The expert spoke about an alternative to computer games for teenagers

Teenagers are spending more and more time on computers and smartphones, immersing themselves in virtual games and esports. However, it is quite possible to find a balance between digital entertainment and real activity, says Dmitry Dobrovolsky, head of the Russian Drift Series, master of sports and current pilot of the RDS Open championship. In an interview with Izvestia on September 23, he told what tasks games perform for teenagers and how to involve children in sports.

"Pleasure, adrenaline, dopamine — teenagers have received all this before, only in other ways. When we were kids, we didn't have computers, but we rode ice slides and played hockey with homemade sticks. Now the same body chemistry is triggered through virtual mechanics," he explained.

One of the main ways to switch a teenager from virtual entertainment to sports is to give him a chance to experience the emotions of a real competition for himself.

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Dobrovolsky emphasizes that it is wrong to contrast sports and games. You can't give ultimatums — you need to find a balance and open up different possibilities.

The expert is convinced that live sports form a personality much more deeply than digital entertainment. Only vision and finger motor skills work in a computer, but in sports the whole body is involved, and there are immeasurably more emotions in it.

At the same time, Dobrovolsky admits that virtual simulations are becoming a real salvation for people with disabilities. So, one of the RDS pilots, confined to a wheelchair, started with a drift simulator and eventually got on a real track.

The expert notes that digital technologies cannot be considered only as a competitor to traditional sports. On the contrary, simulations help to popularize real disciplines.

"Anyone who wants to become a world football champion goes to the gym anyway. It's the same in motorsport: simulators are a great base, but they don't work on their own. However, thanks to them, people start to get interested in racing, watch broadcasts, communicate and come to the sport more prepared," he explains.

According to the expert, it is pointless to fight the games — they are too popular. Therefore, it is necessary to lead this process — to remove meaningless "timekillers" and leave educational games where you need to think and make decisions," says the head of the RDS.

In his opinion, simulation games or sports applications with movement, from racing to dance programs, are suitable as an alternative. The question is not to give up games, but to integrate them into the child's upbringing and development system.

On August 14, it was reported that open testing of video games by local developers would be held in Moscow. Citizens and tourists will get acquainted with the projects of participants of the Moscow accelerator "Video Game Factory" and other Moscow studios. Players will become space zoologists, work in a virtual airship store, solve puzzles and embark on a journey through fantastic worlds.