Kids love Twitch! Twitch is a streaming service where expert players play video games while their subscribers watch. It’s a mystery to most adults how this could be entertaining. But with 15 million viewers per day and a $970 million sell price, it has clearly plugged into what kids want. In this GKIS Sensible Guide, we cover what you’ll want to know before letting your kids opt-in.
How long has Twitch been around, and how popular is it?
Twitch was released in mid-2011 as a branch of another streaming service, Justin.tv. Twitch was intended to be the more video game focused platform. Soon Twitch’s popularity surpassed Justin.tv, and it was bought by Amazon for a staggering $970 million.[1] Today, Twitch has around 15 million viewers per day and hosts around 2.2 million streamers.
Getting Started on Twitch
In order to create an account on Twitch, you must be 13 years of age or older. As Dr. Bennett describes in her book, Screen Time in the Mean Time, this age isn’t based on child psychology, but rather the COPPA law which protects kids from having their personal information solicited for marketing reasons. Parents are the best authority to determine the best age of adoption. To sign up, you must also provide an e-mail address, a username, and a password. Once you’ve created your account, you may begin personalizing your profile. It should be noted that there is no way to make your Twitch profile private, so anyone can access it at any time.
Once your profile has been set up, you can decide which of the two roles you want to take in Twitch:
Streamer: You stream the game you are playing so others may join and watch you play.
Viewer: You sit back and watch someone play a game. You can choose to interact with the streamer or other viewers via the text chat. It should be noted that you can view streams without having a Twitch account, but when you do this you may not participate in the text chat. You may also donate money to streamers.
Benefits of Twitch
As a streamer:
It’s a perfect platform to showcase one’s creativity.
You can interact with others who share the same interests.
Being a streamer can become extremely lucrative. For many it becomes a full-time job.
Many times, streamers will land sponsorships from companies and sent free items to utilize in their streams.
As a viewer:
Interacting with streamers and other viewers who have similar interests
Learning new strategies and tips from streamers who are skilled at certain games
Winning in streamer-hosted giveaways
What are the risks of use?
As a streamer:
Doxing: One of the main risks that plague Twitch streamers. This is when individuals find out personal information about a streamer and disseminate it online. Information such as real name, phone number, address, and more may be revealed and used maliciously.
Swatting: This is when a viewer finds out a streamer’s home address and calls the police with a false emergency. If it plays out the way the person who initiated the swatting intends, the police will raid the streamer’s house, visible to viewers through their computer cam. Obviously, this can be very dangerous to the streamer and the law enforcement professionals involved.
Harassment: Many times, streamers will be harassed by their own viewers via the streams text chat. This can be alleviated slightly by having a moderator in the chat who can ban offenders.
As a viewer:
Violence is prominent in many of the games that are streamed on Twitch. This may not be suitable for younger children.
Profanity is frequently used by streamers and also present in most of the text chats.
Harassment and cyberbullying may also occur from other viewers in the text chat.
Distraction is also extremely common among young viewers. They may become so engrossed in the stream that they end up spending more time than they should. This may lead to the neglecting of other responsibilities.
GetKidsInternetSafe rates Twitch as a yellow-light app, due to the possibility of harassment and the ease of communication with strangers. It is recommended that you watch the streams from the content creator before allowing your child to tune into streams. Our How to Spot Marketing Supplement to our free Connected Family Screen Agreement contains valuable information to educate your child to be a smart, informed online consumer.
Thanks to CSUCI intern, Jess Sherchan co-authoring this article. For further information on the possible career opportunities gaming and streaming can provide, please take a look at the GKIS article Is Your Child a “Professional Gamer.”?
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.
[1] Cook, James (2014) The Story of Video Game Streaming Site Twitch https://www.businessinsider.com/the-story-of-video-game-streaming-site-twitch-2014-10
