The problem is it tends to rely for efficacy on highly variable human judgement and the open ended uncertainty of creating a discipline and sticking to it. Nevertheless it holds true for so many pleasures that can easily tip into a vice, whether it be as common as the warning written on every bottle of alcohol or such simple indulgences such as chocolate or sleeping in. So many parents will breathe at least a little relief that when it comes to the controls over children’s gaming moderation again seems to be the key.

A study of more than 3,000 children participating in the Growing Up in Australia reported on children’s use of electronic games when their children were eight or nine years of age and then looked at how this had affected the  children’s social and emotional development and academic achievement, two years later when the children were 10 or 11.

More than half of children of the test group played electronic games for at most four hours per week but a further quarter played more than seven hours per week.

The good news is that this low use of electronic games, under four hours or 30 minutes per day, had a positive effect on children’s later academic achievement.  At the same time the results showed those who played electronic games for more than one hour per day or seven hours a week were identified two years later by their teachers as having poor attention span, less ability to stay on task, and displaying more emotional difficulties.

But in the spirit of moderation it is also interesting to note that no gaming at all doesn't necessarily deliver a better outcome. Perhaps vexing for the Schadenfreude spirit which wants a powerful stick to wield against such indulgence, the report found children who were reported as playing electronic games infrequently or not at all did not appear to benefit in terms of literacy or mathematics achievement.

However none of this research takes into account what games children in the test study were playing or the relative quality of the games. Perhaps above all, a lesson of moderation learnt over something they enjoy, that personal responsibility for restraint, if developed in children could be the life lesson most valuable of all.