Child-parent relation in the perspective of a computer game : the results of the study on the presence of video games in the family

Video games are an important part of contemporary culture and economy, since the number of video game users is constantly increasing, part of that group consists of children. Socialization of young gamers largely takes place in the family. The purpose of this article is to present the conclusions brought by the research on role of video games in the life of the modern family. The study focuses in particular on the issue of technological and cultural com­ petence of children and parents. The research was conducted employing quantitative and qualitative methods-a questionnaire survey and interview. Some worrying phenomena has become noticeable within the pool of twenty four surveyed families, especially in terms of: shortcomings in the cultural and technological competence of parents, insufficient level of parental control, limited communication between parents and children or the lack of support from the school. This article is an attempt to deepen the analysis of impact that video games have on the family environment. The mentioned issue is particularly important in the perspective of growing prevalence of this me­ dium and its specificity-significantly different from older media.