Parents need to be concerned about the amount of time their children spend playing video games. Even though these games are beneficial, there should be a limit so that it does not get overboard.

Here are some negative effects of video gaming addiction on kids:

• Excessive stimulation of the child’s sensory system:

When your child plays video games, the screen visuals which typically have bright colors and fast-paced movements, transmit over-stimulating data to the nervous system. When this happens, a fight or flight response in the body is evoked due to the production of the adrenaline hormone.

If the child is not playing video games, the stimulation declines, and this causes sensory deprivation that leads to poor attention, irritability and the likes. This usually happens if the child is overly addicted to video games.

• Association with bad values:

Not all video games are good for your kids. Some of them encourage bad values which leads to moral decadence. And if care is not taken, your child will end up thinking that some of these values are not wrong.

Some studies have shown that some video games can cause a decrease in moral engagement and empathy, which is also known as psychosocial characteristics.

• Poor social skills:

Kids who spend too much time playing video games would have a poor social development. The reason for this is, these kids spend too much time in isolation playing these games, than they spend with their peers in real life.

Eventually, it would come to a point where they would consciously prefer to spend time alone with their video games than with their peers.

• Physical and Mental health issues:

There are a plethora of physical and mental health issues that can plague your kids if they are addicted to video games. And the worst part is, these issues can go all the way with them into adulthood. Some of these physical and mental health issues are: Obesity, nerve compression, musculoskeletal disorders, ADHD and the likes.

Here are some points that show the positive side of video gaming:

• Mood and Social Skills improvement

If you are always feeling signs of depression, you need to get your hands on video games and entertain yourself. Video games trigger the happy hormone in your brain known as dopamine, particularly when you win. And the amazing part is, video games take your mind off what is bothering you.

In addition, if you find it hard to improve your social skills, video games would help a lot. You can start by playing multiplayer games that help you build relationships.

• Creativity boost

Are you struggling with creativity? One of the best ways to help yourself is by playing video games. You have to be strategic about selecting the video games to play, as there are some that are quintessential to boosting creativity. With video games, you are able to think outside the box, which is needed in real life.

• Better problem-solving skills

This is similar to creativity boost. Video games helps to improve your problem-solving games. Typically, good video games presents you with tough challenges which must be solved before proceeding to the next stage.

When you are faced with tough issues in life, it would be easier to demystify them if you play good video games.

• Better attention and memory performance

When you are playing video games, you will be focused because you don’t want to fail. This is why 100% attention is needed when playing video games. If there is a slight distraction, you might mess things up immediately.

Similarly, better attention paves way for improved memory performance. It would be easier for you to remember things than before.  

Video games are great, and the benefits listed are just a tip of the iceberg. Also, it is important to be cautious while playing these games to ensure video gaming addiction does not creep in.

As paraphrased from the World Health Organization which recognizes video gaming addiction, it is defined as a pattern of incessant and continuous gaming behavior which takes place either offline or online.

This continuous gaming behavior is characterized by worsened control over gaming, which makes the individual to place more premium on video games, rather than also pay ample attention to other important aspects of their lives.

Around the world, billions of place play video games, but not everyone is addicted. The difference between video gaming addiction and a healthy fun gaming is the detrimental activity which it has in the life of a person.

The fundamental reason why video games were created, was to keep all players invested. Video games were produced with the integration of top-notch behavioral psychology which ensures you are hooked, thereby making you spend lots of hours on gameplay.

Video games provide a form of engrossing experience, that makes your brain to secrete dopamine, which is known as the pleasure hormone.

If you are always exposed to dopamine production, it becomes too much, and this can result in some structural modifications in your brain. Therefore, you begin to reside in a world where you anticipate prompt gratification for a good performance.

Video games are so captivating, that you can play for long hours on end without realizing that lots of hours have gone by. Video games prevent you from making ample progress.

They are social in nature, and they provide an environment where there is a falsehood of safety, and you feel you are in charge.

It is very easy to spot someone who is addicted to video games. First off, the individual would always be preoccupied with video games. They would always think about the past gaming activity, and they would look forward to the next.

In addition to this, they would also lose interest in other activities; their relationship with family and friends becomes strained because they have devoted their time to something else.

There are several adverse effects that comes with gaming addiction. Firstly, the most regular one is reduced performance in work or school. Staying long hours playing video games can negatively affect the performance of a person. There would be failure to work to an optimum and desirable level due to exhaustion or tiredness, from staying up over the night playing a video game. If a child or young one devotes too much time playing video games, issues such as insomnia could set in and also difficulty in paying rapt attention in class.

Also, there is a tendency for a person addicted to games to be psychologically affected. There are video games that display violent acts and scenes, and this may cause players to be insensitive to the act of violence. This has a negative impact on the players and may cause them to start developing and nursing aggressive and hostile thoughts and inclinations. In some rare cases, they become a nuisance and trouble to the society.

There are risks of encountering health problems when one gets too addicted playing games. If all the time a person has is spent on playing game and as a result misses meals or lose considerable amount of rest or sleep, there is a high tendency for such a person to encounter severe health problems. Gaming addiction can lead to medical and health issues such as backache, eye pain, headaches, mental health issues and also a feeling of numbness on the wrists or hands and shoulder due to staying long hours at a particular position or spot, playing games.

Keeping close relationships with friends and family may be on the line if all the time is spent on playing games, rather than interacting or relating with loved ones. Addiction to gaming adversely affects a person such that all he or she would be interested in discussing about, is the subject matter of the video game and nothing else. Arguments and unhelpful conversations would be prevalent.

Therefore, addiction to a video game would be harmful if the individual decides to neglect other activities and engagements, and focus entirely on just playing game. Abandoning other responsibilities that does not relate to playing of video games might have terrible consequences.

People have always loved playing games, both young and old. Game playing is a stress release and a mood lifter. It gives people happy brain chemicals and distracts them from hardships. Historically, game playing has been done with “hardware,” for lack of a better term, meaning that the game is played physically, with people interacting with tangible parts. In modern times, the rules of game playing have been rewritten for digital media.

The game playing of the present day is hard to resist. It is colorful, interactive, and was developed over many years of observing what qualities people want most in a game. In fact, video game designers are aware of the addictive elements of game playing and do their best to program games with as many of these addictive elements as possible. This is consistent with how anything that people find pleasurable is marketed to them. Anything that gives people immense pleasure can be exploited for capitalistic purposes and made to be addictive.

The methods used for creating a video game addiction are catering to short attention spans, using believable and eye catching graphics, timing missions so that they take an optimally pleasant amount of time and adding other attention grabbing elements such as story, humor and a memorable soundtrack. All of these attention consuming elements make it difficult for adults and children alike to put down the video game controller. It is not a wonder that video game addiction is one of the most quickly rising addictions there is.

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Counseling is a viable option for video game addicts. Many addicts take this route to rid themselves of their addiction. Individual counseling is a preferred method of addressing addiction problems to many people because it allows the addict a level of privacy they would not receive in many other treatment settings.

Support groups are also proven to be largely effective for video game addicts. Support groups are an excellent way of receiving the care and attention that is needed without the high costs of rehab or private counseling. Support groups are effective through peer interaction, accountability and like-mindedness.

Self help is always an option for a mild to moderate addict who has had success in the past with self teaching. There is a vast amount of self-help literature available to struggling addicts. Video gaming is one of the more recent addictions acknowledged by mental health professionals, but there is already a considerable amount of literature printed about it.

And lastly, for the video game addict who is seriously losing functionality in their life due to their addiction, rehabilitation is highly recommended. Video game addiction does not pose an immediate threat the way that a meth or heroine addiction does, but it does have the capacity to destroy a person’s life overtime. If you or someone you love is struggling with a video game addiction, see that they receive the level of support they need as soon as possible.

The type of adult video game addiction that begins in childhood is by far the more common and pervasive one. We are reaching a time in history when video games have been around long enough for middle aged people to have played them when they were young. As the video game playing demographic ages, so do video game addictions. Adults who became addicted to video games in their youth are far more likely to have a lifelong pattern of video game addiction. The addictions and coping mechanisms we build for ourselves when we are young are the ones we will typically turn to for our entire lives. With video games being so popular and accessible, video game addiction is beginning younger and younger. It is guaranteed that we will see future adult video game addictions in proportion to the present number of child video game addictions.

Video game addictions that began in adulthood are a whole different animal. These are introduced to a person later in life, typically by a friend or a salesperson, and the habit sticks. People who naturally enjoy games often take to video gaming quickly because it requires similar levels of hand-eye coordination. Soon, they are gaming to the point of excess. However, video game addictions that begin in adulthood are easier to manage. A person is able to break away cleaner from a recent addiction, where as they may struggle for years to end a life long addiction, only to relapse eventually.

The reason kids have a different experience with video game addiction than adults is complex. The life of an addiction is typically more or less severe depending on what age the person discovered the addiction in. When someone has reached maturity, meaning mid twenties or beyond, they are unlikely to discover any addictions that they will not be able to work through and overcome. When someone discovers an addiction in their teen years, it will be harder for them to break. Anything earlier than that is statistically an addiction for life for the individual.

These patterns are due to how the human mind works. The things we turn to for comfort, entertainment, pleasure and security in our youth are habit forming and affect us dramatically into our adult years. A recent addiction is one that a person can reason their way out of because they remember why and how it started, and can retrace their steps. An addiction that begins in youth goes subconscious by adulthood. The individual does not know why they engage in their addiction. They only know that they cannot control their cravings for it.

Video game addictions in kids sets in hard and fast. A young mind is an impressionable one, and the high quality graphics, catchy sounds and other entertaining game elements prove irresistible to kids. Parents are having an increasingly hard time controlling their kid’s video game habits as technology improves. Addiction specialists are seeing more and more children becoming addicted to video games and are trying to make information about video game addiction readily available to parents.

An addicted gamer’s relationships undoubtedly suffer due to a gaming addiction. Family is usually the first to notice. A spouse or a significant other will begin to feel neglected, and children will be wanting for attention. The gamer sets an example of escapism as a priority and hurts the value system of their family. Friends feel the tug of distance as well and begin to feel that they are not a priority to you. Ending your gaming addiction will restore your relationships to their former closeness.

Jobs, school and other personal obligations also begin to go by the wayside when a person has a gaming addiction. Particularly any task that is meant to be completed in the home will be neglected, as that is where the gaming console is. If the gaming addiction is very severe, the gamer may also have a mobile gaming device which distracts them from life outside the home as well. This attachment to gaming devices can result in lost jobs, failing school and a general underachieving way of life.

And lastly, a person’s health will begin to deteriorate if they cannot separate themselves from their gaming addiction. Online gaming is a sedentary activity that involves no athletic ability whatsoever. Repetitive gaming causes muscle deterioration, weight gain and a slowed metabolism. It is far more natural to spend one’s time gaming in real life, in the form of a sport or an obstacle course.

If you are inflicted with a gaming addiction, the best thing you can do for yourself and your loved ones is to end your addiction. This does not mean you have to give up gaming. It simply means you learn to exercise moderation over your addiction. It is unhealthy and unnatural to game in excess. Resist your addiction and restore your relationships, purpose and health to their original state.