One of the common activities among teenagers is video games. With the various devices, teenagers can play their favorite games at any place and time. However, video gaming addiction might begin to set in when they start to neglect other vital activities because they want to play video games.

If you are not sure whether your teenager is struggling with video gaming addiction, here are some tips to help you observe better.

Reduced performance in school activities

One of the easiest ways to know that your teen is addicted to video games is when there is a drop in their performance at school.

They might record abysmal scores in tests and assignments because they didn’t dedicate enough time to school tasks. Additionally, they might not really be involved in regular school activities because they are more focused on their video games.

Isolation

When a teen is addicted to video games, it might be hard for them to sustain good relationship with other people. They will prefer to stay in the comfort of their rooms and play their video games, instead of spending time with family and friends.

Conflicts

One of the major causes of conflicts between addicted teenagers and their loved ones is when they are quizzed about the number of hours they spend on video games.

Some of them might lie or argue with their parents or caregivers which might strain the relationship between both parties.

A decline in personal hygiene

Another way to know when a teenager is struggling with video gaming addiction is when they don’t pay good attention to their hygiene. They might go for some days without practicing the basic self-care habits that would make them look good.

When you notice that your teenager does not invest more time into essential tasks, it is a pointer that they might be addicted, but they don’t even know what they are facing.

You can help your teenager get help by talking to them and taking them to an addiction treatment center.

The notion behind a lot of games is an idealistic fun approach to solving problems. While others focus on mental relaxation and pathological recreation. In most societies, the media tends to concentrate on the drawbacks of gaming other than embracing its positive impact on people.

The various merits of gaming

1. Improved decision-making skills: many adventure and sport-games require players to make quick, informed, and useful decisions to win. Games having peripheral moving pictures tend to increase sensory alertness and aid decision-making processes. Therefore, Kids who spend reasonable hours playing games grow up to become extraordinary decision-makers.
2. Exceptional problem-solving skills: every game has a problem that the player must solve to proceed to the next stage. Multiple levels, difficult tasks, adventure-based, and complicated puzzles are some of the characteristics of games that help kids become better problem solvers.

While children spend several hours trying to solve problems on their game, their thinking capacity evolves and assists them with solving real-life issues as they fall due.

• Increased learning ability: some study shows that healthy gamers may possess exceptional ability to learn complex things faster than non-gamers. Due to the level of complexity, pleasure, and reward system that makes up a game, kids who play games tend to have a higher intelligence quotient that aids rapid learning processes.

Games are a good way to increase gray matter in the brain. Increased gray matter boosts brain connectivity, perception, and memory.

• Enhanced social skills: With the advent of online multiplayer games, gamers have been able to socialize and become socially aware of their environment. Funnily, some people meet lifelong friends and partners while playing online.
• Informative and academic purposes: in recent times, games are used as a fun way to persuade students into learning.  Developers now make games that help students improve their reading, maths skills, and even help kids learn new words.

No matter how advantageous gaming can be, parents and guardians should ensure that it is done with moderation. Its benefits are not a justification to play games for 10 hours daily.

Gaming addiction has been declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a mental health disorder.

If your children are fond of spending long hours playing video games, you should consider ensuring they don’t get addicted. Not only kids are vulnerable to gaming addiction, teenagers, youths, and adults are also prone to experiencing it.

Gaming addiction refers to a pathological behavioral condition, that encapsulates the minds of children from several aspects of their lives.

How does it start?

Children who suffer from obsessive gaming do not just fall into it in a day. It is the accumulated hours of tireless play over a long period that causes it.

Kids who overly cherish video gaming other than hanging out with friends, reading, doing outdoor sports, and other similar social activities are vulnerable to gaming addiction.

What are the effects?

An insight into how excessive gaming affects people is key to understanding the ways through which they can be controlled. Excessive gaming habit can affect a person in several areas, some of which are:

• Social isolation and relationship problems.
• Academics and work-life crisis.
• Inadequate sleep time.
• Lack of interest in activities that have educational and societal benefits.
• Mental and physical health issues.

Ways to control video game addiction

If duly checked and controlled, video games could be advantageous in various ways. Gaming is meant to be for relaxation and recreation. Parents should ensure to monitor their kid’s game time and consider the following tips:

• Place restrictions on gaming hours.
• Ensure there is always an activity to keep them occupied before and especially after their game time.
• Introduce your child to sporting and other outdoor activities.
• Ensure their gaming console or computer is kept in a public area of the house where you can see them play. This will assist you to monitor their gaming hours and aid restrictive measures.
• Talk to them about how rewarding other activities with scholarly and physical benefits could be for them.
• Help your child make friends that enjoy outdoor and social activities other than gaming.
• If the situation seems too serious, consult a therapist.

A woman’s child comes to school, failing to act the same as the rest of his/her peers－but instead remains unengaged. The rest of the kids are full of excitement, as they circle the playground time and time again. But even so, this does little in getting the attention of the one-child who has isolated himself/herself from the rest of his/her classmates. The other students struggle to discern what’s wrong with him/her at their age, and resume in their game of hide and seek. Yet in doing so, fail to understand what is going on at home for the child they have deemed as nothing short of an outcast. 

The above scenario paints a possible picture of what it is like for children who are affected by the substance abuse of a parent. Consequently, some may believe that the addict is only hurting himself/herself, but when he/she has another life to take care of besides his/her own, he/she is hurting him/her as well. This doesn’t just go for children from preschool through elementary school, but pre-teens as well, as they begin to lose more and more focus on their work at hand. In turn, the attentiveness they may have once had while at school may replace itself with anxiety, depression, and other similar health issues－as a result of the stress they may feel while in the presence of their parent(s). 

In addition to such, a child seeing his/her parents engage in substance abuse can serve as a breeding ground for future addiction. When growing up, a child looks at his/her parent—and/or parents—as role model(s). But when the environment is unsafe by way of harmful—and/or negative—behaviors this can impact the learning behavior of the child. Depending on how young he/she is, he/she may pick up on these particular stimulants, and carry them with him/her as he/she continues to develop. He/she might even begin to think that it is healthy to deal with emotional issues—through substance abuse—because that is what he/she has been taught via his/her environment. 

In conclusion, if a parent is struggling with substance abuse—via drugs, alcohol, or both—it is best that he/she gets the help that he/she needs early on. In doing so, she is not only helping himself/herself—and improving his/her well being—but the wellbeing of his/her child. He/she can then find himself/herself fully engaged and present in the life of his/her child. And as a result, the parent will not only be a whole lot happier but the child as well.

Oftentimes, video games are a big pastime for individuals who either want to master—and/or beat—the game itself, or want to escape reality. Some may even find themselves feeling free from a current situation—and/or circumstance—that they are having difficulty dealing with, and/or see as problematic. But, when this turns from the occasional pastime to several hours on a daily basis, what was once an escape, can soon turn into a trap, as it begins to consume a huge amount of their time. In turn there are two factors in which video game addiction can stem from—and/or be associated with—which are listed as follows; one is standard video games, while the other is multiplayer video games.

Therefore, one can take the gamer, and the gamer’s preference, and see as to why they enjoy the game itself, and/or analysis how the game serves as their means of escape. For some, they may find themselves reaching goals in a virtual reality which they feel as though they can’t do otherwise, or they might even find themselves wanting to be the top player, and/or the best of the best. Consequently, no matter whether their “need” to game stems from the competition, or other factors, this can cause not just emotional and mental health risks, but can also be detrimental to their physical health as well.

One of the biggest ways in which we see this is through fatigue, migraines, and/or eye strains that the individual is faced when they begin to take part in gaming. For, as they stare at the screen for long periods of time they may find this to cause a significant amount of problems to their vision, not only presently, but in their future. Yet unfortunately, the eye strain is not noticeable, and many oftentimes dismiss such. But, the consequences that follow such can be very grave, as they may result in eye damage, mild or severe.

In conclusion, if one feels as though they are suffering from an addiction to gaming, he/she shouldn’t be afraid to reach out for help as soon as possible, before the gaming consumption worsens. It is then that he/she can begin to regain his/her life back, and begin to come to terms with the underlying cause—and/or source—of his/her gaming addiction. It isn’t until the root of the problem is found, that it can be uprooted, so that he/she can begin anew.

Video games are so strongly associated with recreation and even with childhood that people tend to dismiss them as fun and harmless. However, if you have ever known someone who is a compulsive gamer, you know its a little more serious than all that. People have been known to go into a vortex of video gaming and never come out. Lifetime video gamers can be very intense, even concerning people, when it comes to video games. They will invest an excessive amount of their time, emotion, money and energy into video games, and will simultaneously begin to neglect the other things in their life that used to matter to them.

Someone who is crazy about video games will give more of themselves to games than the average person would ever fathom giving. When a new game is released, they will prioritize their personal calendars around playing it, eliminating things that should take priority. They will spend incredible sums of money on game consoles, gaming chairs, gaming accessories and the games themselves, even at the cost of going into the red in other financial areas. Their energy will be consumed by gaming, as well as their emotional state. Many avid gamers have unwarranted emotional reactions over the games they play.

Being obsessed with video games is not becoming on anyone. The people in your life will not mind your video game playing if you keep it in check, but if you let it consume you, it has the potential to really mess up your life. You will discover that the money you invest into it is actually direly needed to pay bills, the time you have wasted on it should have been put to better use and people who used to care about you or work with you have become frustrated with you. Every mature adult needs to learn how to moderate their time between fun and responsibility. This applies to gamers as well. If you are a gamer who has tried to moderate your gaming but do not know how, consider addiction treatment. Video game addiction is a very real thing!

As video games go, some are more known for their addictive qualities than others. A huge number of video games can have an addictive appeal to people, but some have been found to be more universally addictive than others. For the game developers, this is great news. It means their game is going to make them a lot of money and they are going to become giants in the gaming world. But for the video game addicts and those who depend on them for time, energy and affection, it means that life is going to be imbalanced. Here is a list of several of the most highly addictive video games know to the gaming industry.

• Everquest. One of the games that is considered most addictive among video games is Everquest. This game is an online multi-player game that is all about role playing and fantasy. This game is reminiscent of Dungeons and Dragons for the characters and avatars it provides. This game achieved worldwide recognition when it won a GameSpot Game of the Year award in 1999 and an Emmy Award in 2007 for Technology and Engineering.
• Grand Theft Auto. This well known game is actually a series of games that are action and adventure oriented. The games have realistic elements in that they are set in cities that are meant to resemble large U.S. cities, and the characters in the games resemble people involved in crime operations. The premise of the game is to carry out criminal activities in order to make a living, but in doing so, there are endless opportunities to wreak criminal havoc on the city. This game is considered to be a cathartic way for people to express their inner criminal.
• World of Warcraft. Like Everquest, World of Warcraft is an online, multi-player fantasy game. It involves creating an avatar and interacting with mythical characters in order to complete quests. World of Warcraft is the highest grossing video games of all time and is the Guinness World Record holder for the most popular massive multiplayer online role-playing game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzM_0NwLExA

Video game enthusiasts are a unique group of people. You will seldom find people who are more devoted to a hobby. Video game enthusiasts clear their calendars for the release of their favorite games and play them with their gaming friends for hours upon hours. This is all good and well so long as the habit remains a hobby. But when it begins to resemble an addiction, problems are sure to arise. Video game addiction is a rising trend in North America and it has very serious consequences. For those who love video games, a hobby or an addiction are the only ways to identify their condition.

Those who play video games as a hobby are doing nothing wrong. Video games had a bad reputation for many years as a growing number of concerned parents were blaming them for their children’s health problems. This concern has become more about parents supervising how their children spend their time than an attack on video games. The first generation that had access to a number of video games grew up with them and proved that they are for adults just as much as they are for children. It was this generation that became the first mature hobby gamers. In moderation, playing video games is perfectly healthy, and has actually proven to increase hand-eye coordination.

The problem exists when hobby turns into addiction. A video game addiction is distinct from a hobby in that the level of excess it is taken to is out of control. Video games have been found to have the same effect on the brain that gambling and sex have in many ways, and those who become genuine addicts are unable to restrain themselves. A video game addicted person invests excessive time, money and energy into their video game addiction to the point that they are neglecting their personal relationships, vocations and life responsibilities. Someone who has taken their love of video games this far may be in need of professional intervention.