How to Treat your Child’s Video Game Addiction



Symptoms and Bad Effects of Video Game Addiction

Although the existence of video game addiction as a disease is not yet settled in the scientific community, it has been observed that even excessive video game playing have serious negative effects on many kids.  Here are some of the bad effects of video game addiction:

  • Obsessive behavior – Always preoccupied with getting back to the game and displaying irritable, restless and aggressive behavior when not playing.
  • Lack of sleep – Kids who play excessively do so up to the wee hours of the morning. This results in sleep deprivation, which is more harmful to minds that are still developing.  When they have school the next day, it affects their attention and learning. Their lack of sleep also causes them to have headaches and feel fatigued throughout the day.
  • Lack of physical exercise – Also kids who play excessively exercise less, if at all. This results in other health problems, as well as losing the opportunity to develop brain since exercise is good for the brain.
  • Other Physical problems – Overuse of mouse or controller may lead to carpal tunnel syndrome. Other complain of dry eyes, migraine headaches, and back aches. Other gamers also neglect their hygiene.
  • Social isolation – Excessive playing takes time away from kids to interact with family members and friends. Being isolated most of the time deprive a child from developing social skills that he could learn from hanging out with friends.  Although online games are mostly social, the skills kids can learn from it are very limited because they are not face-to-face interactions.
  • Having gaming as his only focus in life – A child can be so obsessed with gaming that he is only motivated by it, talks about it all the time, and most of his thinking centers on playing.
  • Neglect of school activities and responsibilities – Because of games, some kids are truanting from school to play (Keepers, 1990; Griffiths & Hunt, 1998), not doing homework/getting bad marks at school (Griffiths & Hunt, 1998; Phillips et al, 1995)




How to Break Your Child’s Video Game Addiction

In moderation, video games can have a lot of benefits.  However, when video game playing is excessive to the point that it brings about the bad effects above, parents should seriously consider limiting their kids’ gaming time.

Here are some tips to break your child’s video game addiction:

  • Talk to your child to put his video gaming in perspective – Explain to him that it is an entertainment or a past time, and is not what his life is about. Make him be aware that success in the gaming world is virtual or imaginary, and has nothing to do with real life success.  It is more worthwhile to earn points in real life (by getting good grades, earning real money, learning a real life useful skill) than in fantasy worlds.
  • Determine a reasonable time for your child to play in moderation – A good time would be one hour on a school day, and 2 – 3 hours maximum on weekends.
  • Set specific rules for gaming time limit and be firm about it – Make it clear to your child specifically how much time you are allowing him to play (one hour, two hours, only until 9 pm), and make sure that you strictly enforce it. Giving him leniency every once in a while can become a slippery slope, and your child will not take the rule seriously anymore.
  • Create consequences for not following your rule – You can ban your child for gaming for a week if he exceeds your time limit.
  • Make game time a reward – Make your child’s gaming time contingent to his actually fulfilling or failing a goal. For example, you can allow your child to play on school days if he maintains a certain grade, but if not, he can only play on weekends.  Or allow your child to play only if he has done his chores.
  • Track your child’s game time – Games, especially the great ones, are designed to be immersive, and your child can easily lose track of time playing them. Most games also entice your child to keep moving up levels, or to keep trying until he succeeds in a level, and this could make him so engaged that what seems like an hour of play is actually already 3 hours.  Logging your child’s game time can also make him aware of how much of his time is spent playing games.  If he really play games excessively, it can be a wake- up call for him, and that would motivate you to cut back.
  • Use tools to set limits for his game time – Use tools such as a kitchen timer to limit his playing. If that fails, buy a timer that automatically turns off his computer after a given amount of time. 



https://youtu.be/_-KV0l6o5FE

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Internet Addiction

Image
How Much Is Too Much Time On The Internet?   Signs Your Child May Become an Internet Addict Too much time Stays online much longer than intended to originally Sneaks online when you or other adults aren’t watching Lies about the amount of time spent on the Internet Emotional fallout Becomes angry and/or agitated when interrupted while online Gets irritable when access to the Web is denied Becomes moody, irritable, and/or depressed when offline for a couple days Pre-occupied with online life Prefers being online than being around real, live friends and family When offline, remains preoccupied with getting back online Checks social media and emails frequently throughout each day Sacrifices doing homework or household chores for being on the Internet Forms new bonds with people met on the Web Loses all interest in activities previously enjoyed before becoming obsessed with being online for more information visit
Read more

raise awareness

Image
  The Negative Effects of Internet Addiction in Children Nowadays, individuals cutting across generations use the Internet. However, it is teens who use it more than other age groups. They use it for various reasons, from taking help for academics in the form of online tuitions to staying connected with their peers and family. However, excessive Internet use (EIU) can cause a child to develop Internet addiction or compulsive internet use (CIU), which can cause several ill effects. It can also result in a range of harmful behavior such as wrong use of social media, impulsive online buying, excessive video gaming and online gaming which is collectively termed as problematic use of the internet (PUI). Negative effects of Internet addiction Anxiety, sadness and depression : Kids or teens who spend most of their time in the virtual world gradually move away from the real world and start living in a world of fantasy. After a certain period, they become dependent on the Internet to f...
Read more