Although we now know that there is nothing inherently wrong with playing video games, there are still times when you need to have your teen put the controller down. No, they aren’t going to become violent if they play video games. Nor will they suffer in school or with relationships.
The problem is that video games need to be balanced out with other things, just as they would be with other things in life. If your gamer teen doesn’t seem to want to do anything besides play games, then it’s time to intervene before an addiction develops. In this article, we will go over several video game alternatives to keep your teen happy and excited without needing to play all day.
Card games
Card games are so underappreciated by teens and even adults these days. Yet, they can be just as exciting as video games for many people. Cards are also a great way for families to come together and do something fun and exciting together. If you feel like video games are taking over and you don’t spend enough time together as a family, then try out some card games.
If your teen is an extrovert, they may even enjoy learning some card magic tricks and showing off to family and friends.
In short, there are a lot of options for cards so there is no shortage of variations to keep things fresh.
Learn to code
A great way to expand on their interest in technology is to learn to code. Coding is great for people who love to problem solve. Since gaming is all about strategies and solving problems on the fly, they are well suited to this type of work.
Learning a new skill will go a long way toward the development of the mind of a teenager and coding is always going to be relevant no matter what they end up doing in life. It teaches people how to think critically and involves mastery of a subject. With an array of developer meet-ups and technology incubators popping up, you can get support from people in a similar situation. It you are in the Bay Area, check out Bay Valley Tech to see their latest catch ups.
Internships at tech startup
This one may seem a bit of a stretch, but there are many startups that take in high school students as interns. They will learn the inner workings of how tech actually works. They may even end up in a tech company that does the rendering for graphics of video games and end up with a deeper appreciation for how they work.
Gamers love challenges and being an intern at a startup will fulfill that need since they are intensely challenging and fast-paced. This is a good opportunity to put into practice the kind of fast-paced decision-making they learned from playing video games.
Play the stock market
Learning how to invest is a good way to plant the ideas of financial literacy in them. The more they understand how finance works the better they will be at making and saving money when they are older. This can follow them for the rest of their lives. They will also get a thrill from seeing their stocks do well when they’ve put in the research.