how young would you allow your child to play video games?

I can see children playing ipod iphone or table at the age of 3 scrolling and playing games......... Its the new generations playgrounds.Agree?? but I still want my kids to play around with other kids the old fashioned way.

sounds like your mixing your question with a whole other subject that is quite large when taken as a whole: children and gaming/cells/pc/social technology, etc.

if you're simply talking about how long to allow them to play, then, obviously (for me as a guy who's a dad and is a gamer) that time must be held to a minimum, depending, on a variety of circumstances and issues.

i know that's not a great answer, but, let's start with, perhaps, an hour a day, for younger children and increase that progressively as they age. however, there will obviously be a point, say, 6 hours a day on the pc/console, lol, that is too much.

throw in that time when they actually feel their mom or dad withholding those gaming/social activities from them and see it as "punishment" then, for me, that is when i absolutely know they are too invested in their games/phones/pc/social activities.

btw, i absolutely love the fact that i still have never owned a cell-phone, lol, but, i'm sure my kids aren't too keen on the idea. well, they won't be as they get older;)

I don't have kids but as a person looking to make games journalism a career, it's something I think about a lot (I am married which is why I would take time to think about it). But still it's hard to realistically think about it since I don't have any. I don't know what their personalities will be like. They may turn out hating video games!

In my head, I think I would probably allow them to play when they're 5 or 6. Considering I would be playing games frequently, I'm positive my kids would want to participate early just because I'm doing it, so it's just something I have to factor in. I'd be careful about what they play and how long and definitely make sure they're active but that's dipping into a different part of the discussion that can't necessarily be ignored.

@sirkibble2: as a side, when my daughter was around 4-6?, somewhere in there, she didn't want to play video games and was timid when you put the controller in her hand, lol. but, others love playing video games at that age, so.....

I began playing games when I was around 2 or 3 at least, and I still managed to spend countless hours hanging out with friends all my life.

That's far more influenced by other factors. Responsible parents can tell their kids to go outside, or put time limits on certain activities, or even find other interesting things for their kids to do.

The problem you're witnessing is parents who dislike being around their annoying kids, so they stick their iphone in front of their kids' noses to get them to shut up. It's sad, but true.

True!! For kids playing an outdoor game are as important as their studies.

But, in this new era of technology many kid's wants video games, PS2 etc. They engage their whole day playing these type of indoor games, which is totally not good for them. In such cases, parents should take care of the few things about their kids that what game he/she must be playing, what was his/her age. Here, as mentioned at the age of 3 children were started playing, then here the role of parents must come and make your child aware about other games in which they have some activities as well.

Playing video games is not bad at all but for everything there must be a right time.

I let my kids play certain games on their ipod and ipad.

4 or 5. I will be more strict than my parents though. There will be "media free" days (probably like every other day) where there is no TV or games until middle school. You have to read a book, go outside, or find some analog hobby to do... or learn the hustle and go play games at your friend's house on your media free days.