Using Screen Time to Connect Families Over the Holidays

The holiday season often comes with competing pressures. We want rest, we want genuine time with the people we care about, and we also want a break from the usual routines. Screens usually end up in the middle of these competing needs. They get blamed for taking people away from each other, but in reality screen time itself is not the problem. It is how and when we use it.

As a psychologist who works with children, teens, and gaming-engaged families, I see every day how screens can bring people together when the intention is connection rather than escape. With a bit of thought, screens and games can support closeness, help people regulate during an emotionally intense time of year, and make family interactions feel easier rather than harder.

When Screens and Gaming Support Connection

Shared gaming can genuinely bring families together. When parents sit down and play alongside their children even for a short time the dynamic changes. Multiplayer and cooperative games create shared laughter and shared goals, and they put everyone on an equal footing. For many kids and teens video games are the place where they feel most confident and most understood. Joining them there sends a powerful message that their interests matter.

Screens can also create low-pressure connection. Holidays are social, noisy, and unpredictable. Many children especially those who are autistic or have ADHD (or both!) find that level of stimulation difficult to handle. Watching a movie together or building something in Minecraft side by side can give everyone a calm shared activity without demands for eye contact or constant conversation. It is a way of being together without overwhelm.

Screens also connect families who can’t be in the same place. Video calls, online games with cousins, or watching a Christmas movie at the same time from different houses can make distance feel much smaller. These moments matter, especially for children.

And sometimes screens simply provide the break everyone needs. Rest is not the opposite of connection. Often it is what makes connection possible. When children have had time to decompress with the activities they enjoy they are usually more settled, more regulated, and more available for family engagement later on.

When Screens Start to Get in the Way

There are times when screens can compete with the moments you want to protect. If devices dominate family rituals, for example meals, present opening, or end-of-day wind-down routines, it becomes harder to create the memories and connection that holidays are meant to hold. These moments work best when screens are put aside and families are fully present with each other.

Screens can also increase overstimulation for some children. Fast-paced or competitive games might make emotional regulation harder and transitions more difficult. In these situations it can help to guide children toward calmer screen-based activities or switch to something you can do together.

Sometimes screens become a complete retreat from family interaction. Children often escape into screens not because they are uninterested but because they are overwhelmed. In these moments connection tends to come from gentle invitations rather than punishment or restriction. Asking a child to show you what they are playing or offering a quiet break together can be enough to bring them back into the family space.

And of course adults can fall into the same trap. It is easy to disappear into work emails or scrolling. Even small changes help. Putting the phone down for a few minutes, letting children know when you will be available again, and being intentional about your own screen habits shows children what healthy balance looks like.

Creating a Screen Plan That Works for Your Family

Families do not need strict rules, but clear expectations make holidays smoother. Many parents find it helpful to create predictable patterns such as a planned movie night, set screen-free pockets during meals or gift giving, and agreed-upon times for individual downtime.

A useful question for parents is simply this: is this particular screen use helping us connect, helping someone regulate, or getting in the way of the connection we want? If it is doing the first two it is probably serving your family well. If it is doing the last one it might be time to pause or reset.

Final Thoughts

Screens and gaming are not the opposite of family time. They are part of modern family life and with intention they can strengthen relationships rather than weaken them. The goal is not to remove screens, it is to shape how they are used. When screens support connection, rest, regulation, and shared enjoyment they become tools that bring families closer together during a season where connection matters most.

The Psychology of Paying Upfront: How Battlefield 6 Protects Kids (and Parents) from the Spending Spiral

In a world of ‘free-to-play’ games that seem to cost more every week, Battlefield 6 feels refreshingly honest. You buy it once, and that purchase still means something.

For many parents, modern gaming feels like a financial booby trap. The game itself might be free, but the experience , the skins, battle passes, time-limited bundles, and flashy emotes, comes with a rolling price tag. And for young players whose developing brains are wired to chase novelty and reward, that “just one more skin” can become a familiar family standoff.

That’s what makes Battlefield 6 worth talking about. It’s a rare example of a mainstream title that still respects the player’s and the parent’s boundaries. Yes, there’s a Battle Pass coming soon. Yes, there are optional cosmetics. But at its core, it’s a full game with genuine value, not a spending funnel.

The Freemium Fatigue: When “Free” Costs Your Sanity

Most parents have met the modern monster called the freemium model. The entry cost is zero, but the psychological hooks are expensive: limited rewards, slow progress, and constant reminders that something shinier is just a few clicks (and dollars) away.

Freemium games are built around variable rewards, the same principle that keeps the adults playing pokies. You never quite know what you’ll get, so you keep checking, keep clicking, and, too often, keep spending. For kids and teens, that kind of system can turn healthy play into an endless chase for the next hit of excitement. For parents, it can turn leisure into negotiation.

Paying Upfront: Battlefield 6’s Balanced Model

Enter Battlefield 6! You pay for the game, you get the game, no emotional ransom attached.
EA’s latest release will include a Battle Pass, but it’s refreshingly transparent and balanced. Here’s how it works:

• Free tiers: weapon charms, soldier and vehicle skins, player card icons and emblems.

• Premium tiers: purely cosmetic outfits and weapon blueprints with unique visual flair, no competitive edge attached.

• Tier skips: available for purchase if someone wants to accelerate progression, but far from necessary.

Perhaps EA have learnt their lesson from Star Wars Battlefront II? I digress, progression carries across all modes, meaning every bit of playtime counts toward rewards. Daily missions and class-specific challenges deliver big XP boosts, so even casual players can complete the pass without falling into a grind. In short, the game rewards participation and persistence, not payment.

Rewarding Effort, Not Impulse

There’s a quiet psychology win baked into this design.
When players unlock rewards through skill and consistency, they’re engaging in intrinsic motivation, the satisfaction of improving, contributing, and achieving.
In contrast, freemium systems lean on extrinsic motivation, where progress is purchased rather than earned.

That distinction matters. Kids learn that real achievement takes time and effort, not credit-card shortcuts. They experience delayed gratification, a cornerstone of emotional regulation, inside a space that’s actually fun. Battlefield 6 manages to be engaging without being manipulative, and that’s rare.

Easier on the Wallet and the Nervous System

From a parent’s point of view, the one-time purchase model is a relief. There’s no hidden spending drip, no unpredictable “limited-time offers,” and fewer guilt-laden requests. Saying “no” doesn’t exclude your child from play or progress, because the base experience remains whole. Financial predictability helps families set boundaries and stick to them, a psychological win for both sides. Predictable systems also help kids learn self-control. They can plan, wait, and appreciate what they’ve earned instead of expecting constant novelty.

As one might put it, it’s nice when the only battles at home are digital.

Teaching Healthy Digital Consumption

Beyond the gameplay, this is a conversation starter for parents. You can use Battlefield 6 to talk about value, why some things are worth paying for, and how “free” can sometimes mean “manipulative.” It’s also a chance to teach budgeting and self-awareness in a space kids genuinely care about. Encouraging mindful gaming doesn’t mean banning fun. It means helping young players recognise when they’re being marketed to, and when they’re simply playing for joy.

Less Funnel, More Fun!

Battlefield 6 doesn’t reject monetisation entirely, it modernises it. The Battle Pass gives kids the thrill of progression without pushing them into an economic arms race. Parents get clarity, players get freedom, and everyone avoids the emotional and financial fatigue of freemium culture. In a gaming world built on engineered want, Battlefield 6 quietly celebrates enough.
And that’s a battle worth winning.

What Australia’s First Hospital Gaming Disorder Clinic Can Teach Us About Treating Problem Gaming And Why Support Should Be Available Beyond Perth

For some time, gaming disorder has been formally recognised by the World Health Organization through the ICD 11 criteria. Across Australia families are starting to realise that screen use is no longer just a lifestyle choice and in some cases it becomes a clinical concern that affects sleep routines education work relationships and mental health. In Western Australia one hospital has taken a meaningful step forward. The Gaming Disorder Clinic at Fiona Stanley Hospital has become one of the first public services in the country dedicated specifically to gaming related harm. Their work has set a precedent and it offers valuable lessons for how support can be offered more widely including in private practice settings.

A Look Inside the Fiona Stanley Hospital Gaming Disorder Clinic

Fiona Stanley Hospital in Perth developed a specialist service within its Addiction Prevention and Treatment Service. Their model is built on comprehensive assessment, family involvement, digital detox planning, relapse prevention strategies and a strong focus on re engaging clients with offline life through education TAFE pathways and social activity. The team does not treat gaming as simply a behavioural issue. They screen for underlying mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions and their data shows that nearly all clients had at least one comorbidity such as ADHD, autism, anxiety or depression. This reflects a truth that many clinicians see every day. Excessive gaming is rarely just about the game itself. It is most often a coping response to unmet psychological needs or emotional overwhelm.

The Core Insight Gaming Disorder Is Usually Not About Gaming

The Fiona Stanley team (directed by Dr. Daniela Vecchio) highlights something crucial. Most clients are not simply addicted to entertainment, they are using gaming as a reliable way to gain a sense of mastery, predictability, connection or escape. When life offline feels stressful unstructured or unrewarding the digital world becomes a substitute. This lens matters because it shifts treatment away from moral panic and towards compassionate clinical support. It means that sustainable change must include rebuilding offline meaning not just restricting access to screens.

The Gap Hospital Based Services Are Important But Not Always Accessible

The existence of the Perth based clinic is a positive sign that gaming disorder is being taken seriously. However hospital based services come with referral pathways eligibility criteria geographic limits and in some cases wait times. Not every young person will meet the threshold for acceptance into a specialist program. Some families want early support before a crisis develops. Others live on the opposite side of the country. This is why it is important that private psychological services begin to adopt clinically informed digital health interventions that match this level of understanding.

How Skill Tree Psychology Applies These Principles in Richmond NSW

At Skill Tree Psychology in Richmond NSW we draw from the same book as the Fiona Stanley approach but adapt it to a private therapy setting. Our work with gaming is grounded in Self Determination Theory, a clinical framework that recognises that all humans need autonomy, competence and connection. Gaming often meets these psychological needs quickly and consistently which is why it can become such a powerful habit especially for neurodivergent young people or those who feel socially or academically unsuccessful offline.

We begin by helping clients understand what gaming is providing for them personally. Rather than focusing only on reduction we focus on developing healthier pathways to autonomy, competence and connection away from screens. However we are also realistic that motivation alone is not always enough when sleep is disrupted or school has been replaced entirely by gaming. This is where we blend Self Determination Theory with behavioural modification strategies. These include structured routines, sleep restoration plans, environmental adjustments such as removing devices from bedrooms at night or scheduled offline activities that are agreed upon collaboratively with the client and family. Our goal is not to punish gaming but to create a scaffolded environment where a young person can regain control of their time and rebuild offline capability gradually.

This dual approach respects both psychological needs and practical realities. It acknowledges that executive functioning differences and emotional dysregulation may require external support while still promoting intrinsic motivation rather than compliance through fear or force.

Making Support Available Without Needing a Hospital Referral

The Fiona Stanley Clinic has demonstrated that gaming disorder deserves structured treatment. It has helped shift the national conversation. The next step is ensuring that families do not have to travel to Perth or enter a hospital system to access meaningful support. At Skill Tree Psychology we believe that early intervention should be compassionate, motivationally informed and available in local communities without needing to reach crisis level.

If your family is noticing that gaming or digital use is starting to displace sleep school connection or wellbeing support is available privately here in Richmond NSW. Help does not have to begin with a hospital admission and recovery does not have to begin with punishment. With the right blend of motivation based therapy and structured behavioural support it is possible to rebuild a life that feels worth logging back into.