Videogames and Children's Health - Emotional Effects

As with any activity that involves too much of your child's time, extensive videogame involvement leads to imbalance, stress and anxiety.  As children become increasingly involved in the videogame play, they are unable (and sometimes unwilling) to pursue activities that they used to like to do.  For example, I know several families that discussed how their child no longer plays a sport or musical instrument because their time is taken up with videogame play.  As a result, the American Psychiatric Association is considering a diagnosis of internet and videogame addiction for it's next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which is the guidebook that clinician's use to diagnose mental disorders.  This indicates that many professionals are agreeing that extensive videogame play, and the negative effects it has upon a child's relationships and functioning, is a mental health concern.

Extensive videgame play can have emotional effects on your child such as reduced frustration tolerance, anxiety when not playing and increased distractibility.  When a child spends a considerable amount of time immersed in a fantasy game, their emotional responses to regular day-to-day interactions might be effected.  They might not have the emotional tools to manage the stress that they experience on a regular basis.  Furthermore, parents and other family members become increasingly concerned and frustrated with the lost connections they have with the videogamer. 

Sometimes family members attempt to engage the videogamer by playing alongside or with the player.  I have seen this strategy work but also backfire as the child becomes increasingly involved in the videogame that the family is now condoning.  

Like other addictions, firm intervention is required to end your child's videogame play pattern.

What you can do:

 1. Consider videogame play, and all media exposure, as part of an overall diet of activities.
     Like food, too much of one type of food is harmful. Balance your child’s exposure
     throughout the day/week.
 2. Engage your child in physical activities, enroll them in sports or other organized physical
     activities.
 3. Set and hold firm videogame limits.
 4. Consider whether your child is addicted to videogames and seek help immediately if he or
     she is. If the child/adolescent repeatedly refuses to adhere to limits, resorts to lying,
     manipulation or subterfuge and/or becomes hysterical or violent, the presence of a
     videogame addiction is more likely.  Just like with any other addiction, helping your child
     end their addiction can be difficult, so seeking professional help is critical.