Mindful Gaming

Have students access the student chapter Game and Screen Diary and tell students to use it to keep track of their gaming for the next week.

• Note: Make sure this period includes a weekend, since some students may not play games during the week. (If students do not play video games, or do not play them very often, tell them to track another screen activity instead.)

Use a think-aloud routine to model how to fill out the diary, such as: “I played Mario Kart for an hour with a friend. I felt good while playing because we were having fun. We stopped because my friend had to leave. After I felt good at first but then realized I didn’t have time to go for a walk before making dinner.”

Remind students each day to fill out their Game and Screen Diary.

Two or three days after distributing the Game and Screen Diary, have students access the student chapter Mindful Gaming and go through it with the students.

Explain to them that the word “mindful” means you’re doing something on purpose and that you’re paying attention to what you’re doing: the purpose of these strategies is not to get them to stop playing games or doing other screen-based activities, but to help them to make thoughtful choices about them.

Put students in groups of 4-6. Have each group consider the different tools and strategies and discuss whether they think it would be Useful or Not Useful, or whether they are Unsure about its usefulness. Tell students the group members don’t all have to agree but they have to be ready to explain their thinking.

Once the groups have had a chance to discuss, have them report back to the class and give their reasons for classifying each tool or strategy as Useful, Not Useful, or Unsure. In cases where group members disagreed, ask the reasons why they disagreed. In cases where they were Unsure, ask what might help them make up their minds.