THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Ethan Winters, a civilian, is searching for his missing wife in the Baker house. He has armed himself with a variety of different weapons including handguns, shotguns, flamethrowers and explosives to attack the Baker family. He has to go through many hurdles and escape attacks from the enemies. He has many things going on in his mind. He has to save his wife but will he be able to escape the enemies?
In real life, this Ethan is BTech student Rahul (name changed) from Dehradun, who spends his entire day in front of his PC playing this ‘survival horror game’ Resident’s Evil and trying out new online games and adding more to his collection of gaming consoles. Losing at a gaming competition earlier has led him to spend hours playing the game and finally win it. Is this dependence on gaming some kind of addiction that needs clinical intervention?
This has become a growing concern for parents whether their ward has fallen prey to what is labelled ‘internet addiction’. “This is an adolescent issue as the trend is to engage in video games. It is increasing day by day as more number of younger children are involved in these games. One of the prime reasons is the lack of parental involvement and quality time with children,” says Dr Jayaprakash R, child psychiatrist, Behavioural Paediatrics Unit, SAT hospital, who has been handling the extreme cases of digital addiction among children.
According to Jayaprakash, about 10 to 15 cases related to internet addiction reach him in a month. Most of the patients fall into the category of 14 to 18 years. This is the time the child goes through both physiological and psychological challenges. During this time, if children are not given proper supervision, there are chances of them falling prey to these digital traps. “Parental involvement is necessary so the children are not vulnerable to cyberbullying and self-harming games such as The Blue Whale Challenge and the Momo Challenge,” he says.
Psychologists have also expressed their concerns about the increasing gaming addiction. “There are some obvious reasons for internet addiction such as lack of engagement with peers and parents, and also parental neglect. Children from 10 years of age are prone to internet addiction. This continues till they grow up,” says C J John, a psychologist at Kerala Mission Hospital, Kochi.
Some parents had a hard time getting their children out of these addictive online games. “I had to face the wrath of online games and still am going through it. My son went for his higher studies in Dehradun. He was a bright student but then he started playing online games for long hours and got addicted. He had no connection with real life and wouldn’t talk to anyone. I spend eight years trying to bring him back to normalcy but he’s not fully out of it,” says a senior central government employee.
“Every addiction begins at availability,” says Dr Hafiz Mohammad, sociologist and counsellor, Department of Sociology, University of Calicut. He says that there is always a peer group formation which tends to celebrate gaming. Some children even questioned him how one can stay without technology when brought for counselling sessions. Games like the Blue Whale Challenge and the Momo Challenge make them feel that they are winning and develop a competitive spirit for it, which ultimately leads to addiction. He says, “Children need to be given counselling so that they don’t fall prey to online games. Sometimes it is easy to counsel them. At times, it’s difficult to get them back to their normal lives.”
Besides these, the exposure of children to pornography sites is also a major concern for parents. Jayaprakash says, “There was an instance where a girl of Class VII was in a relationship with a bus conductor’s assistant. The girl’s mother got to know about it when the lover forwarded adult contents in her mobile. In such situations, psychiatrists are also helpless and it’s difficult to bring the child back to normalcy.”
The Scare
According to psychologists, most cases of gaming addiction are seen in youngsters in the age category of 14 to 18 years One of the prime reasons for addiction is the lack of parental involvement and quality time with children
Children aged 10 years and above are prone to internet addiction
