Joanna Fortune: My quiet teenager swears when gaming with friends 

When you are buying a gaming device, buy one for the family, not for an individual child. This approach ensures that you have more control of access to the device without a child declaring, ‘But it’s mine’. Also,  keep the device in a shared room, where you can freely walk in and out while they are playing it.

My quiet 13-year-old son is not in any way sporty, but is very competitive when gaming online with his friends. I’m surprised by his bad language and aggression. He says it’s just a game and that everyone swears when gaming. I’m finding it difficult to accept that this is normal behaviour.

Hyper-stimulating, high-adrenaline, and (often) combat-style gaming can immerse our children in a level of intensity and heightened frustration they cannot self-regulate, because they are still too young and their brains are still too underdeveloped.