Video game addiction

Definitely. The World Health Organization (WHO) has already recognized video game addiction as a mental disorder, maintaining that a minority of gamers could develop addictive use of video games with symptoms similar to drug addiction.

Being addicted to something limits you in your life and generates constant problems at a social, family and work level. What kind of addiction? It is not important.

In case you need it, yes. The discomfort before the game is often the reason for falling into addiction. I have a problem and I don’t know how to deal with it. Find on the screen an escape and relaxation. I don’t think about my problems, I feel accepted.

When you psychotherapeutically eliminate the problem, the need and dependency disappear.

Your child will not lose friends or be left alone. On the contrary, they will have more real social skills (not through a screen) that will make them know how to develop better in their peer group.
The development of this problematic behavior could be due to a coping mechanism in the face of problems or social difficulties of adolescents. Low social competence would be a risk factor for the development of video game addiction.
We must offer an alternative to their fun and teach them to manage emotions, frustrations and immediacy.

It’s not hard to guess that video game designers want their users to play as long as possible for their own benefit. They generate THE “OBLIGATION” TO PLAY EVERY DAY AND OTHER STRATEGIES OF ENHANCEMENT.

Dopamine, the neurotransmitter known as the reward (or pleasure) hormone, increases in brain availability every time someone wins a game. Other risk factors can be added to this biological aspect: intra-family communication, the player’s temperament and personality, their situation, low self-esteem, a sedentary lifestyle, intra-family conflicts, or the few leisure alternatives without screens.

Many of today’s games have daily quests. They ask you to play every day to access the requirements to have a better character, or more level.
The vast majority of video games incorporate strategies and resources that are traditionally present in games of chance, such as surprise chests or casinos. There is no economic return, but it is an experience and learning of the dynamics of the game of chance. A teenager would not have to have contact with these kinds of experiences.

The video game has a regulation: the PEGI code, which guides on ages and content. The PEGI System (Pan European Game Information) is a self-regulatory mechanism designed by the industry to provide its products with guidance information on the appropriate age for consumption.

That is to say, the video game industry itself is the one who sets the recommended age….

Of course. Big technology companies have developed platforms for players to interact on them while they play, known and unknown with the risk that it implies.

Your child will see videos of other players playing (even current referents such as YouTubers), which generates more need to play.
An open door to gambling: The latest report from the Spanish Observatory for Drugs and Addictions, from 2018, stated that 82% of young people between the ages of 14 and 18 had played video games in the last year, half of them weekly, and the vast majority an average of two hours a day. Three out of ten said they had spent money in the game to improve their position, their character, their accessories or their image. And 6 percent of the total would present a potential disorder due to the use of video games.