Is Your Teen Addicted to Games?
It might seem like all your teen or teenager wants to do these days is to squat with your smartphone, tablet, laptop, or gaming device and play for hours on end. Teens and games go hand in hand, especially when they have access to many different devices and gaming experiences. But how do you know when all that games become too many games?
“Problematic” game
There is currently no classification of “gambling addiction” in the United States, although the World Health Organization defined “gambling disorder” in 2018 as “characterized by impaired control over play, prioritizing play over other activities to such an extent that play takes precedence over play. other interests and daily activities, as well as the continuation or escalation of games, despite the occurrence of negative consequences. “
Sarah Domoff, assistant professor of clinical psychology at the University of Central Michigan, says it’s helpful to think of the problem as “problem play” rather than full-blown addiction.
“Problematic” means doing it so hard that it interferes with the child’s functioning, ”says Domoff, director of the Problem Media Assessment and Treatment Clinic at the university’s Center for Children, Families and Communities . “There is a difference between having fun playing games and having a lot of play, and playing games to the point that they interfere with the functioning of the child.”
In other words, play becomes problematic when it interferes with a child’s learning, social life, or previous hobbies.
Prevention
There are many things that parents can do to prevent problems with play for their children. Setting tentative expectations and limits on game and app usage is good practice for any new device, Domoff said.
“Let’s talk about the kind of relationship we want with technology and the media,” she says, “and what we can do to strike a balance.”
Balance really matters when it comes to teens and games. Some play time is fine – as long as they play safe and age-appropriate games – but they will also need to agree to allow enough time for things like homework, school, extracurricular activities, and private time with family and friends. …
The American Academy of Pediatrics has an online family media plan you can fill out with your kids to set limits on screenless zones, screenless times, and curfews for devices, and to emphasize safety and good digital citizenship. For starters, it is recommended that you turn off all screens an hour before bed, so as not to disturb sleep, and reduce the number (or completely remove) devices from your bedrooms.
But it’s also a good idea to talk to your kids about what they like about games and play with them, says Domoff. In particular, playing with them can be useful for ensuring the safety of their game and determining who they are interacting with. It can also provide an opportunity to talk about ads and manipulative in-app purchases in the moment, which can help them develop critical thinking skills about how advertisers are targeting them.
“We need to go beyond just setting timelines and be more present and communicate with young people about what they love about video games,” Domoff says.
Signs of problematic use – and what to do about it
Problematic use cannot simply be measured by the amount of time teenagers spend playing, Domoff said. Instead, it is important to see how such use affects their functioning in other areas of their lives.
If they skip school because of play, because of this they have problems with their peers, or they have lost interest in activities that they used to love because they do not want to stop playing, these are all warning signs that they are using it has become problematic. It can also be a problem if they get overly angry when they need to stop playing, their usage increases over time, or they sneak to use their gaming devices.
In many cases, the problematic behavior stems from a problem with setting limits, Domoff said; parental intervention and stricter limits on play that promote better balance in other areas of their lives may be all that is needed to improve the situation.
However, if a parent is really struggling to manage their behavior, she says it can be helpful to seek out a professional with experience in parenting management training that aims to change parenting behavior, or a psychologist with experience working with adolescents through cognitive behavioral therapy. There are also several options for inpatient play treatment programs, but most adolescents will not need this extensive treatment.
When working to reduce a child’s problematic behavior, keep in mind that excessive play may actually be, at least in part, caused by another underlying problem that may make them more susceptible to it, such as emotional regulation problems, anxiety, depression, ADHD, or autism. spectrum disorder.
In general, when you start addressing your child’s play problems, it is important to avoid actually using the word addiction to refer to them, says Dr. Michael Bishop, director of Summerland Therapy Camp for Teens with Technology Abuse, to NPR :
“We think this problem is best presented as a ‘habit’ rather than an ‘addiction,’ says Bishop. “When teens think of their behavior as a habit, they have more opportunities to change.”
And, unlike other types of addiction, such as addiction to drugs, alcohol or gambling, total abstinence from screens in the future is unrealistic. Instead, the key is to reduce addiction to games and promote healthy use of devices and their screens.