Digital literacy isn’t something kids absorb through osmosis. It’s a skill we build with them, conversation by conversation, click by click. In fact, being able to navigate digital spaces with confidence and critical thinking is one of the most important skills for children of the 21st century.
The good news? One of the very tools that worry parents most, video games, can become powerful teaching moments for digital literacy when approached intentionally.
Summary
- Digital literacy is the ability to navigate digital spaces, informed and effectively.
- Games create safe spaces for children to learn through decision-making and evaluation.
- Playing online games introduces children to information evaluation, digital citizenship and other important skills.
- Playing games with your child naturally leads to conversation and is a great way to engage them in online safety.
- You can help your child learn with tech agreements, check-ins and behaviour modelling.
- There are a range of resources to help you play games with your child.
What is digital literacy?
Digital literacy is our ability to navigate digital spaces in an effective and informed way. For kids, that means knowing what content is appropriate, recognising when something feels off and understanding where to turn for help.
Rather than viewing gaming and technology as obstacles to overcome, we can harness them as interactive classrooms where these essential skills develop naturally.
Why games make such effective learning tools
Games create what educators call “low-stakes environments” for learning. When a child plays a game, they’re making decisions, evaluating information and experiencing consequences without so-called “real-world” risk. This makes gaming an ideal space to practise all skills, including digital literacy skills.
In games, we have the opportunity to teach our children how to distinguish between different types of content, make quick decisions about what’s trustworthy and what’s not, and navigate complex digital interfaces. A child playing an online multiplayer game encounters the same challenges they’ll face throughout their digital lives: assessing the trustworthiness of strangers, managing their privacy, and making choices about appropriate and inappropriate behaviour.
What digital literacy skills can gaming teach?
Gaming naturally introduces several core digital literacy competencies.
First, games can help teach information evaluation. When kids play strategy games or explore virtual worlds, they constantly assess what information matters and what doesn’t. They learn to spot patterns, recognise reliable sources within the game and question unexpected requests. These are skills that transfer directly to evaluating websites, emails and social media content.
Online gaming can also help develop digital citizenship. Multiplayer games create microcosms of online society where children learn about respectful communication, the permanence of digital actions and community guidelines. When a child experiences or witnesses unkind behaviour in a game, it becomes a concrete teaching moment about online etiquette and empathy.
Games also provide the opportunity to build privacy awareness. Account creation, permission requests and in-game purchases all provide opportunities to discuss data sharing, password security and protecting personal information. These aren’t abstract concepts when connected to a child’s gaming experience; they are immediately relevant and memorable.
How to use tech time as teaching time
The key to teaching digital literacy through gaming isn’t restriction, it is engagement. Co-playing or co-viewing creates natural opportunities for conversation. You don’t need to be a gamer yourself; your questions and observations are the teaching tools.
Ask your child to explain what they’re doing and why:
- “Why did you choose that option?” or “How did you know that player was trustworthy?” These questions encourage metacognition (i.e., thinking about thinking), which strengthens critical evaluation skills.
- When something goes wrong in a game, resist immediately fixing it. Instead, ask, “What do you think we should try?” or “Where might we find help?” This builds problem-solving resilience and resource-finding skills.
Make the invisible visible by naming digital literacy concepts as they arise. When your child encounters a pop-up ad, say, “That’s advertising. Someone is trying to sell us something.” When they report another player’s behaviour, acknowledge it: “Great job recognising that wasn’t appropriate and figuring out how to get help.”
Remember that friendship and social connection now flow fluidly between offline and online spaces. A friend might be someone your child sits next to at school or someone they collaborate with in a virtual world. This isn’t worse, it’s different. Discussing online friendships with the same seriousness and interest as offline ones teaches kids that the same social skills and safety considerations apply in both contexts.
What practical steps can parents take today?
Digital literacy education doesn’t require a formal curriculum, it just requires consistency and intention. Here are actionable steps to start today:
- Create tech agreements together. Rather than imposing rules, collaborate with your child to establish guidelines about screen time, appropriate content and privacy. This process itself teaches decision-making and personal responsibility.
- Establish tech-talk routines. Make discussing digital experiences a normal part of daily conversation, just like asking about school. “Anything interesting happen online today?” invites sharing without judgement.
- Model digital literacy yourself. Narrate your own decision-making: “Why would this game ask for me to share my location? I’m not doing that” or “I’m checking the reviews for this game before I spend my money on purchasing it.” Kids learn enormously from observing adult behaviour.
The takeaway message
Gaming and technology aren’t obstacles to digital literacy, they are opportunities. Every moment your child spends in digital spaces is a potential teaching moment — a chance to build the critical thinking and safety skills they’ll need throughout their lives.
Digital literacy is like any foundational skill: it develops through encouragement, repetition and consistent practice. By engaging with your child’s gaming and tech use rather than simply monitoring or restricting it, you transform screen time into skill-building time.
By playing games with our kids, we are not only going to be having fun but also helping to raise thoughtful, digitally literate humans.
