Engl. transl.: Children, young people and games

"Almost 9 out of 10 young people play a game at least once a month. More than half of young people say they play games every day, also on a school day. For a small group (8%) this is even about more than 3 hours a day. On days off, they play considerably more: almost a third of the young people indicate that they play more than 3 hours a day. There is an increase in loving to play games from 75% in 2018 to 86% in 2019. The tablet remains for games the most popular and most used device, followed by the game console and the smartphone. The game console is used more intensively by boys (35%), then by girls (20%). Older children use more often a game console, younger children give priority to the tablet and smartphone. The top 6 favorite games are Minecraft, Fortnite, Roblox, Fifa, Plants vs. zombies and Mario Kart. Half of the children play games play alone which dropped compared to the previous years (60%). More young people play together than before (40%). 67% of the young people indicated that they enjoy playing against friends more than against a computer. Only 13% of the young people (completely) agreed with the proposition that they prefer to play games alone. Gaming is for 4 out of 10 young people an automatism to combat boredom. They also play less with people they don't know. Boys play together more regardless of their age with others, both with people they know and with people who they don't know." (Vanhaelewyn et al., 2020, pp. 2-7, translated by Joanna Beeckmans)