Even though video games have grown as an artistic medium , they are still often written off as mindless entertainment. Research is increasingly exploring meaningful gaming experiences. Less studied, though, are the ways such experiences can alter people鈥檚听 lives long term.听

In a new study, 天美影视传媒 researchers surveyed gamers about video games鈥� effects. Of 166 respondents researchers asked about meaningful experiences, 78% said such experiences had altered their lives. Researchers then pulled recurring themes from the responses 鈥� such as the power of听 rich storytelling 鈥� so that developers, gamers and even parents or teachers might focus on those elements.听

The team will Oct. 14 at the Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play in Pittsburgh.听

To learn more about the paper, UW News spoke with lead author , a UW doctoral student in human centered design and engineering; co-senior author , a UW professor and chair in human centered design and engineering; and co-senior author , a UW professor in the Information School.听

What are the most significant findings in the study?

Nisha Devasia: We highlighted three conclusions drawn from modeling the data. The first is that playing games during stressful times was strongly correlated with positive outcomes for physical and mental health. For example, during COVID, people played听 games they felt strongly improved their mental health, such as Stardew Valley. Others mentioned that games that required movement, or games that had characters with interesting physical abilities, inspired them to get outside or try new sports. Many participants also said that they gained a lot of insight from the game narrative. Story-based games often tell a sort of hero’s journey, for instance. People reported that the insight they gained from those stories correlated to their own self-reflection and identity building.

Finally, most people had these meaningful experiences in very early adulthood or younger, when they’re still trying to figure out who they are and what they want to be in the world. Playing as a character and seeing your choices change the course of events is pretty unique to games, compared with other narrative media like novels or movies.

Do any individual stories really stand out to you from the survey you took?

ND: All the stories about Final Fantasy VII, because that’s the game that I love. I鈥檓 actually sitting in my childhood bedroom right now and the wall behind me is covered in Final Fantasy VII posters. The quote we used in the title also really resonated with me: 鈥淚 would not be this version of myself today without these experiences.鈥� I definitely cannot imagine what I would be doing in my life if I had not played Final Fantasy VII when I did.听

People also said things like, 鈥淭his helped me build the skills that ended up being my career. I learned how to program because I wanted to make games.鈥� I worked in the gaming industry and can verify that鈥檚 true for many people in the industry.听

How should these findings fit into how we view games as a society?

Julie Kientz: People have a tendency to treat technology as a monolith, as if video games are either good or bad, but there’s so much more nuance. The design matters. This study hopefully helps us untangle the positive elements. Certainly, there are bad elements 鈥� toxicity and addictiveness, for example. But we also see opportunities for growth and connection. Some people in the study met their spouses through games.

Jin Ha Lee: What Nisha studies is essentially what I live. I鈥檓 a gamer, and I have definitely started playing certain games with my two children specifically because I wanted to have more conversations with them. When my daughter plays games with interesting stories, we have the opportunity to talk about our lives as we analyze the story. What were these people thinking? Why did they make certain decisions?听

As researchers, we develop games for learning, for instance, for teaching people about misinformation or AI, or promote digital civic engagement, because we want to foster meaningful experiences. But a lot of the existing research just focuses on the short-term effects of games. This study really helps us understand what actually caused a game to make a difference in someone鈥檚 life.

What societal changes could we make in our approach to gaming?

JK: Because people have a tendency to oversimplify things, some of the proposed solutions can be counterproductive. For instance, limiting kids鈥� screen time can actually interfere with positive experiences, especially if someone is immersed in the storyline and identifies with the characters. If 30 minutes into a game, a kid鈥檚 Nintendo Switch turns off because of parental controls, that might hinder the ability to have a positive experience. If we aren鈥檛 using these tools consciously, it might actually lead to kids playing more casual, junk games, because those can be played in 30 minutes.

ND: You see this with discourse around game addiction, too. Sometimes excessive gaming is because of dark patterns in a game鈥檚 design. But it is often a symptom of someone going through something difficult in their life, and the game happens to be a way to cope. As our study shows, there鈥檚 the potential for growth in that coping.听

JHL: There鈥檚 also a place for games and media that we consider 鈥渂ad.鈥� You might play a game that鈥檚 so horrible that you make a meme out of it, and the jokes you share become a way to build community. Online communities can grow into offline events and friendships. But that isn鈥檛 necessarily obvious if you just view gaming as something you need to protect your children from.

What technological changes might accentuate the meaningful effects of games?

JHL: Games are naturally interactive and complex, so there鈥檚 a lot of opportunity for critical engagement beyond just the gameplay. There鈥檚 music, there鈥檚 art, there鈥檚 storytelling. All of these offer space for meaningful interaction. Designers can skillfully incorporate these elements to prompt reflection, evoke emotions, or challenge players鈥� perspectives.听

ND: We鈥檙e calling our next study Video Game Book Club. Right now I’m building a tool to allow people to annotate their gameplay as if they were writing in the margins of a book. While you play, a little pop-up lets you make a note. At the end, an interface pops up showing your gameplay stream and all the notes you made, which should allow them to reflect on what they were thinking as they were playing.

We鈥檙e also working on a reflection chatbot. Every time after you play a session that’s 30 minutes to an hour long, you’ll interact with this bot that prompts you to think critically about the experience, much like we鈥檙e taught to relate to literature. What was really memorable? How is this connected to your life?听

Co-authors include , a UW doctoral student in human centered design and engineering, and , a UW doctoral student in the Information School. This research was funded by the .听

For more information, contact Devasia at ndevasia@uw.edu, Kientz at jkientz@uw.edu and Lee at jinhalee@uw.edu.

Twelve faculty members at the 天美影视传媒 have been elected to the Washington State Academy of Sciences. They are among 36 scientists and educators from across the state July 17 as new members. Election recognizes the new member鈥檚 鈥渙utstanding record of scientific and technical achievement and willingness to assist the Academy in providing the best available scientific information and technical understanding to inform complex policy decisions in Washington.鈥�听

The UW faculty members were selected by current WSAS members or by their election to national science academies. Eleven were voted on by current WSAS members:听

, professor, Bill & Melinda Gates Chair, and director of the Paul G. 听Allen School for Computer Science & Engineering, for 鈥渃ontributions in data management for data science, big data systems, cloud computing and image/video analytics and leadership in data science education.鈥�听

professor of civil & environmental engineering and of industrial & systems engineering, for 鈥減ioneering work in human mobility analysis and infrastructure resilience, which have transformed transportation systems in terms of both demand and supply, and shaped the future directions of transportation systems research on community-based solutions and disaster resilience.鈥�听

Lloyd and Kay Chapman Endowed Chair for Oral Health and associate dean for research in the UW School of Dentistry, and professor in the Department of Health Systems & Population Health, for 鈥渓eadership in understanding and addressing children’s oral health inequities through community-based socio-behavioral interventions and evidence-based policies.鈥�听

professor of biology, for 鈥渋nternationally recognized leadership in the biology of sleep, including groundbreaking research on molecular and genetic aspects of the brain, human behavioral studies on learning under varied sleep schedules, and contributions that have shaped policy on school schedules and standard time.鈥�听

, the Virginia and Prentice Bloedel professor of physics and of electrical & computer engineering, for 鈥渇oundational contributions to fundamental and applied research on the optical and spin properties of quantum point defects in crystals and for service and leadership in the quantum community.鈥� 听

, professor and chair of human centered design and engineering, for 鈥渁ward-winning leadership in HCI computing, whose research has advanced health and education technology, influenced policy, and shaped the HCI field of through impactful scholarship, interdisciplinary collaboration and inclusive, real-world technology design.鈥�听

, professor and associate dean for research in the UW School of Social Work, for 鈥渃ontributions to understanding psychosocial and physiological factors that moderate the effectiveness of their interventions and ultimately improve the health of children with abdominal pain disorders.鈥�听

, professor of medicine in the UW School of Medicine and of pharmacy, 鈥渇or leadership in health economics and cancer research, including work on financial toxicity, cost- effectiveness, and healthcare policy that has influenced national discussions, improved cancer care access, and shaped policies for equitable and sustainable healthcare.鈥� Ramsey is also Director of the Cancer Outcomes Research Program at Fred Hutch.听

, professor of bioengineering and Vice Dean of Research and Graduate Education in the UW School of Medicine, for 鈥渘ational leadership in biomedical research, research policy, and graduate education, including pioneering novel drug delivery approaches for regenerative medicine applications in the nervous system and other tissues such as bone, cartilage, tendon and skin.鈥�听

, Rabinowitz Endowed Professor of Earth and space sciences, for 鈥渞evolutionizing our understanding of climate change in Antarctica through pioneering ice core extractions under hazardous Antarctic conditions and their subsequent analyses over two decades, and for applying that expertise to advance climate research in Washington State.鈥�听

, professor of pharmaceutics, for 鈥減ioneering contributions to pharmaceutical and translational sciences, including groundbreaking research on drug transporters, PBPK modeling and maternal-fetal pharmacology that have helped shaped drug safety policies.鈥�听

The Academy also welcomed new members who were selected by virtue of their election to the National Academies of Science, Engineering or Medicine. Among them is , the Arthur B. McDonald professor of physics and director of the Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics. Hertzog was elected to the National Academy of Sciences last year. 听

While the current generation of artificial intelligence chatbots , the systems answer with such confidence that .

Adults, even those such as , still regularly fall for this. But spotting errors in text is especially difficult for children, since they often don鈥檛 have the contextual knowledge to sniff out falsehoods.

天美影视传媒 researchers developed the game AI Puzzlers to show kids an area where AI systems still typically and blatantly fail: solving certain reasoning puzzles. In the game, users get a chance to solve 鈥楢RC鈥� puzzles (short for Abstraction and Reasoning Corpus) by completing patterns of colored blocks. They can then ask various AI chatbots to solve the puzzles and have the systems explain their solutions 鈥斕齱hich they nearly always fail to do accurately. The team tested the game with two groups of kids. They found the kids learned to think critically about AI responses and discovered ways to nudge the systems toward better answers.

June 25 at the Interaction Design and Children 2025 conference in Reykjavik, Iceland.

鈥淜ids naturally loved ARC puzzles and they鈥檙e not specific to any language or culture,鈥� said lead author , a UW doctoral student in human centered design and engineering. 鈥淏ecause the puzzles rely solely on visual pattern recognition, even kids that can鈥檛 read yet can play and learn. They get a lot of satisfaction in being able to solve the puzzles, and then in seeing AI 鈥� which they might consider super smart 鈥� fail at the puzzles that they thought were easy.鈥�

to be difficult for computers but easy for humans because they demand abstraction: being able to look at a few examples of a pattern, then apply it to a new example. Current cutting-edge AI models have improved at ARC puzzles, but they鈥檝e not caught up with humans.

Researchers built AI Puzzlers with 12 ARC puzzles that kids can solve. They can then compare their solutions to those from various AI chatbots; users can pick the model from a drop-down menu. An 鈥淎sk AI to Explain鈥� button generates a text explanation of its solution attempt. Even if the system gets the puzzle right, its explanation of how is frequently inaccurate. An 鈥淎ssist Mode鈥� lets kids try to guide the AI system to a correct solution.

鈥淚nitially, kids were giving really broad hints,鈥� Dangol said. 鈥淟ike, 鈥極h, this pattern is like a doughnut.鈥� An AI model might not understand that a kid means that there鈥檚 a hole in the middle, so then the kid needs to iterate. Maybe they say, 鈥楢 white space surrounded by blue squares.鈥欌��

The researchers tested the system at the last year with over 100 kids from grades 3 to 8. They also led two sessions with the , a project that works with a group of kids to collaboratively design technologies. In these sessions, 21 children ages 6-11 played AI Puzzlers and worked with the researchers.

鈥淭he kids in KidsTeam are used to giving advice on how to make a piece of technology better,鈥� said co-senior author , a UW associate professor in the Information School and KidsTeam director. 鈥淲e hadn’t really thought about adding the Assist Mode feature, but during these co-design sessions, we were talking with the kids about how we might help AI solve the puzzles and the idea came from that.鈥�

Through the testing, the team found that kids were able to spot errors both in the puzzle solutions and in the text explanations from the AI models. They also recognize differences in how human brains think and how AI systems generate information. 鈥淭his is the internet鈥檚 mind,鈥� one kid said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 trying to solve it based only on the internet, but the human brain is creative.鈥�

The researchers also found that as kids worked in Assist Mode, they learned to use AI as a tool that needs guidance rather than as an answer machine.

鈥淜ids are smart and capable,鈥� said co-senior author , a UW professor and chair in human centered design and engineering. 鈥淲e need to give them opportunities to make up their own minds about what AI is and isn’t, because they’re actually really capable of recognizing it. And they can be bigger skeptics than adults.鈥�

and , both doctoral students in the Information School, and , a master鈥檚 student in human centered design and engineering, are also co-authors on this paper. This research was funded by The National Science Foundation, the Institute of Education Sciences and the Jacobs Foundation鈥檚 CERES Network.

For more information, contact Dangol at adango@uw.edu, Yip at jcyip@uw.edu, and Kientz at jkientz@uw.edu.

With thousands of schools and preschools closed and many states under “stay-at-home” orders to try to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, families are facing a tough situation: trying to work 鈥� possibly remotely 鈥� while simultaneously being responsible for their children’s education.

天美影视传媒 researchers are beginning a national study to help families discover technology that helps them both successfully navigate home-based learning and combat social isolation.

“I think some parents had idealized scenarios where they said ‘Oh, I’ll just put my kid in front of a computer for a few hours and while I work, they’ll do math and reading,'” said co-lead researcher , a UW professor of human centered design and engineering. “It all sounded great, but then after one day it’s like, ‘Oh gosh, this is not going to work.'”

One major issue, the researchers said, is that it’s overwhelming trying to sort through seemingly endless technology options.

“People want to help parents manage this, and one easy way is to share resources. But in reality there are almost too many options,” Kientz said. “As a parent, I was added instantly to about five or six different Facebook groups all about trying to navigate this situation. Everyone was posting a million different resources, such as brightly colored schedules for homeschool.”

For their project, Kientz and team plan to recruit 30 diverse families with children ages 3 to 13 across the country. Participating families will be organized into three groups based on common family characteristics, such as children鈥檚 ages or work situations.

“We definitely want to include many different types of families, including parents who are still physically going to their jobs, parents who are in quarantine, intergenerational households and single parents,” Kientz said. “But we want to make sure the study itself isn’t creating more extra work for people who are already burdened.”

Each family is expected to participate for about 30 minutes a week during the 10-week study. Families will reflect on how the technology they use helps or hinders their lives.

“What we’re proposing to do here is find real stories from different types of families about what is helpful and what are the roadblocks,” Kientz said. “Then we plan to immediately share that information back out using social media and regular Medium posts. We’ll also provide a direct channel into some of the tools that support online learning, exercise and staying in touch at home.”

In the later part of the study, families will design new or redesign existing technologies 鈥� such as a new educational skill for Amazon Echo. Then the families will test simple prototypes of these designs. Most of these activities will be completed as a family, though there may be some caretaker- or child-only activities as well.

“It’s important to see things in terms of equity, too,” Kientz said. “Some people don’t have time to homeschool their kids, and a lot of these tools require high-speed internet access, iPads or other expensive equipment.”

The study will look at how families in different situations are finding tools that they are able to access and use successfully.

Kientz, who studies families and technology and is also the parent of two children ages 7 and 4, suggests the following reputable websites/apps:

• Learning
  • (note: the iPad version, , is easier for younger kids to navigate)
  • (and their remote-learning resource )
  • Preschool-aged kids iPad apps like Sago World or any app by Toca Boca.
  • Typing 鈥�
  • Coding 鈥� and /
• Staying connected with family and friends
  • Minecraft (note: families could set up Realms to create a private server for their kids to socialize with their friends)
  • Facebook’s Messenger Kids app
  • FaceTime
• Exercise
  • apps like Pokemon GO and Harry Potter Wizards Unite can make walks more entertaining (note: make sure you stay at least 6 feet away from others)
  • Freeze Dance skill on Amazon Echo
  • Just Dance for the Nintendo Switch

Additional co-lead researchers on this project are: , a UW associate professor of human centered design and engineering who has done similar research projects to study ; , a UW assistant professor in the Information School who studies families and technology; and , a UW assistant professor in the iSchool who works with children . Rebecca Michelson, a UW doctoral student in human centered design and engineering, is also a researcher on this project. This study is funded by the National Science Foundation.

For more information, contact Kientz at jkientz@uw.edu, Munson at smunson@uw.edu, Hiniker at alexisr@uw.edu and Yip at jcyip@uw.edu.

Grant number:听2027525

The average preschooler watches more than three hours of TV, film and other video programming each day 鈥� just one of many examples illustrating the huge role that entertainment plays in children鈥檚 lives.

But parents don鈥檛 need to fear their children playing with iPads and other devices, researchers say. Mindful play with an adult, combined with thoughtful design features, can prove beneficial to young developing minds.

New research shows that thoughtfully designed content that intentionally supports parent-child interactions facilitated the same kind of play and development as analog toys.

鈥淚 want to arm families with data to create consumer demand for thoughtful designs,鈥� said , an assistant professor in the 天美影视传媒鈥檚 Information School. Hiniker co-authored two papers on children鈥檚 interactions with devices that were discussed at , scheduled April 21 – 26, in Montreal, Canada, an academic conference that focuses on interactions between people and technology.

The research found that app designers have choices, Hiniker said. The designers have the power to hijack kids’ attention or to respect it, to create experiences that enhance daily life or disrupt it. And parents, through their purchasing power, have the ability to spur the industry to create better apps.

鈥淜ids are going to consume content,鈥� Hiniker said. 鈥淚f they鈥檙e going to consume content it should be high-quality.鈥�

In the first paper, 鈥�,鈥� the researchers demonstrated that when parents and children share play with a digital device, both parent and child are less engaged than when they play with a traditional, non-digital toy. That doesn鈥檛 necessarily make playing with the device a negative experience, said Hiniker.

But studies on how parents and children engage with both digital devices and traditional toys can help guide app developers and device makers.

The researchers recommended incorporating a role for parents when designing apps for children, such as:

• Easily permitting multiple users in apps
• Designing apps that can be interrupted
• Including specific roles for parents in the app

The content also should be presented in a way that allows children to make decisions on their own about whether to continue to play with the digital device or put the iPad down.

That was what the researchers had in mind when they created 鈥淐oco鈥檚 Videos,鈥� which they presented in their second CHI 2018 paper, 鈥�.鈥�

鈥淲e wanted a more rigorous understanding about what our kids experience with these apps,鈥� Hiniker said.

The research team designed the app 鈥淐oco鈥檚 Videos鈥� to see what pre-schoolers would do when presented with different options about watching online videos. The kids in their study were given iPads containing three different versions of an app that showed the kids a pre-planned playlist of videos from YouTube. One version would lock them out of watching future videos, allowing only one video per session. Another version simply prompted them to play another activity, encouraging the child to put down the player. A third version used auto-play to continue watching new videos. This allowed the researchers to observe how likely the kids were to put down the iPad during play, even when the videos continued uninterrupted.

鈥淲e demonstrated experimentally that you can systematically change the design of an app to undermine kids鈥� autonomy or to foster it,鈥� Hiniker said.

It鈥檚 not surprising that the pre-schoolers were overwhelmingly tempted to continue to watch when the video automatically kept serving up a new selection. Just like adults with services like Netflix or YouTube, the children stayed put to watch what was played next. The researchers also found that these auto-play features frustrated parents and gave the child fewer opportunities to decide on their own to put down the device.

鈥淥ne thing that came up a lot was how frustrating auto-play was,鈥� Hiniker said.

With auto-play, the child continued watching the video despite being prompted by the app to make plans for other kinds of playtime. It鈥檚 as if the app developer wanted to attract and hold the child鈥檚 attention indefinitely.

鈥淎s soon as the next one starts, it鈥檚 so much harder to stop,鈥� said co-author , an associate professor of human centered design and engineering at the UW.

As informed consumers, grownups can help improve apps for kids by making thoughtful purchase decisions and supporting apps that both educate and offer breaks. They should demand quality designs.

鈥淵ou have power as parents to request this,鈥� Kientz said. 鈥淰ote with your dollar.鈥�

Co-authors on 鈥淐oco鈥檚 Videos鈥� include Sharon S. Heung and Sungsoo (Ray) Hong of the UW Human Centered Design and Engineering department. Co-authors on 鈥淟et鈥檚 Play,鈥� include Jenny S. Radesky at the University of Michigan and Bongshin Lee of Microsoft.

The research was funded by the UW Royalty Research Fund and Microsoft.

###

For more information, contact Hiniker at alexisr@uw.edu and Kientz at jkientz@uw.edu.

The 天美影视传媒 research team collected data from 2,000 reviews of popular period tracking apps, surveyed 687 people and conducted in-depth interviews with a dozen respondents to understand how and why they tracked their menstrual cycles.

Nearly half of the survey respondents used a smartphone app to track their periods for a variety of reasons: to understand their body and reactions to different phases of their cycles; to prepare for their periods; to achieve or avoid pregnancy; or to inform conversations with healthcare providers.

Other strategies for menstrual tracking included digital calendars, paper diaries, following birth control cues, noticing symptoms or simply remembering, the researchers found. The full results are reported in a to be presented this month at the , where it will receive a best paper award.

鈥淧eople didn鈥檛 feel like the apps were very good at supporting their particular needs or preferences,鈥� said lead author , a doctoral student at the UW鈥檚 Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. 鈥淧eople felt they were better than tracking their periods on paper, but still weren鈥檛 great in a lot of basic ways.鈥�

The study is among the first to investigate how women track their periods 鈥� which is surprising, the researchers said, given that it鈥檚 one of the first questions doctors ask women. A lack of attention to such an essential component of women鈥檚 health surfaced publicly in 2014 when Apple rolled out its HealthKit .

The UW study focused on nine different period tracking apps currently available on the Android Market and Apple App Store, and on what characteristics users liked or disliked, rather than general opinions of the apps themselves. While some apps were much more successful in meeting users鈥� needs, the researchers found, none were perfect.

Women found the modeling assumptions used in some period tracking apps weren鈥檛 accurate or flexible enough to consistently predict their menstrual cycles, particularly when their periods weren鈥檛 regular. Many apps don鈥檛 allow users to correct them when the predictions are wrong or to input data or explanations about why a particularly stressful month or change in birth control might have thrown off their cycles.

鈥淚n some cases, you don鈥檛 have a way to go in and say I missed my period because of x reason or because I was in the hospital 鈥� both ordinary and exceptional circumstances can screw up the algorithms because they鈥檙e not really robust,鈥� said co-author and independent researcher . 鈥淭he apps are most accurate if your cycles are really really regular, but the people who most need an app are the people whose cycles aren鈥檛 regular.鈥�

Apps rarely allow women to customize results or how they are presented, the researchers found. Someone who is trying to avoid getting pregnant or to prepare for their period, for instance, might want an app to provide a more generous window for predicting when they are ovulating or when their period will arrive so they aren鈥檛 surprised. Someone trying to become pregnant would likely want the app to zero in on a narrower span of time when their chances of ovulation are highest.

Co-author , UW associate professor of human centered design and engineering, said one significant issue is that few apps are transparent about explaining their methodology or limitations. In working with healthcare providers on a teen health app, she learned that teenage girls were relying on smartphone apps as their primary form of birth control to tell them when they should avoid having sex.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 pretty disconcerting because accuracy can be a problem with these apps,鈥� Kientz said. 鈥淚 wanted to understand why they had so much trust in the technology.鈥�

Other users complained that the iconography used in the apps assumed that a woman鈥檚 sexual partner would be male, failing to account for those in same sex relationships, and also assume all users identify as female, which excludes transgender users or those with non-binary gender identities. Across the board, app users objected to the use of pink, flowering imagery rather than a more useful and discreet display of the information.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a trope at this point that the 鈥榮hrink it and pink it鈥� approach to designing technology for women revolves around making something smaller and making it pink and taking all the functionality out of it,鈥� said Epstein. 鈥淲e definitely found that in the menstrual tracking apps, and that was one of the things that users had the biggest negative reaction to: 鈥榃hy is my app so pink?鈥欌��

The researchers have for designing better period tracking apps: Allow users to provide customized feedback to boost accuracy; ditch the pink flowers and other heteronormative stereotypes; be discreet in the design; enable users to export their data to other health and fitness tools; and recognize that an individual user鈥檚 menstrual tracking needs 听change over time.

The research was funded by the Intel Science and Technology Center for Pervasive Computing, the 天美影视传媒, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the National Science Foundation.

Co-authors from the UW Department of Human Centered Design and Engineering, the Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering and the Information School include Elena Agapie, Laura Pina, Sean Munson, Jennifer Kang, Jessica Schroeder and James Fogarty.

For more information, contact the research team at periodtracking@uw.edu.

Parents who regularly play “Pok茅mon GO” with their children report a number of side benefits from playing the mobile device-based game, including increased exercise, more time spent outdoors and opportunities for family bonding, according to new 天美影视传媒 research.

In the first study to survey and interview parents who play “Pok茅mon GO” with their families, some parents said the interactive and mobile nature of the game 鈥� in which players capture fictional creatures from the Japanese Pok茅mon franchise on smartphones and other mobile devices by 鈥渇inding鈥� them in real-world locations 鈥� made them feel better about engaging in that type of gameplay, as opposed to more sedentary forms of 鈥渟creen time.鈥�

The results, taken from a qualitative survey of 67 parents and interviews with 20 additional parents playing “Pok茅mon GO” with their families in a Seattle park, are detailed in a to be presented at the Association for Computing Machinery鈥檚 conference in May. The study did not include perspectives of parents who do not allow their children to play “Pok茅mon GO,” which is an important avenue for future research.

Some guilt among “Pok茅mon GO”-playing persisted, and many set limits to prevent kids from becoming so absorbed in the game that they ignored cars or other real-world hazards, as well as responsibilities. Those included setting time constraints, requiring kids to do chores or homework first, shutting down the mobile device if kids didn鈥檛 give it back when asked or parents staying in control of the smartphone while the family played.

Yet many parents 鈥� particularly moms of boys, fathers of girls and parents of teenaged children 鈥� reported spending more quality time with their children as a result of playing “Pok茅mon GO” together and talking more than usual, both about the game itself and about other things in their lives.

Parents also appreciated how the game motivated both them and their children to go outside and exercise in ways that were convenient and fit into their lives, as their children displayed newfound enthusiasm for walking the dog or walking rather than driving to dinner or playgrounds. For some participants, these 鈥淧ok茅-walks鈥� led to walking thousands more steps per day, and one father reported that his 11-year-old daughter had lost 12 pounds.

鈥淟ocation-based augmented reality games are pretty different than sitting in front of a TV or playing a typical video game, so we were interested in the way kids and their parents were sharing those experiences together,鈥� said lead author a UW doctoral student in Human Centered Design and Engineering. 鈥淧eople still don鈥檛 really know how to build tech that works well for families, so when this game came out of the blue and really caught on, we wanted to look at what its ingredients for success were.鈥�

When the interdisciplinary UW research team first went to observe people playing “Pok茅mon GO” at a popular outdoor mall shortly after the game’s release last July, they noticed a curious thing after the late Seattle summer sunset: Kids were still running around outside with their parents until as late as midnight.

鈥淚t was clearly way past everybody鈥檚 bedtime,鈥� said senior author , assistant professor at the UW Information School. 鈥淲e also noticed that the parents were playing Pok茅mon as much as the kids were, and we鈥檇 never seen that before with Minecraft or any Nintendo game. So we knew there was something going on here that was different.鈥�

In follow-up interviews with families who had begun playing “Pok茅mon GO” together, almost all parents had safety concerns about the game, from children not paying attention to where they were going to interacting with strangers. To mitigate those concerns, many parents imposed limits or rules on the gameplay, such as only allowing older children to travel a certain distance from the home and requiring younger children to only play on a parent鈥檚 device.

However, many parents reported net benefits from the overall experience, including noticing new details like artwork or pocket parks in their neighborhoods, teaching their kids how to navigate streets safely and having a shared interest with their children, particularly at ages when communication can become tricky. As one mom who played with her 8-year-old son told the interviewers:

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 just helping us find a common thing we can do together as a mom and a boy, and that鈥檚 really awesome for me 鈥� As a boy coming home from school, they don鈥檛 tell you what they ate or 鈥� what the teachers said, but now he鈥檚 telling me this stuff so it鈥檚 a good way to be communicating.鈥�

Because the Pok茅mon franchise was first introduced in 1995, some parents had also grown up with the characters, which heightened their interest in playing the new location-based game. The simplicity of the game compared to others like Minecraft lowered the bar for participation, and parents鈥� prior knowledge about and experience with Pok茅mon characters often led their kids to view them as valuable 鈥渆xperts鈥� who could teach them.

鈥淧ok茅mon has existed for over 20 years now. Watching so many kids play and engage with their parents through “Pok茅mon GO” was very different and exciting,鈥� said co-author and UW human centered design and engineering graduate student , who grew up religiously watching the Pok茅mon TV series and movies and playing the card game with friends. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 also been popular among parents who knew nothing about Pok茅mon.鈥�

The research team identified how “Pok茅mon GO” met six conditions that previous researchers have identified as leading to productive 鈥溾�� for families. Those include the ability to play and learn about the game together, motivation for multiple generations to engage, and features that make it easy to put the game away, such as the opportunity to put the phone away in a pocket until the next creature appears rather than constantly having to look at the screen.

In addition, “Pok茅mon GO” hinges on players going outside, walking and working in teams, making parents more likely to accept or promote gameplay or jointly participate with their children. That said, some of those same parents acknowledged that the 鈥渁ddictive鈥� nature of Pok茅mon GO could lead to never-ending requests from their children to play.

By investigating the perspectives, values and challenges of parents who play “Pok茅mon GO” with their children, the team of UW information scientists, learning scientists and human-computer interaction researchers hope to shed new light on how to design technologies that invite families to engage in them together.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a pretty difficult thing to tap into 鈥� how do you get different generations of people to want to play, even if it鈥檚 for different reasons?鈥� Sobel said. 鈥淭hese designers were able to capitalize on an older franchise that appealed to everyone from casual smartphone users to serious game players to children.鈥�

Co-authors include HCDE graduate student , associate professor , and Information School associate professor .

For more information, contact Sobel at ksobel@uw.edu, Yip at jcyip@uw.edu or Bhattacharya at arpitab@uw.edu.

Giving young children a two-minute warning that “screen time” is about to end makes transitions away from tablets, phones, televisions and other technological devices more painful, a new 天美影视传媒 study has found.

Researchers expected that this ubiquitous parenting tool 鈥� which aims to make it easier for children to disengage from an activity they’re absorbed in 鈥� would help smooth transitions away from screen time.

Some things did make that switch easier, like having routines, disengaging at a natural stopping point or simply having a battery die. But children aged 1 to 5 who were given a two-minute warning by their parents were more upset when the screen went away.

Parents also reported that features like “autoplay” 鈥� which automatically starts another video when one ends 鈥� or suggested videos that pop up and tempt children to keep watching were a frustrating and driving force behind many of their battles.

The findings, which were based on interviews and a diary study of families who documented screen time transitions in detail, are outlined in a to be presented May 9 at the Association for Computing Machinery’s in San Jose, Calif.

“We were really shocked 鈥� to the point that we thought ‘well, maybe parents only give the two-minute warning right before something unpleasant or when they know a child is likely to put up resistance,'” said lead author , a UW doctoral candidate in human-centered design and engineering.

“So we did a lot of things to control for that but every way we sliced it, the two-minute warning made it worse.”

The researchers in the UW’s initially interviewed 27 families about how they manage media and screen time experiences for their toddlers and preschoolers. Those answers informed a diary study in which 28 different families documented screen time experiences over the course of two weeks 鈥� what children were watching, on what kind of device, what parents did during that time, what prompted screen time to end and how upset or amenable children were.

Surprisingly, 59 percent of the time parents reported that their child had a neutral reaction to ending screen time. Another 19 percent of the transitions evoked a positive reaction, and 22 percent evoked a negative reaction.

“Most of the time these transitions actually go pretty smoothly, which can be hard for parents to recognize,” said senior author and associate professor of human-centered design and engineering . “If one out of five experiences is unpleasant enough that parents are always bracing themselves and worried about it, that colors their perceptions.”

The researchers also found that the most common parental activity during screen time was doing chores or caring for other children. Parents also used technological devices to distract toddlers while they had to endure something unpleasant, like medical treatments.

“We did not see parents using screens as electronic babysitters so they could work or do something fun,” said Hiniker. “They usually pull out the iPad as a last line of defense or in a moment of desperation because the parent hasn’t showered all day.”

The most common trigger for putting devices away (39 percent of the time) was a situational change that made screen time impossible or incompatible with family activities 鈥� reaching your destination in a car or needing to leave for school or having a friend knock on the door to play.

The second most common trigger (25 percent) was that the toddler or preschooler lost interest 鈥� which was at odds with parents’ perception that this is quite rare. Other reasons for ending screen time included parental discretion (15 percent), previously agreed-upon rules (9 percent) or the technology reaching a natural stopping point like the end of a game or video (11 percent).

Parents reported that screen time transitions were easier when they were part of a routine. The same child who might argue and negotiate for more screen time after a Friday night treat may be perfectly fine with turning off the TV when breakfast is ready if that is part of the daily household routine.

Natural stopping points in the content children were viewing or in the games they were interacting with made transitions easier 鈥� which represents an opportunity for content developers and technology designers to help families have more positive media experiences, the researchers say.

Screen time transitions also went more smoothly if the technology was to blame. Children were less likely to be upset, for instance, if they couldn’t watch a video because WiFi was unavailable. One couple who regretted allowing their child to watch a particular show on vacation encountered tantrums when they wouldn’t let him watch it at home. When they told him the show wasn’t available in Seattle, the fights evaporated.

That raises the question of whether a two-minute warning issued by the technology itself 鈥� rather than a parent 鈥� might still prove helpful, researchers said. A family might set a specific amount of screen time in an app and let the child pick an activity to follow. At two minutes out, the app could remind the child that it’s almost time to eat lunch or meet a friend or get out the play dough.

“The kids we looked at for this particular study are right in that power struggle age,” Kientz said. “It’s much easier to do that with a person than with technology. Once you take that parental withholding component out of it, kids are a lot more accepting.”

Co-authors include UW Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering doctoral student and research assistant and former master’s student .

For more information, contact Hiniker at alexisr@uw.edu or Kientz at jkientz@uw.edu.

Put your phone away when I鈥檓 talking to you. Don鈥檛 text while you鈥檙e driving 鈥� not even at red lights. Stop posting photos of me without my permission.

These are some of the rules for Internet and smartphone use that kids would set for their parents, according to a new study by researchers at the 天美影视传媒 and University of Michigan.

The researchers surveyed 249 families with children between the ages of 10 and 17 about their household’s most important technology rules and expectations, as well as what made those rules easier or harder to follow.

The 鈥� which is among the first to explore children鈥檚 expectations for parents’ technology use 鈥� was presented March 2 at the Association for Computing Machinery’s conference on in San Francisco. The surveys revealed kids’ feelings about fairness and “oversharing,” the most effective types of technology rules and families’ most common approaches.

“Managing kids’ technology use was once much easier for parents 鈥� they switched off the television when a show was over or kept an eye on kids as they used the family computer in the living room,” said lead author , a UW doctoral student in Human Centered Design and Engineering. “But now that so many family members have phones with them at all times, it’s become harder and harder to set those boundaries.”

When researchers asked kids what technology rules they wished their parents would follow 鈥� a less common line of inquiry 鈥� the answers fell into seven general categories:

• Be present 鈥� Children felt there should be no technology at all in certain situations, such as when a child is trying to talk to a parent
• Child autonomy 鈥� Parents should allow children to make their own decisions about technology use without interference
• Moderate use 鈥� Parents should use technology in moderation and in balance with other activities
• Supervise children 鈥� Parents should establish and enforce technology-related rules for children’s own protection
• Not while driving 鈥� Parents should not text while driving or sitting at a traffic light
• No hypocrisy 鈥� Parents should practice what they preach, such as staying off the Internet at mealtimes
• No oversharing 鈥� Parents shouldn’t share information online about their children without explicit permission

“Twice as many children as parents expressed concerns about family members oversharing personal information about them on Facebook and other social media without permission,” said co-author , assistant professor in the University of Michigan’s School of Information. “Many children said they found that content embarrassing and felt frustrated when their parents continued to do it.”

The study also examined which types of household rules were more or less difficult to enforce. Families reported that rules prohibiting certain technology or social media uses entirely 鈥� such as no using Snapchat or banning a particular video game 鈥� were easier to follow and enforce than rules that aim to prevent technology use in certain situations 鈥� such as no phones at church or no texting with friends after a certain time.

“We were surprised to find that when mom and dad say ‘you can’t be on Instagram’ it’s easier for kids to accept and stick to that rule than when they say ‘you can be on Instagram but you have to put it away at dinner,'” said Hiniker. “As a teenager, I think I would have been happier in a world where I got to be on Instagram at least some of the time, but that really seemed to be a struggle for families.”

The most common expectation cited by children revolved around “being present” in certain social settings, such as when a family member was talking or during meals or when they were involved in certain activities. Parents, on the other hand, tended to prioritize privacy rules to prevent children from putting themselves at risk by disclosing personal information online.

Most of the nearly 500 different technology rules reported by families fell into one of a dozen categories, which included:

• No technology at certain times
• No technology until certain obligations are fulfilled, like homework or chores
• Fixed time limits on how long kids can engage with technology
• Cost restrictions
• Expectations to balance technology use with other activities, like playing outside
• Parent audits that grant them the ability to check kids鈥� phones at any time and access social media accounts
• Banning a particular site, game, activity or device
• Rules about online behavior, such as no bullying or bad language or sharing sexual content

While parents tended not to be concerned about different rules for parents and children, many kids saw that as hypocritical. Children also found it easier to follow household technology rules when families had developed them collectively and when parents lived by them as well.

The fact that both children and parents reported so much difficulty with rules that require family members to simply put their phones down in certain circumstances points to missed opportunities for app and device designers to recognize those consumer needs, the researchers said.

Technical fixes to help users find more balance might include everything from a “family time” button that disables notifications for 30 minutes to news feeds that provide opportunities to digest content in smaller chunks to video streaming that doesn’t automatically start playing a new episode once the last one stops.

The research suggests that if parents find that a particular app or social media site is too difficult for their kids to disengage from, the simpler solution is to make it off-limits.

“If app and device designers were more open to fostering healthy technology habits, they probably would make their current customers happier,” said co-author , UW associate professor of Human Centered Design and Engineering. “And they might bring in more families who’ve decided the rule is not to use it at all.”

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation.

For more information, contact Hiniker at alexisr@uw.edu, Schoenebeck at yardi@umich.edu or Kientz at jkientz@uw.edu.

Grant Number: NSF: HCC – 1318143

A new finds that cell phone use at playgrounds is a significant source of parental guilt, as well as a powerful distraction when children try to get caregivers’ attention or ask to them to watch a monkey bar trick for the hundredth time.

The largest group of surveyed parents, nannies and adult babysitters 鈥� 44 percent 鈥� felt they ought to restrict cell phone use while watching children at playgrounds but felt guilty for failing to live up to those ideals, the study found. Researchers also observed that caregivers absorbed in their phones were much less attentive to children’s requests than when they were chatting with friends or caring for other children.

The most common mobile phone uses on playgrounds were texting with friends and family, taking pictures and emailing. Only 28 percent of caregivers reported using their phones to do work, and there was no appreciable difference in mobile phone use between male and female caregivers.

The study, presented last month at the Association for Computing Machinery’s in Seoul, Korea, documented more than 40 hours of interactions at playgrounds in north Seattle and collected data from 466 adult caregivers. While other studies have anonymously observed parental cell phone use at and , this is the first to also interview parents, nannies and others about their phone use while caring for children in public places.

“Concerns on this topic are very prevalent, and a lot of people report feeling guilty about their own behaviors,” said lead author , a doctoral student in the UW’s human centered design and engineering department. “But there’s also a group who resents the idea that they should have to put their phones away when their child is safe and happily engaged in something else. There were strong opinions and very divergent opinions, for sure.”

The researchers found that boredom often trumped guilt or fear of being judged and was the single biggest driver prompting people to dig cell phones out of their pockets or purses.

The study also found that adults commonly overestimated how responsive they were to children’s requests while using their phones. Many parents recognized that being absorbed in their phone dilutes their attention, but many also believed that a child’s request to push them on the swing or settle a dispute readily drew them back into the present moment.

Yet in 32 instances when researchers observed a child trying to interrupt an adult using a cell phone, the caregiver completely failed to respond, speak or look away from the phone 56 percent of the time.

That level of absorption was unusual compared to other activities. In 70 instances when a child tried to get the attention of a caregiver who was chatting with a friend, helping a sibling or simply staring into space, only 11 percent of those adults failed to respond to the child’s request.

On the other hand, the total amount of observed cell phone use in Seattle playgrounds was relatively low. Nearly two-thirds of caregivers spent less than 5 percent of their time at the park using a phone, and many phone interactions lasted less than 10 seconds.

“Phones do distract us and that’s something to be aware of, but I think it’s not nearly as bad as some people have made things out to be,” said co-author , associate professor of human centered design and engineering and director of the UW . “Plenty of people are being really attentive parents and thinking deeply about these issues.”

Indeed, caregivers reported using their phones twice as often for childcare-related activities such as taking pictures to share with spouses or grandparents (88 percent), arranging to meet people later in the day (79 percent) or checking the time (75 percent). Adults generally felt less guilty about these types of activities compared to working (28 percent) or playing games (5 percent), even though the child-related phone use may be just as distracting.

Caregivers generally fell into three camps: Those who felt it was completely appropriate to engage in adult-focused activities like checking email or reading on their phones while children are engaged in playground activities (28 percent), those who felt it was important to eliminate or minimize their own phone use while watching children and lived up to those ideals (24 percent) and those who felt they should restrict phone use but weren’t able to do so (44 percent).

The fact that the largest group of caregivers had misgivings about smartphone absorption while parenting suggests that phone and app designers might consider making it easier for some users to disengage, researchers said. Tools like a “parenting” mode with limited functionality, scrolling options that end after five or 10 items or even a simple password screen can create natural breaks that prompt users check in with the outside world.

“The more we bring every type of computing experience with us everywhere, the more sophisticated designers are going to have to be,” Hiniker said. “If users experience technology as so attention-grabby that they can’t maintain the balanced life experience that they want, then they’re going to turn away.”

Co-authors are , , Yi-Chen Sung and of the UW’s human centered design and engineering department.

For more information, contact Hiniker at alexisr@uw.edu and Kientz at jkientz@uw.edu.