Topic 3 Creative ways of using Internet and using the Internet for playing/having fun
Benefits of creative thinking and creativity.
Stimulation of the imagination
Everyday problem-solving
Strategy development
Positive psychological health
Cultivation of cognition skills, such as analogical thinking
Activity
Before you begin to read the several creative ways of using Internet, you can ask yourselves if you can think of some of them.
Also, you can reflect especially on the COVID-19 quarantine period.
Besides, the presentation that follows is of course indicative and not restrictive.
Creative ways of using Internet
Art
- Creating art. For example: drawing/painting, making movies/short movies/videos (video art), fixing installations, drawing/making animations, using designing programs for creating and/or editing images.
- Learning about art. For example: museum tours, monument tours, gallery tours.
- Watching art. For example: films, short films, TV series (older or newer), documentaries.
- Learning new art forms and genres: dance/music/painting/sculpture/photography/literature/poetry/film/video and visual art genres.
Science (all fields)
- Searching and watching documentaries about science: history, physics, mathematics, philosophy, social sciences etc.
- Searching extra stuff and getting a better sense about all-field science topics that were discussed earlier in school. Exploring new topics on your own. There are high-quality free online resources that can help with this.
Culture and virtual trips
- Watching documentaries, movies, TV series, where there is representation of other people, other countries, other cultures.
- Making a kind of virtual trip to these other countries and cultures.
Children/Adolescents helping parents with Internet use
- Today’s children and adolescents are much more familiar with digital technology than previous generations.
- Therefore, in some cases they can help their parents with Internet’s dangers (viruses, fake messages, fake news e.tc.) and help them in using the Internet and the digital technology more effectively.
- The positive effects of this “bottom-up technology transmission” are especially strong in families with lower socioeconomic status (Correa, 2015).
Creative ways of using Internet and using the Internet for playing/having fun
Games like Minecraft, Roblox, Animal Crossing, Scribblenauts, Big Brain Academy and many more can help your children boost their creative skills and processes! Check out the following video for more suggestions on great creative games that let you think outside the box and develop your creativity.
Activity
Have you yourselves had tried to use the Internet in any of the described creative ways (alone or with your children) and how did it go? What do you think would work best for them?
Can you think of any other ways in which you use/you can use the Internet alone and/or along with your child/children in a creative way?
Activity
Before you begin to read the several ways of using Internet for playing/having fun, you can ask yourselves if you can think some of them.
Besides, the presentation that follows is of course indicative and not restrictive.
Also, you can reflect especially on the COVID-19 quarantine period.
Videogames
- Action
- Immersing oneself in an interesting story
- Developing strategy
- Problem-solving
- Approaching situations in innovative ways that otherwise would not have been met
- Collaborating with people from real life (family members, friends, classmates) or with other gamers that are met online, competing with others
- Can be relaxing, stress-relieving, socially interactive in a non-anxious way and fun.
- Gamers often use gaming for socializing, which was apparent especially during the COVID-19 lockdowns.
Entertainment/Spending free time
- Films, short films, TV series
- Videos, shared posts
- Music/audibles/podcasts
- E-books/journals/articles
- Discovering new things on social media in fields like art and entertainment (discovering people that otherwise would not be possible to cross paths with, because of the physical distance, for example a choreographer that lives in USA or a musician that lives in another country in Europe etc.).
Communication (Social Media)
- Communicating via social media, especially with people from real life.
- COVID-19 pandemic: Social interaction and communicating via Internet and social media was the only way to maintain social life.
Physical activity online content/Exercise games
- Interactive or non-interactive games that have to do with all kinds of physical activity/exercise/working out in a fun way.
- COVID-19 pandemic: Internet and physical activity online content/exercise games were a very useful tool to maintain the physical health from home. Some studies show that exercise games (“exergames”) are more enjoyable than the traditional physical activity (Hallbrook, O’Donell & Mtsefi, 2019).
Interactive Digital Devices
- Spending time in a fun and at the same time socializing way.
- Kids (children/adolescents) can interact with their parents/family or their friends while being in the same space or away from each other.
Activity
Write down some creative ways to use Internet with your child/children.
Describe why you think they are creative.
Activity
Before you begin to read the several productive ways of using Internet, you can ask yourselves if you can think some of them.
Besides, the presentation that follows is of course indicative and not restrictive.
Also, you can reflect especially on the COVID-19 quarantine period.