“China has barred online gamers under the age of 18 from playing on weekdays and limited their play to just three hours most weekends, marking a significant escalation of restrictions on the country’s massive gaming industry.” (CNN, sep-2021)
That is one of the recent news which appears again and again along years. What’s wrong about video games? Even there is a statement caming after a newspaper owned by Xinhua published a lengthy analysis that used terms such as “spiritual opium” and “electronic drug” to describe the harmful effects of gaming on children.
Even though gaming has been around for almost 50 years, studies about its harms are still in the early stages. Different groups have come to different conclusions about whether problem playing should be called an addiction.The World Health Organization added “gaming disorder” to the 2018 version of its medical reference book, International Classification of Diseases. But the American Psychiatry Association’s manual, the DSM-5, didn’t. (So far, gambling is the only “activity” listed as a possible addiction.)
According to criteria that were proposed in the DSM-5:
- Thinking about gaming all or a lot of the time
- Feeling bad when you can’t play
- Needing to spend more and more time playing to feel good
- Not being able to quit or even play less
- Not wanting to do other things that you used to like
- Having problems at work, school, or home because of your gaming
- Playing despite these problems
- Lying to people close to you about how much time you spend playing
- Using gaming to ease bad moods and feelings
Of course, not everyone who plays a lot has a problem with gaming. Some experts say that it’s harmful to label people who might just be very enthusiastic about gaming. One thing they do agree on is that the percentage of players who meet the proposed criteria for addiction to video games is small. It’s estimated to be somewhere between 1% and 9% of all gamers, adults and kids alike.
To keep the amount of time spent gaming under control, try these tips for adults and kids alike:
- Set time limits for play and stick to them.
- Keep phones and other gadgets out of the bedroom so you won’t play into the night.
- Do other activities every day, including exercise. This will lower the health risks of sitting and playing for long stretches of time.
No one knows whether certain kinds of games are more likely to lead to problem gaming. For the time being, make sure that your child is only playing games rated for their age.
instagram.com/sahabatpare_lingua
0878-0444-2000