An addiction is defined as dependence on a substance, activity, or relationship. Addictions control the thoughts and behaviors of people who seek only to get or perform the desired thing.
In recent years there has been an increased incidence of video game addictions, especially in children. It is true that video games have their advantages, but when the child is not able to play anything else, when he prefers to be locked up at home with himself rather than going out to play with friends, things change. It is no longer a game but an addiction.
How do I know if my child is addicted to video games?
Some of the most common symptoms in children with video game addiction are:
- Unusual behavior: they have very disruptive behaviors when not playing and, even when they do play, they may seem indifferent, distracted and irritable.
- Isolation from family and friends: They can spend hours of a weekend in front of the screen, even subtracting hours of sleep or even forgetting to eat. Social interaction is conspicuous by its absence.
- Lack of control: When they do not control themselves in the use of the game they do not see the time to finish and they lose emotional control when they are given rules regarding game time.
- Impulsive habits: They need to play immediately and if they have money saved they are able to invest a lot to buy more games, accessories, etc. They don’t care about money, they just want to get more. They don’t care about money, they just want to get more and more.
- They lose track of time: In many occasions they start playing and lose track of time, which can lead to getting up from the chair after eight hours. They evade reality and it is a way of not accepting it.
- They have negative effects in other areas of their life, especially in health and studies, since they use the time they should dedicate to other things only in the game.
- Concealment of negative or uncomfortable feelings: There are children who use video games to self-medicate emotionally and avoid difficult situations.
- They deny the obvious: When confronted with the problem they deny it and can become aggressive.
- They do not manage their money well: They invest everything in this pastime and if parents refuse to buy them more things of this type, they become very irritable.
Why does addiction to video games appear?
For children and/or adolescents it is easier and more comfortable to play with these games than having to deal with the problems of life, because although they are small they also have conflicts that they will have to learn to solve. Video games are an escape hatch, no arguments, no friends to get angry… When the child clings to his controller, with no one to argue with, everything becomes easy. It is an internal struggle, a personal effort to improve himself. If we also add rabid colors, attractive drawings and prizes for achievements, we already have the perfect breeding ground for an addiction to develop.
What are the benefits of video games?
In small doses, video games are not bad, as they improve the child’s deductive capacity, exercise their reflexes, are good for them to learn in a simpler way the spatial conception, to overcome challenges, to decide quickly ….. But when video games become an obsession, problems arise: the child blurs the boundary between reality and fiction, they become less sociable, do not do enough physical activity and become more irascible and anxious.
In consultation, the cause that may have led to the addiction is studied and behavioral intervention is carried out by means of a stimulus control.
Tips to prevent your children from abusing video games
- Let them play for a week and write down the hours they spend playing. At the end of the week sit down with him, and let him know in a simple and direct way the hours he has lost, and that he could have dedicated to another activity.
- Establish a schedule and rules. Repeat them whenever he starts playing. For example, agree that he can play for 30 minutes each day, as long as he has finished his homework.
- Make them understand the expectations and if they don’t follow through, give them a warning and explain what will happen to them if they continue to act this way. For example, if he refuses to turn off the video game console, we can tell him that if he doesn’t turn it off in 30 seconds, he will lose the privilege of playing tomorrow.
- Suggest alternatives and take your child to outdoor activities where he or she can interact with other children.
- Ask your child to show you a video game and play with him. This way we will know more about his attitude when he plays, if he is calm, if he is competitive, if he is aggressive, if he takes it really seriously…
- Take away his most precious video game if he plays more than agreed. We already have a powerful weapon, we tell him the time of that withdrawal.
Are some people more predisposed to fall into this addiction?
Definitely yes, people with low self-esteem, people who experience loneliness, social incompetence … Nothing is comparable in terms of social interaction per se, in terms of reinforcers received, but it does happen that if we do not have good social interactions, there is the virtual world to satisfy them and of course with the danger of going from abuse to addiction.
There is a lot of talk about the video game Fortnite, is it so addictive?
The fashionable online game, with 45 million fans, triggers alerts on platforms such as change.org, which ask to ban it for its addictive potential. On the other hand, specialists warn of the rise of addiction to these products, recognized this year by the WHO as a disease. For some people it becomes a serious problem because it robs them of their well-being and invades their ability to work and form social relationships in real life.