Gaming's Impact On Coming Of Age? It's Complicated.
You’ve heard it time and time again across the Entertainment industry, “gaming is huge!” It’s been said for a while now that gaming consoles have gone from the basement to the living room. Games like The Last of Us and Halo have gone from game to series and become global phenomenons. IP Giant Bluey has even utilized gaming in its marketing by taking a reverse approach to the game-to-series funnel, creating a game with the purpose of bringing new audiences into the series. As BBC Studios put it, there is “obvious alignment with a digital product like a video game kind of pushing through, if you’d like, to the TV experience as well.” PEW Research recently reported that now 85% of U.S. teens play video games. With skyrocketing usage rates, and let’s be honest also widespread social acceptance, Gaming is making its mark on the modern youth experience – but perhaps also complicating it. What are your thoughts?
By the numbers:
Nearly 1 in 5 (19%) of Gen Z say they did not spend any of their teen years regularly socializing with friends
Yet 72% of today’s teen gaming audience reports that they play to “spend time with others,” and 47% report having made a friend through online gaming
And 56% of gamers say it helps their “problem solving skills”
However 41% have reported that gaming negatively impacts their sleep And the incidence rate of childhood type 1 diabetes has been increasing YOY, in addition to the fact that over the past 30 years childhood obesity rates have tripled in the U.S.
80% of teens say “harassment” in Gaming is a problem for people their age
44% of parents feel that “in-game user-generated content is one of the most harmful aspects of video games”
So much of the marketing industry’s understanding of Gen Z has been anchored in a commonly presented insight that kids today are over-parented, over-monitored, and have little independence compared with say the concept of “latch key kids” of the 70s or 80s who moved more freely. A lot of youth research talks about the concept of today's "long umbilical cord," and even the definition of “adolescence” has gone from 10 to 19 to now 10 to 24 years old. It’s worth considering however, if today’s audiences are coming of age in virtual-social spaces like Gaming without parental supervision, doesn’t that equate to technically more independence while coming of age than any generation prior?