Selling High-Tech Kid Toys Is More Than Just a Game

Several times a day, my 2-year-old son, Seth, cries out “’puter game, ‘puter game!” And even though we’ve only let him play “Jump Start Preschool” on our old computer a few times over several months, he was hooked instantaneously.

Seth’s in good company. About 14 percent of children 3 or younger have already played video games, reports The New York Times on a Kaiser Family Foundation study. And half of all 4- to 6-year olds have played a video game at least once. One in four children play several times a week.

Of course, the makers of console computer games have taken notice. That’s because the younger children play video games, the more addicted they become to the medium. Explains the Times:

Starting video gamers younger is good news for the multibillion-dollar video game industry as it looks to expand its base beyond its core consumers, males from 14 to 34 years old.

“It creates a growing market,” said Peter Dille, senior vice president for worldwide marketing at THQ, a major developer of video games, many intended for children. Mr. Dille noted that the influx of young video game players “helps to feed in new gamers all the time.”

And as these players mature, he and several other major developers noted, they tend to remain gamers for years.

Some of these new games – such as V.Smile TV Learning System – are even designed to look like popular video game consoles, explains The Times.

Whether this is good or bad for children is still in dispute, but toy companies hungry for market share aren’t waiting for the final score. All I know for now is that my wife, the Inland Empress, recently read something saying that video games are as bad for toddlers as early television. Until more is known, we’ll have to take the incessant requests for “’puter game” one click at a time.

Comments

[Anne]

Actually, the recommendation from the American Academy of Pediatricians is no more than 1 hour of total media time per day for children ages 2-4. That includes TV, video games and computer use.

They also recommend absolutely NO commercial TV that age, plus of course NO TV at all for children under 2. Toss out the "Baby Einstein" videos -- all they do is set the stage for ADD later in childhood.

[Mark Sicignano]

I'm a software developer, and my kids are now 10 and 8. When my kids were old enough to hold a mouse, I thought it was important to get them using educational games on the computer and that letting them watch PBS was perfectly fine.

I wasn't aware of negative aspects of computers and TV on kids, as is outlined in the books by people like Jane Healy ("Endangered Minds", and "Failure to Connect"). The first book is mostly about TV, and the second focuses on computers and kids.

In response to my awareness of how "screen time" affects kids, I've co-developed a product for Windows that lets parents set limits on how and when the kids use the computer. It's called "ComputerTime" (http://www.softwaretime.com/).

In early Nov, we expect to release it, but a pre-release / beta version is available for download. Comments would be welcomed!