The NSPCC has issued a warning to parents this summer about the potential risks of children gaming on devices like consoles, tablets, and phones. The charity highlighted that gaming is a frequent topic among young people contacting Childline, its helpline for children.
Between April 2025 and March 2026, Childline delivered almost a thousand counselling sessions where children mentioned Roblox, PlayStation, Minecraft, or Xbox. Common concerns included online bullying, harassment, threats to share private information without consent, scams, and unwanted contact from strangers.
Parental Concerns and Advice
Parents have also told the NSPCC Helpline about worries regarding children spending money on games without permission, excessive screen time, and difficulty managing access to gaming platforms. Many of these issues can be managed through in-game or in-app controls, such as finance controls and screen time monitoring on most smart devices, but many parents are unaware of these features.
Shaun Friel, Childline Director, said: "Games and apps are an excellent space for children to have fun, learn and communicate with friends – yet they can also come with dangers and the risk of excessive screen time. Young people are telling our Childline counsellors that, while gaming, that they have seen difficult content and that unknown and unwanted players have tried to contact them."
He added: "Parents should educate themselves about the technology that young people want to access, explore safety settings together and have open conversations with their children about how to stay safe online. Childline is here for any young person who has any questions or concerns when playing online — our trained counsellors are here to provide support, no matter the concern."
Practical Steps for Parents
To help parents, the NSPCC has put together advice on managing children's access to video games. For consoles and PCs, parents should supervise the setup of devices and activate child safety features. Use PlayStation Family Management, Microsoft Family Safety on Xbox, or a Nintendo Family Group to apply age-appropriate settings and manage permissions.
Once a profile is set up, parents can restrict games based on age ratings and limit access to mature content. On Nintendo Switch, parents can apply age-based content restrictions and control eShop purchases. On Xbox, web browsing restrictions may require changes to the linked Microsoft account settings.
Parents can also manage who their child communicates with by changing voice and text chat settings to "Friends Only" or "Nobody" on PlayStation, adjusting communication permissions on Xbox, and using Nintendo Switch parental controls. Spending controls and screen time limits can be set through Family Management on PlayStation, the Microsoft Family Safety app on Xbox, and the Nintendo Switch Parental Controls app.
Engaging with Children's Online Interests
The NSPCC advises parents to understand a game or app independently before allowing a child access, including checking risk and age ratings. Once satisfied, parents should make use of parental controls, explore safety and privacy settings with their child, have regular family conversations about online activities, encourage common safety behaviours like taking breaks and reporting abuse, and ensure children know where to get support, such as from Childline (0800 11 11).
