Video Games, Young Children, and Toxic Online Cultures

[Dr. Sara Grimes] I think what happens to a lot of younger kids, and they’re first introduced sometimes at a much younger age than you’d assume to a, you know, very teen version of what eventually can become very toxic and harmful ideology. But when they first encounter it, they don’t know what it is. They’re not naming it. It’s usually not something that we talk to our kids about. How often do we talk to our eight-year-olds about sexism and misogyny? But if we’re going to let them be out in the world, like, we do need to do that. There have been studies that have shown games are kind of being used occasionally – again, as it’s not the majority, it’s a small minority, but used as a gateway for kind of, like, introducing young boys, in particular, but sometimes girls into this toxic subculture, usually by getting them to leave, you know, Roblox or Minecraft and join a Discord server where things are – you know, escalate fairly quickly. I think that there’s a couple of things, you know, we just keep saying the same thing in a way, but every time will be very, very different. But this open communication is really important. And what I advise parents – and how I approach this with my own children – is really naming what that is.