Families: key messages

(1) In recent years, a lot of academic research focused on whether digital play can support children's subject learning, cognition and skills development. Whilst this is important, our study emphasises that children’s digital play can also be important for children's well-being. Our findings, especially the RITEC-8 framework and the eleven digital play drivers, might be useful to families in thinking about what children use digital play experiences ‘for’ and the diverse functions digital play might fulfil. These tools might also help families make decisions about which games they would like to make available to children and other rules about how children play. 

(2) The study adds to a growing body of work which emphasises the important but diverse roles parents and carers play in children’s digital play. The notion of a ‘palette’ of mediation approaches may be a more useful way to think about mediation of children’s digital play than previous, more binary understanding of mediation as ‘more restrictive’ or ‘more permissive’. It may also be useful to think about mediation not only as a way of minimising harm (although that is important), but also as a way of maximising the well-being benefits of children's digital play. 

(3) It is clear that many parents and carers invest significant time and effort into making sure their children’s digital play experiences are positive, something which should be acknowledged and valued. The study offers examples of different ways to support children in relation to their digital play and the associated well-being benefits. One of the forms of mediation that appears to have been less acknowledged and less valued in previous research is the work parents and carers do to support their children emotionally in relation to their digital play. 

(4) It is clear that bilateral communication is at the centre of many of the most effective mediation strategies. Parents and carers should be encouraged to have conversations with their children about both the risks of digital play and its pleasures and opportunities. 

(5) The study adds to previous work emphasising the value of adult co-play with children, also offering new insights into the important roles Grandparents play. An important finding of the study is that intergenerational support of wellbeing between older adults and children in digital play is bilateral. Grandparents, for example, supported children’s experiences of joy and togetherness through co-play, whilst children encouraged their Grandparents to share their gaming passions and scaffolded their operational digital literacies. 

(6) A related implication of the study is that adults do not need to be gamers or even confident users of digital technologies in order to contribute positively to children’s digital play experiences. The study offers examples of significant support provided by parents who were keen gamers and parents who were inexperienced in digital play alike.