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Cited by 96Child Development and Digital TechnologyImpact of Technology on AdolescentsEducational Games and Gamification

Digital Games as a Context for Children’s Cognitive Development: Research Recommendations and Policy Considerations

Blumberg, Fran C, Deater-Deckard, Kirby, Calvert, Sandra L, Flynn, Rachel M, Green, C Shawn, Arnold, David, Brooks, Patricia J·2019·Child Policy Nexus
DOI 10.1002/sop2.3
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Abstract

We document the need to examine digital game play and app use as a context for cognitive development, particularly during middle childhood. We highlight this developmental period as 6- through 12-year olds comprise a large swath of the preadult population that plays and uses these media forms. Surprisingly, this age range remains understudied with regard to the impact of their interactive media use as compared to young children and adolescents. This gap in knowledge about middle childhood may reflect strong and widely held concerns about the effects of digital games and apps before and after this period. These concerns include concurrent and subsequent influences of game use on very young children’s and adolescents’ cognitive and socioemotional functioning. We highlight here what is currently known about the impact of media on young children and adolescents and what is not known about this impact in middle childhood. We then offer recommendations for the types of research that developmental scientists can undertake to examine the efficacy of digital games within the rapidly changing media ecology in which children live. We conclude with a discussion of media policies that we believe can help children benefit from their media use. Our hope is that this review will foster greater investigation of the cognitive socialization, as raised over 20 years ago by developmental psychologist and early games researcher Patricia Greenfield, that digital games serve during the middle childhood period, and childhood more generally.

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  • The metaverse provides platforms for entertainment, creativity, and self-expression; children can engage in gaming, content creation, and exploring diverse media, enhancing creativity and cognitive development.

    “The metaverse provides various platforms for entertainment, creativity, and self-expression. Children can engage in activities such as gaming, content creation, and exploring diverse media, enhancing creativity and cognitive development (Blumberg et al., 2019).”

    From Virtual Reality Risks for Children in the Metaverse: An Examination through Criminological Perspectives (2026) · cites this paper as Blumberg et al., 2019

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Authors
Blumberg, F. C., Deater-Deckard, K., Calvert, S. L., Flynn, R. M., Green, C. S., Arnold, D., & Brooks, P. J.
Affiliations
  • Fordham University (US)
  • University of Massachusetts Amherst (US)
  • Georgetown University (US)
  • Northwestern University (US)
  • University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
  • The Graduate Center, CUNY (US)
Corresponding author
Blumberg, Fran C
ORCID
Venue
Child Policy Nexus
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2019-02
Volume
32
Issue
1
Pages
1-33
ISSN
2978-4093 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1002/sop2.3
OpenAlex
W2939853724
Cited by
96
References
16
Citations by year
2026: 7 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 8 · 2019: 2
FWCI
28.20
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
Locations
Child Policy Nexus (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Education › Child Development and Digital Technology
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Educational Games and Gamification
Keywords
video games, cognitive development, middle childhood, mobile application, interactive media, cognitive socialization, media policy, children's media use, social-emotional development, research recommendations

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