8 - Summary of Findings, Implications, and Guidelines

Summary

Chapter 8 summarizes findings and reviews the implications of previous chapters, including health and safety considerations related to screen time and online interaction. Specifically, it recapitulates guidelines on how to fit gaming and written online interaction into children’s lives in a balanced, principled way, to promote safe, collaborative learning with other children and adults. These guidelines also summarize previously discussed criteria for selecting and setting up appropriate videogame and social media interaction to maximize learning benefits and safety. These include the introduction of developmental guidelines and goals for video games, as there are for children’s books, to provide appropriate scaffolded support for children, including for the development of children’s first and additional languages. Suggestions for conducting further research using conversation analysis in this area are also discussed, to cover a range of similar digital contexts and age groups.