Can video games contribute to the well-being of children?

New research from UNICEF Innocenti and produced in partnership with the University of Sheffield, New York University, City University New York and the Queensland University of Technology explores the question: can video games contribute to the well-being of children and, if so, how? This research looked to the voices of the young, based on the scientific study of hundreds of children in six countries over many months.

The research found something remarkable: digital games can indeed contribute to the well-being of children. They can allow children to experience a sense of control, to have freedom of choice, to experience mastery and feelings of achievement. Digital games can support children in experiencing and regulating emotions and help them feel connected to others and manage those social connections. Children can imagine different possibilities, act on original ideas, make things, and explore, construct and express facets of themselves and others. All with the help of digital games.

But in order to support children and contribute to their well-being, games must be designed with their well-being in mind.

This research was produced as part of the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children (RITEC) project. This project was co-founded with the LEGO Group and funded by the LEGO Foundation and aims to create practical tools for businesses and governments that will empower them to put the well-being of children at the centre of digital design.

The research forms the basis of RITEC’s second report. The first report, released in 2022, revealed a newly developed well-being framework for children. Made up of eight child-centric well-being outcomes, the framework is a first step towards helping tech developers and policymakers develop a common understanding of how digital experiences can positively influence aspects of child well-being. 

Children are spending more time in digital spaces than ever before, using a range of mobile apps, social media platforms, connected devices and online games from ever earlier ages. The recent COVID-19 pandemic has intensified this shift, rapidly moving additional aspects of children’s daily lives online. The growing presence of digital technology in children’s lives requires that we think deeply about its impact. It also demands we consider how we shape that impact best to equip and empower children for success well into their adult years.

Digital experiences can have significant negative impact on children, exposing them to risks or failing to nurture them adequately. Nevertheless, digital experiences also potentially yield enormous benefits for children, enabling them to learn, to create, to develop friendships, and to build worlds. While global efforts to deepen our understanding of the prevalence and impact of digital risks of harm are burgeoning – a development that is both welcome and necessary – less attention has been paid to understanding and optimizing the benefits that digital technology can provide in supporting children’s rights and their well-being.

Benefits here refer not only to the absence of harm, but also to creating additional positive value. How should we recognize the opportunities and benefits of digital technology for children’s well-being? What is the relationship between the design of digital experiences – in particular, play-centred design – and the well-being of children? What guidance and measures can we use to strengthen the design of digital environments to promote positive outcomes for children? And how can we make sure that children’s insights and needs form the foundation of our work in this space? These questions matter for all those who design and promote digital experiences, to keep children safe and happy, and enable positive development and learning. These questions are particularly relevant as the world shifts its attention to emerging digital technologies and experiences, from artificial intelligence (AI) to the metaverse, and seeks to understand their impact on people and society.

To begin to tackle these questions, UNICEF and the LEGO Group initiated the Responsible Innovation in Technology for Children (RITEC) project in partnership with the Young and Resilient Research Centre at Western Sydney University; the CREATE Lab at New York University; the Graduate Center, City University of New York; the University of Sheffield; the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child; and the Joan Ganz Cooney Center. The research is funded by the LEGO Foundation. The partnership is an international, multi-stakeholder and cross-sectoral collaboration between organizations that believe the design and development of digital technology should support the rights and well-being of children as a primary objective – and that children should have a prominent voice in making this a reality. This project’s primary objective is to develop, with children from around the world, a framework that maps how the design of children’s digital experiences affects their well-being, and to provide guidance as to how informed design choices can promote positive well-being outcomes.

Findings

UNICEF Innocenti’s research found that digital play can contribute to many aspects of children’s well- being, but that its influence is different for different children. There was also evidence of more contribution to some aspects of well-being than others.

The research suggests the greatest gains for children occurred when digital games helped fulfil important needs that were otherwise not met in their lives. Indeed, digital games had a particularly positive impact when responding to children’s deeper interests, needs and desires – which are not universal but are influenced by environmental and cultural factors.

At the same time, not all games are equal: different games support different aspects of well-being depending on how they are designed.

The research identified 11 ‘digital play drivers’ – deep interests, needs and desires of children that games can respond to if designed for it, through different features or game mechanics. These were:

• The need to explore, construct and express identities.
• The need to experience, explore and negotiate togetherness.
• The drive to master challenges, including strategic challenges and puzzles.
• The need to understand, and meet, one’s own emotional needs.
• The need for sensory stimulation, including emotion, humour and bodily movement.
• The need to exert and express control.
• The desire to explore and extend ruling passions.
• The desire to collect, curate and classify.
• The desire to create.
• The need to empathise, tend and nurture.
• The drive to acquire and perform knowledge and skills.

Fulfilment of these, including through digital play, appear to support children’s sense of well-being.

The research shows that digital games can contribute to children’s well-being, allowing them to experience a sense of control and agency, have freedom of choice, experience mastery and feelings of achievement, experience and regulate a range of emotions, feel connected to others and manage those social connections, imagine different possibilities, act on original ideas, make things, and explore, construct and express facets of themselves and others.

Opportunities

The research revealed many opportunities for next steps to support children in digital play. Companies and designers can use the findings to design games that contribute to children’s well-being in a variety of ways. They can:

• Allow them to experience a sense of control and agency
• Give them freedom of choice
• Allow them to experience mastery and feelings of achievement
• Let them experience and regulate a range of emotions
• Allow them to feel connected to others and manage those social connections
• Let them imagine different possibilities and act on original ideas
• Help them to make things
• Allow them to explore, construct and express facets of themselves and others.