We’ve all been there. You bought the $500 console. You paid for the Minecraft subscription. You even tolerated the request for Robux because you thought it might teach them about "entrepreneurship" (jury’s still out on that one).

Then you walk into the living room and find your kid hunched over a tablet, watching a 22-year-old in a neon-lit room scream at a digital toilet. They aren't even playing the game. They’re just... watching.

It feels like a waste of brain cells, right? If they’re going to engage with tech, we’d at least like them to be active. But in the world of 2025, gaming videos—specifically "Let’s Plays," speedruns, and lore breakdowns—are the primary way kids consume culture. If you don't know why Skibidi Toilet is a thing or why everything weird is "so Ohio," you’re missing the fact that these videos are the water cooler talk of the elementary and middle school world.

It’s easy to assume they’re just being lazy, but there are actually a few psychological "hooks" making the gaming video rabbit hole so much more appealing than the games themselves:

Ask our chatbot why your kid is obsessed with specific creators

Not all gaming videos are created equal. As a parent, you need to be able to distinguish between content that’s actually okay and the stuff that is, quite frankly, unwatchable garbage.

If you want the gold standard for Minecraft content, this is it. It’s whimsical, narrated with a polite British accent, and focuses on storytelling and building rather than "pranking" or screaming. It’s the "slow media" equivalent of gaming videos.

While not strictly a "gamer," Rober uses the visual language of gaming—fast cuts, challenges, and high stakes—to teach engineering. It’s the perfect "bridge" for a kid who is stuck in a gaming video loop but has a brain for science.

Look, the production value is insane, but the pacing is designed to fry attention spans. It’s "junk food" media. It’s not necessarily "evil," but it’s the reason your kid can’t sit through a 20-minute episode of a normal TV show anymore. The constant cuts and high-decibel shouting are a lot.

This is where we pull no punches. This content is often loud, aggressive, and frequently edges into inappropriate territory. It’s the definition of "brain rot" for many parents—pure chaos designed to trigger the algorithm. If your kid is here, it’s time to pivot.

Check out our guide on identifying toxic YouTube influencers

The "rabbit hole" happens because of the Auto-play feature and the Sidebar of Doom. One video about a Minecraft tutorial leads to a "creepy pasta" horror story, which leads to a loud-mouthed influencer.

When your kid watches a gaming video, their brain is getting a steady drip of dopamine without the "refractory period" that comes with actually playing and losing. This can lead to a "zombie" state where they become incredibly irritable when it’s time to turn it off.

The Fix: Use the "Active/Passive" ratio. For every 30 minutes of watching someone play, they should spend 30 minutes actually playing, or better yet, doing something offline. It breaks the hypnotic spell of the spectator loop.

Learn more about the dopamine effects of short-form video

Instead of saying, "Stop watching that garbage," try to engage with the "why."

By acknowledging that it's a form of entertainment—not just "wasted time"—you keep the lines of communication open. You want to be the parent who knows that Roblox is a platform, not a single game, and that "Let's Plays" are just the new Saturday morning cartoons.

Watching gaming videos isn't the end of the world, but it is a "high-calorie" digital snack. If it’s the only thing they’re doing, their attention span will pay the price. The goal is to curate the feed so they’re watching creators who inspire them to actually pick up the controller—or a book—rather than just melting into the sofa.

Ask our chatbot for a personalized list of gaming creators based on your kid's interests