The GuardianGamer Podcast

Episode 5: How Gaming Shapes Modern Parenting: An interview with Lorrie, parent of a 7th Grader.

Producer: Sarah Lai Stirland

Engineer: Gabe Grabin

On the GuardianGamer platform we prioritize the parent first, because of their lack of solutions to increase their engagement and need for more visibility. Recent research by FOSI shows that parents in the US monitor their kids' online activities for 11 hours per week already.  When our Founder Heidi herself was looking for a solution in the market when her son was starting to game more, her family couldn't find solutions beyond surveillance. She wanted to guide and help her son sometimes but the systems they already had in place to limit online time, could not provide me with any insight into what was going on in the games. Her family then started to invest time experiencing the parent journey from being reluctant to becoming a game positive parent. We talked a lot about the gaming. Since she is an engineer, and built platforms and technology for a variety of complex problems in my other companies, she was and still am determined to design and build the right tools to help other families.

INTRO: You’re listening to the GuardianGamer podcast. GuardianGamer is a new service that offers kids the age of seven and up mentorship and a safe space to play video games.

I’m Sarah Lai Stirland. I’m a co-host of this podcast. We’ve talked a lot about what happens within online video games in past episodes. But what about how games affect kids and families in the quote-unquote offline world?

That’s what we explore in this episode. I’m talking with Lorrie this week. She’s the mother of a 7th grade boy who loves playing Fortnite and Minecraft.

Video games were affecting Lorrie’s son starting around Fifth Grade — even when he wasn’t playing them.

As you’ll hear, her son wasn’t allowed to play Fortnite back then. But after he complained that he felt left out at school because everyone else was playing, Lorrie relented.

Then the pandemic hit. As for many of us, games became the safe place for her son to carry on his social life.

As parents, we all worry about the impact of video games on our kids’ health. That’s why we thought it would be great to kick off a conversation about the subject with Lorrie, a parent of a son who has an avid interest in video games.

Lorrie talks about how she manages manages that interest. She also talks about how gaming has affected his perception of the world.

We thought it would be interesting for parents to compare notes.

SARAH: So Laurie Tell, tell our listeners a bit about yourself.

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