Dear parents, if your child is addicted to his Xbox, this one is for you!
If you thought gaming disorder is not real, this one is an eye-opener!
HIGHLIGHTS
- WHO will include gaming disorder in the international list of illnesses
- Gaming disorder is much wider than just video-gaming disorder
- Restlessness and irritation when unable to play is a symptom
Video game addiction is the new cool. Teens nowadays prefer staying indoors and playing on their Xbox rather than going out and engaging in physical activities. The ill-effects of this on physical growth and development of your kids is no news to any of us. But did you know, gaming addiction is now recognized as a mental illness? Yes, the World Health Organization will now be including this disorder in the international list of illnesses for the coming year.
The WHO has come to this decision of adding this disorder to the list after monitoring computer gaming trends for over a decade now. They said that the gaming disorder is much wider than just video-gaming disorder. The drafting entry of this disease stated that victims of this disease will continue to play the game even after it starts fetching negative results.
However, they have not listed other tech-linked conditions like smartphone addiction and internet addiction due to lack of evidence on the subject matter.
Researchers at the University of Oxford's Internet Institute conducted a study to check the number of gaming addicts last year. 19000 men and women were included in the study from UK, US, Germany and Canada. Of them, 2-3% admitted that they experienced five or more symptoms mentioned in the health checklist of American Psychiatric Association. The study was published in the journal of Psychiatry.
So parents, if your child has his eyes glued to the screen and fingers to the gaming remote, it's high time for you to start taking caution!
Here's a list of the symptoms of gaming addiction:
1. Restlessness and irritation when unable to play.
2. Thinking about the previous gaming session again and again and planning for the next one in line.
3. Lying to parents and friends about the number of hours you spent playing.
4. Isolating oneself from other to spend more time in playing games.
DoctorNDTV is the one stop site for all your health needs providing the most credible health information, health news and tips with expert advice on healthy living, diet plans, informative videos etc. You can get the most relevant and accurate info you need about health problems like diabetes, cancer, pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, weight loss and many other lifestyle diseases. We have a panel of over 350 experts who help us develop content by giving their valuable inputs and bringing to us the latest in the world of healthcare.
