Shades of childhood wellbeing in digital play: A phenomenological study of video gaming

Public and scholarly discussions of children’s video gaming often default to a polarized narrative: parents as largely alarmed and children as uniformly enthusiastic. Such framing risks flattening how gaming is actually lived, negotiated, and felt within families—especially in relation to wellbeing. This study explored how children and parents perceive video gaming and how they interpret its implications for children’s wellbeing, with particular attention to cognitive development, social–emotional competency, and physical health. Using a phenomenological qualitative design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with children and parents to elicit first-person accounts of gaming in everyday life. Data were analyzed to identify shared meanings and points of divergence in how participants described benefits, harms, and conditions shaping gaming experiences. Findings complicate the common “pro-child/anti-parent” binary. Many parents articulated a nuanced, benefit-aware stance, describing perceived gains in decision-making, problem-solving, and children’s self-worth. In parallel, children voiced unexpectedly critical reflections, emphasizing emotional and relational costs such as depressed mood, bullying experiences, social withdrawal, and diminished peer connection. Across accounts, physical concerns—including sedentary patterns and digital fatigue—appeared as recurring constraints that colored otherwise enjoyable play. Overall, video gaming emerged not as a simple risk or reward, but as a spectrum of “shades of grey” whose wellbeing effects depend on context, content, and intensity. These insights support more balanced guidance for parents, teachers, and policymakers—guidance that preserves potential developmental affordances while actively mitigating social–emotional and health-related risks.