The Catholic Weekly 9 October 2022

SCHOOL HOLIDAYS, com- bined with Sydney’s endless rain, can only mean one thing: kids on the couch playing vid- eo games. Yet after years of COVID-19 lockdowns many parents have moved from irritation to anxie- ty about the time their children are spending gaming, the kinds of games they are playing, and who they might be meeting online. Internet-related anxieties are on the top of the list for parents, according to The Roy- al Children’s Hospital Mel- bourne’s 2021 child health poll. Over 90 per cent of parents reported excessive screen time as their number one concern, with cyberbullying coming second, followed by internet safety in third place. However, only 25 per cent of parents thought it was a prob- lem in their own family, with over twice as many thinking it was a big problem for other people in the community (57 per cent). Yet findings by Australian and international experts are increasingly giving worried parents reasons to believe gaming, despite its appeal to youth, is within the family’s power tomoderate. Dr Kate Highfield, a sen- ior lecturer at the Australian Catholic University and ex- pert in technology and early childhood education, told The Catholic Weekly that parents need a shift in perspective because of how ever-present screens have become. “We still talk about ‘screen time’ - how much time we spend on screen. Time is just one metric. What we should be looking at is ‘screen qual- ity,’” she said. ‘Screen quality’ is something parents have to decide for themselves; fami- lies can no longer avoid mak- ing conscious decisions about what media their family con- sumes. “I don’t want a child watch- ing oneminute of a violent vid- eo game,” Dr Highfield said. “That doesn’t align with my worldview, it doesn’t alignwith my belief structure. I think it’s thoroughly inappropriate.” Dr Highfield said parents should take the time to have conversations with their chil- dren around what kinds of games, media and other tech- nology are good quality and correspond with the family’s values. She recommends parents use technology with their kids to “create”, rather than to pas- sively “consume”. Dr Peter Holmes, a theolo- gian at the University of Notre Dame, Sydney, has taught on the intersection of video games and Christian morality, plays games himself, and says that gaming presents both risks and benefits for children and teen- agers. CONTINUED P3 Parents: monitor gaming ¾ Adam Wesselinoff SUNDAY 9 October, 2022 CatholicWeekly The www.catholicweekly.com.au THE CHURCH. ALL OF IT YOUTH ON FIRE AT IGNITE P16 P18 TERTIARY GUIDE 2022 INSIDE $2 “I don’t want a child watching one min- ute of a violent video game ...I think it’s thoroughly inappropriate.” Dr Kate Highfield, ACU Clare Communications Co PTY LTD See our website for more information on our services ADVERTISING SUPPLEMENT YOUR WORLD Change Archbishop meets Pope as Synod Council gathers Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP meets Pope Francis, inset and left of centre in main photo, during a meeting of the Council for the Synod in Rome. Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP met Pope Francis at the Vatican on 2 October as Pope Francis personally expressed his thanks to the four dozen people who read through hun- dreds of reports about the listening phase of the Synod of Bishops and, after 12 days of prayer, reflection and discussion, drafted a working document for the continental stage of the synod process. The pope welcomed the cardinals, bishops, priests, religious and lay participants to the Vat- ican on 2 October, the last day of their work. At the heart of the work were the 112 syntheses submitted by national bishops’ conferences from around the world, as well as syntheses from the Eastern Catho- lic churches, religious orders, church organisa- tions and movements, offices of the Roman Curia and individuals.