Cyber Security Expert Shares Five Key Warning Signs Your Child Is Addicted To Gaming
By Trevor Cooke, EarthWeb
Expert Shares The Five Signs of Gaming Addiction Every Parent Should Know
With its combination of amazing graphics, beautiful musical scores, and non-stop excitement, the gaming world has now grown bigger than the music and film industries combined. When your child returns home from school, they may like nothing more than playing online games with friends. But how can you tell when they’re spending too much time gaming – and how can you step in?
Trevor Cooke, the online privacy expert at EarthWeb, discusses the warning signs that your child’s pastim is becoming a harmful obsession.
Physical Health Issues
Excessive gaming can lead to eye strain, headaches, and migraines as a result of staring at a screen for long periods. At times kids can experience seizures due to the flashing lights some games produce, while others develop carpal tunnel syndrome in their wrists, hands, and fingers after moving them in the same way for hours on end.
Sitting for prolonged periods in the same position can lead to poor posture, negatively impacting the spine and joints over time. A sedentary lifestyle – i.e., not getting enough exercise – is also one of the key contributors to weight gain.
Reduced Self-Care
A decline in personal hygiene or neglect of physical health is a serious sign that gaming is taking precedence over your child’s well-being. Watch out for them missing showers, not brushing their teeth, or other hygiene issues, especially if their excuse is that they need more time to game.
In some cases kids may miss meals to squeeze in more gaming time, and even develop eating disorders. Ensuring you eat together as a family will allow you to make sure your child is eating properly.
Other problems include staying up late to play games or having difficulty sleeping due to excessive screen time, which can seriously impact both children’s health and their academic achievement.
Mental Health Issues
Children addicted to gaming may exhibit mood swings, irritability, stress, or aggression – especially when they’re asked to stop playing. They may also withdraw from family and friends to spend more time gaming, leading to them becoming socially isolated. Social isolation can affect a child’s ability to develop and maintain healthy relationships, as they don’t gain enough experience with socializing in their formative years. Encouraging them to meet with friends face-to-face or join a club can help balance their love of games with other fun, more social activities.
Negative Behavior Patterns
Has your child lost interest in activities they once enjoyed, such as hobbies, sports, or social events? Does gaming take precedence over homework, chores, and other responsibilities? These negative behavior patterns could indicate gaming is becoming an obsession rather than a fun pastime.
Teenagers especially may be at risk of spending excessive amounts of money on games, in-game purchases, or gaming equipment. Certain genres of games, including those known as ‘gacha’ games, are specifically designed to entice players to spend vast amounts of money, sometimes as much as $1000 per month. If your child is interested in these games, you should explain the various tactics they use to convince players to spend, so they can be aware when the game is trying to manipulate them. You should also never allow your child to link any of your bank accounts or cards to their game console, as this makes it very easy to rack up huge bills with only a few clicks.
Declining Academic Performance
You may have recently had a disappointing school parents’ evening or end-of-term report. If so, your child’s grades could be suffering because of the time and attention they devote to gaming. Staying up late to game could mean they don’t get enough sleep to concentrate in class, or gaming could be taking up time they would otherwise use to study.
Kids may become secretive about their gaming habits – playing in the middle of the night, or lying about the amount of time they spend gaming. If your child is doing this, try having a frank, open conversation about why spending too much time on gaming is a bad idea. You can also deal with this by switching off your internet connection – some providers allow you to lock your child out of this function entirely, ensuring they can’t sneakily switch it back on when you go to bed. You can also always confiscate the power cord of your child’s console, or the console itself if it’s handheld.
Learning how much time should be spent on gaming is just a bigger part of your child learning how to effectively and healthily manage their time. Trevor says, ‘Have open conversations if your child displays any of these warning signs, and set healthy boundaries around screen time. With the right support and intervention, kids can enjoy games rather than be ruled by them.’

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