) love of music and reading when in middle school.  If not, please ask your student, or visit the tech blog to get an overview (http://www.billingsmiddleschool.org/beta).

Our final guest speaker visited Friday and we had a presentation about how video games have shifted from text-based stories all the way to photo-realistic interactive movies. As always, students asked relevant questions and offered ideas for future products.

Towards the end of the class period our speaker showed off some amazing footage of their current video games.  Part of these clips were graphically violent and may be on students’ minds.  Some t-shirts and other give-aways were handed out, some of which depict these ads.  Here are a few questions you might consider engaging your student with:

What makes video games so much fun to play?

Do you think video games can affect your mood?

Does your body and mind react differently to violence in a video game rather than in a movie?

Does your body and mind react differently to violence in a video game rather than in the real world?

How do you know if you’ve been looking at a computer or tv screen too long?

Our speaker also talked about the need for families to have clear rules about how much game-play is appropriate.  His teen has a “1 hour per day” policy, but duration might be dependent on age, personality, exercise, school performance, chore completion, etc.

Does your family have guidelines about gaming systems?

Do you understand the video game rating system ( http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp)?

Are you familiar with signs of video game addiction ( http://www.video-game-addiction.org/symptoms-computer-addiction-teens.html)?

Do your gaming systems use the internet to connect players to others around the world?

Is gaming a social or private activity at your house? Where is the console or computer located?

Do you have a clear plan for this summer (camps, sleepovers, trips) that creates a balanced environment beyond gaming and/or computing?