Kathy Hatem, director of communications for Enough is Enough, says online gaming culture includes addictive algorithms and other issues that require parents to stay involved.
"A study came out just last year saying that 85% of U.S. teens say they're playing video games," she relays. "About four in 10 are doing so on a daily basis."
Though she recognizes that games can be used for education, especially strategy and skill building, there are also risks and dangers.
"For starters, children who play can be desensitized because of the violence that's included in these games," Hatem notes. "Unlike when you're playing a board game ... the player that's engaged in an online game is actually enacting violence rather than passively watching something. That may over time begin to numb their emotional response."
Online gamers can also be exposed to radicalized content or extremist ideas that may amplify intolerance and violence.
She suggests alleged assassin Tyler Robinson's involvement in online platforms like these may have contributed to his mindset and Charlie Kirk's untimely death.
Noting the medically diagnosable gaming disorder, which is when gaming gets in the way of everyday life, Hatem says becoming deeply immersed in the virtual world deepens the psychological effect and the experience, which can be extremely addictive.
Another concern for children is online games and chat rooms are open to predators.
Enough is Enough believes preventing the online exploitation of children and youth requires action, especially from parents and caregivers. This is highlighted by a wave of lawsuits seeking accountability for popular online gaming platforms.
For example, Roblox is an online video game that Hatem says is "heavily marketed towards children." It allows users to create experiences, explore and play in the environments others have created, and socialize with other random players from around the world.
It has more than 70 million daily active users worldwide, and its largest demographic is comprised of children ages 12 and under.
Beyond the risks of socializing with strangers, the user-created experiences can be explicit themselves.
"Roblox can contain sexually explicit themes, including rape themes and inappropriate content like sex parties," Hatem details. "Last year, [reports] uncovered chat rooms used to trade child sexual abuse material."
Roblox is currently in legal trouble for not protecting children from sexual predators.
One case involves a girl in New Jersey whose sexual exploitation began when she was 11 years old. According to the family's attorney, the alleged abuse began on Roblox and carried over to Discord, where graphic messages and sexual images were shared.
Another lawsuit against both of those platforms involves a 15-year-old autistic boy in California who died by suicide after years of abuse from a 37-year-old man who pretended to be a child on Roblox.
The game's safety restrictions are automatically deactivated, and Roblox does not require age verification for adults, which means any adult can come on and pose as a child, create account, and interact with children.
"The bottom line is they continuously are putting their profits over safety of our children," Hatem summarizes. "These games were not created with the safety of children in mind, even though they're marketed for children."
Parents and child safety advocates are pushing for passage of the bipartisan Kids Online Safety Act, which Hatem describes as commonsense legislation that would require companies like Roblox and others to put the highest safety settings on for minors by default.
Know who your friends are
Ultimately, she says it is up to parents to determine whether their children should be on these platforms, and those who allow it need to take the time to ensure the supervised settings are in place, like turning off chat features.
They also need to know who their kids' friends are, who they are communicating with, and have frequent and ongoing conversations about the risks associated with video games.
Kids must be reminded to never share personal info about themselves, such as where they go to school, what sporting teams they play on, pictures of themselves, or anything else that a predator could use to track them down.
"It's important that your child feels safe to come to you because you've already had these conversations if and when they do encounter something," says Hatem.
She also recommends the strictest settings available for teens and encourages parents to set up computers and other devices in a public, supervised space at home.
