Built to Click: Digital Financial Literacy for Kids Starts With the Brain

November 4, 2025 | Verizon.com

If your child plays online games, you’re likely no stranger to requests for coins, credits or upgrades. You also know that reasoning with a kid mid-game is like trying to bargain with a toddler in the candy aisle.

“When coins or credits hit their account, it’s like an instant dopamine rush,” says Dr. Roseann Capanna-Hodge, a licensed school psychologist and founder of the Global Institute of Children’s Mental Health.

Why? Because kids are wired to chase the rush before they’ve built the brakes to slow it down, Capanna-Hodge says. The results can be good: The pull toward rewards drives kids to explore, try new things and connect socially—all important parts of growing up. But when it comes to spending, a lack of impulse control can be costly. That means the challenge for parents is to guide financial literacy for kids when it comes to spending money in games.

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