Do people really spend £300 on their kids console

[Arren12]

Hi

My dd who is 8 has been asking for a console for ages and ages now. We have never owned anything like that. She's autistic and has never played with toys so we are limited to what we can get her for Xmas. I thought I'd look at getting a console of some sort but I'm gobsmacked at the price.

Most of her friends at school have had them for ages so obviously people must spend this but its seems so excessive.

We are by no means rich but we are not struggling for money. We are quite comfortable. Its just I feel its such a lot and think about what else that money could go on.

As I say my dd does not play in the traditional sense and spends all her time doing arts and crafts. We have every art and craft thing you can imagine so can't get her any more of that really. This seemed ideal but its way more than I'd normally like to spend on each child.

What do others do? Is it that people do spend £300 on Xmas gifts or is it purely seen as a one off big purchase.

The games are also so expensive.

Do most children have a console.

I feel a bit like I'm a bad mum because dd seems one of the only children in her class not to game. This was evident in a recent homework assignment.

Aibu to be shocked that parents are spending this and wondering how most afford it or feel comfortable with it.

We bought my son (8) a switch last Xmas but then we had to remove it for various reasons few months ago and every day he complains his friends talk about gaming and he can't and feels left out! So now we don't know what to do! And yes it's expensive!!!

Is it a waste of time? Probably.

But that’s exactly my point - it is a waste of my time!

I would be healthier and better off if I didn’t spend time on the internet, to be honest.

The difference is that kids have such potential to develop lots of different talents and skills. My DD is unusually talented at writing, drawing and music - and she enjoys dance and gymnastics, despite the fact that she clearly is never going to end up at the Royal Ballet or turn into Simone Biles. While she’s a kid she has so much creativity and potential to do and explore different activities that she can’t do as easily later in life for all sorts of reasons. She would absolutely sit on a console or watch TV instead if she could - that’s what humans are hardwired to do. But that would be doing her a disservice.

As I said upthread, it’s likely that this generation will spend even more of their lives in thrall to little screens at work and everywhere else. Why be so keen to encourage it just at the life stage when they don’t have to be, and learning other skills comes easiest to them?

Me and my DB always had a console growing up - we started with the first Nintendo and went from there. We loved it. One of my fondest Christmas memories was me, my DB and cousins all working together to complete Tomb Raider. Even my DF got involved.

So my DS had a Switch from 7/8ish. I can’t remember but he used it loads. Then we got him a PS5 last year (we were lucky and got it without paying silly money). My DH likes to game so they both get used out of it.

Have the Switch and PS5 has been a lifeline for my DS during Covid - he plays with his pals online and they chat away.

Whilst not ‘essential’ in the normal sense of the word, I would say most kids I know have some kind of console at home.

The price tag put us off buying one, our budget for birthday or Christmas is less than half the cost of one per child. The games on top add up fast too.

@MissMaple82

Gaming consoles are terrible. You will destroy your child by getting them one.

I found watching mind numbing soaps way WAY more damaging, thanks.

Growing up watching people have affairs and go through huge dramas thinking that's what normal life is like vs playing a game that taught me a huge amount about history? Yeah all that learning really ruined me!

Honestly, we all secretly know gaming is a massive waste of one’s time.

Incredibly subjective though isn’t it? Who decides what is a waste of one’s only time on this planet really?

Gaming is kind of a fake skill, though. The gaming industry makes billions out of what is essentially basic psychology - tricking you into competing for something worthless by giving you constant behavioural rewards It’s just all for you to spend money.

I’m a fortysomething woman who hasn’t “gamed” since I was trying to avoid my GCSE mock revision by playing the Sega Megadrive. Yet I can sit down of a Christmas afternoon on my nephew’s console and become proficient at a game in a couple of hours. The whole thing is designed to require very little skill but to trick your mammal reward brain into thinking you’re achieving something. That’s it’s entire purpose!

Fine if it’s just enjoyed for what it is. But don’t fall for thinking it’s a substitute for real skills or real socialising!

I can definitely see huge benefits to gaming (in moderation and with good safeguarding) e.g. one of my DC age 8 figured out how to use some 3D design software in minutes due to skills developed in Minecraft. It can be a lifeline for the neurodiverse. It just needs to be balanced with exercise etc. like everything else.

Honestly, we all secretly know gaming is a massive waste of one’s time.

Again, reitterating that (with the exception of some very well written crime novels) I learned far more about history, IT etc playing video games than I have from watching soaps, which teach you bugger all. Funny, I also get quite a bit of knowledge "dicking around on the internet" that I wouldn't have otherwise.

My son has the Minecraft Science edition. It taught him a huge amount about the periodic table and chemical reactions beyond what they teach in primary school.

But it is absolutely a massive secret waste of time. Of course.

Foxgoose, dc can do both, you know!

Football, x box and a pp's cross-stitch. There's room for it all you know!

Honestly, we all secretly know gaming is a massive waste of one’s time.

I wouldn't say my children's time was wasted. They're relaxing and unwinding. Why the snobbery about gaming? I could say reading is a waste of time, or watching soaps, or listening to podcasts, or baking, or going for a bike ride. It's all subjective.

What's wrong with things being a waste of time? It's not a waste of time at all really is it? It's a question of balance.
It's called fun.
None of us would go out to a bbq, have drinks with friends, eat chocolate or do anything then would we?

Except that’s like saying television isn’t a waste of time because you can watch David Attenborough. Great if you only watch David Attenborough. Not if you watch endless Barbie Dreamtopia and game shows… most TV is mindless fluff but adults can fully decide whether to goggle at mindless fluff or to only watch interesting stuff. Still doesn’t mean the acres of brain rotting fluff on TV isn’t there just because I only watch Springwatch and Newsnight or whatever.

They are expensive but frankly, have a much longer shelf life than the hundreds of less expensive toys we have purchased over the years. DS has had his pS4 for about 6 years. We buy games on sale or second hand and he tends to play the same game endlessly anyway.

If you an afford it, I absolutely would get it.

"I would be healthier and better off if I didn’t spend time on the internet, to be honest. "

I wouldn't. At all. Seriously.

You could get one second hand or get a tablet for about €100, shell could play games that are free like roblox that way.

I'm a big believer in downtime. Don't you think current life is stressful enough as it is.

And before you answer that, (neither of my dc have anxiety problems), but many school kids do. And it has rocketed since covid. Was in the news the other day. So don't tell me there isn't serious serious anxiety problems in our Teens, because it's getting worse.

@Oblomov21

What's wrong with things being a waste of time? It's not a waste of time at all really is it? It's a question of balance. It's called fun. None of us would go out to a bbq, have drinks with friends, eat chocolate or do anything then would we?

Except that’s my entire point! It’s just self entertainment - and then why not do something genuinely social or fun or learning something new rather than pretend gaming is actually educational or whatever?

People get so het up about defending it because we all really do know that it’s a fake experience and a fake skill! Chatting online is not really socialising, any more than me being on this thread “chatting” with you is real conversation.

Games are designed to give you repeated behavioural/psychological rewards for “learning” a task. You are like a rat in a box with the gaming company getting you to “learn” a maze to get a behavioural “treat”. It exploits basic psychology but you don’t obtain any real skill in return. That’s all gaming is - so we shouldn’t pretend otherwise! As I said above - fine if you know what it is; but if it takes the place of real skills and other enjoyments then that’s a bit sad for all of us.

Buying a console is a bit silly, from my perspective. It breaks, gets outdated very quickly etc. Get a desktop (not a laptop!), not necessarily a high spec one, but rather invest into the "scope for improvement" features. It will serve them for decades with regular (cheap!) hardware updates.

This is such a weird question.

Of course people spend £300 on a console if their children have a console. How would they have one otherwise?

Gaming is fun and enjoyable and can be sociable - all in moderation.

Where I have a problem is that parents are not always willing to see that it is displacing healthier and actually important activities - slowly and insidiously as a society we have stopped children playing outdoors with their friends and they are in reality spending many many hours indoors on sreens.

This is a fact, not just a 'worry theory' - someone said 'kids who aren't allowed out to play in the week can interact online' - come on guys - that's sad. Children climbing, jumping, kicking balls in the fresh air is of a different order of beneficial experience than gaming sitting down.

being sedentary is a major causal link to heart disease later in life.

My children game !Im not anti it completely, I've seen them have some genuine joy and laughter gaming - but we have the fattest 11 year olds in the western world

Our kids are - as a group - obese, unwell both mentally and physically - what we need is a focused attention on making streets safer for children to play with friends so they can get that physical activity after a day at school.

Unwinding can be done running around - and anyone knows that 7/8 9 year olds really do unwind by going nuts running about - they dont need to unwind by sitting down starting at a screen -

@Ericaequites

Buy her a Girl for All Time doll, knitting lessons, sewing lessons, and a sewing machine instead. Gaming is bad for concentration, and it rots the mind.

Leaving aside the ridiculous stereotyping....

I knit, and sew, and have a sewing machine. I also game (Skyrim, Fallout mostly, bit of Red Dead Redemption.)

My mind hasn't rotted. Such a lot of absolute bollocks talked on MN about consoles and people who'd rather play a game than watch a movie. Because that's all it is, entertainment.

@foxgoosefinch

Gaming is kind of a fake skill, though. The gaming industry makes billions out of what is essentially basic psychology - tricking you into competing for something worthless by giving you constant behavioural rewards It’s just all for you to spend money.

I’m a fortysomething woman who hasn’t “gamed” since I was trying to avoid my GCSE mock revision by playing the Sega Megadrive. Yet I can sit down of a Christmas afternoon on my nephew’s console and become proficient at a game in a couple of hours. The whole thing is designed to require very little skill but to trick your mammal reward brain into thinking you’re achieving something. That’s it’s entire purpose!

Fine if it’s just enjoyed for what it is. But don’t fall for thinking it’s a substitute for real skills or real socialising!

Hmm, some games require very little skill but that's not true of all games. I know plenty of games where a couple of hours won't even scratch the surface and you certainly wouldn't be proficient at anything in that time!

What's clear is that a lot of people don't understand what modern gaming is like. They're stuck in the ideas of Sonic and platform gaming from the Mega Drive days. Modern gaming is massively varied and encompasses stuff like complex RPGs, e-sports, MMOs that require a huge amount of investment and practice to become 'proficient' at and require working with dozens of other people to achieve goals.

Gaming can be as easy or skilled as most other pursuits, depending on the type of game you choose to play. Sitting for an hour playing a basic shooter to a rudimentary level is worlds away from some of the gaming that can be done.

Except kids aged 7 aren’t doing that Starcaller - we’re talking on this thread about preteens being bought £300+ equipment to play Super Mario and Animal Crossing and so on.

Mind you, I guess if the gaming industry doesn’t convince them young that spending that kind of money is necessary, how would it capture all the adults who spend even more…?

For that age I would recommend the switch. We love the Mario games where you can play as a family and compared to some of the other consoles on the market they are a tad cheaper.

I managed to get hold of a PS5 in March and paid £620 for it 🙈