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This article I was interviewed for as originally published in Daily Telegraph UK here
As referrals to game addiction clinics are on the rise, we explore why lockdown caused an uptick in gaming and when you should hit pause.
James Erskine dreads the end of game time for his nine-year-old son Freddie. The boy loves Roblox and Among Us, and long has. But prying Freddie away from the screen is a challenge his dad could do without on a Saturday and Sunday morning.
“There is chaos,” Erskine admits. “There are pleas for a few more minutes, begging and citing other friends being able to play.”
Erskine swaps war stories with other parents, some of whom unplug the internet across their entire home just to get their children off devices.
The father-of-two, chief executive of digital marketing firm Rocket, says: “During the pandemic was the time that my little boy went from enjoying using games to needing to use games.”
Freddie sometimes hijacks his seven-year-old sister’s iPad to sneak in extra hours, and he’s far from alone. As the pandemic shut down schools and other activities, children’s time playing games skyrocketed. And with it, so have the levels of dependency.
Video game addiction was added to the World Health Organisation’s International Classification of Diseases in May 2019. As games have become more immersive and realistic, we’ve all become more likely to play them. In the UK, scores of private and public addiction centres have opened, including a department in the National Centre for Behavioural Addictions run by the NHS. Yesterday it was announced that referrals to the UK’s specialist video gaming clinic rose – albeit from a low base – threefold in the last year. In all, 56 people began treatment for video game addiction between January and May 2021, up from 17 in the same period of 2020. Private gaming addiction clinic the Nightingale has seen a fourfold increase in enquiries since it opened, and a survey by Tomies found that four in 10 parents are now worried their children are addicted to their screens.
“Parents tell us they are overwhelmed by the compulsions the children present with and nothing they have tried to stop them gaming has worked,” says Professor Henrietta Bowden-Jones, founder and director of the National Centre for Gaming Disorders.
“Several have been hurt by their children in the ensuing fights that arise from them blocking the house Wi-Fi.
“The need for help is urgent and intense,” she says. “We treat both parents and children in an attempt to allow them to regain some family harmony whilst also taking back control of the gaming.”
“In lockdown there was so much isolation and, for some young adults, gaming gave them a sense of community,” says Dee Johnson, an addiction psychotherapist based at the Priory’s Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex. “There was a loss of daily connection, and physical connection, with friends and peers, so gaming gave them new friendships and new connections and there was a positive impact in the early days. But gaming involves adrenalin drives and dopamine flooding and you can see the ‘hooks’ all over it.”
There are a few signs parents can look for and the WHO have made these red flags very clear.
Computer game addiction: The warning signs
For most children, gaming won’t become an addiction – but for a small fraction, it can. Here are the warning signs.
Obsessive behaviour
“By obsession, we mean the child will play video games and play it more at the detriment of other things around their lives falling down around them,” says Dr Joanne Orlando of Western Sydney University. If their school work or health declines, or they’re losing friends to video games, that’s a warning sign. “[Look for] a real and increasing obsession.”
When it’s more than a phase
Squabbling over the controller isn’t a cause for concern – it happens. Gaming addiction requires such behaviour to extend over 12 months. But that doesn’t mean waiting a year without doing anything. Parents sensing addiction rise over that time should step in and talk to their child. Keep a diary of your observations which will be very useful if you decide to refer your child.
Get a second opinion
You may be convinced of addiction and but your doctor says otherwise. But gaming addiction is new and not always understood. “Your local doctor won’t necessarily know how to help you, nor would every single psychologist,” says Orlando. Seeking out someone who knows their stuff is vital.
Rule out other issues
Gaming addiction may not be the root cause of a child playing games. “If parents are worried, it might also be important to consider what else is happening in the child’s life at the time,” says Orlando. A sad event or major health condition can be a trigger for children to escape into video games, and some parents report the games can be a force for good in these circumstances
Estelle Keeber, from Leicester, noticed her 12-year-old son was tired and grumpy in the mornings during lockdown, as he’d been playing into the early hours, and was often gaming when he was meant to be doing his school work.
“Now he’s back at school, things are very much more into a routine. But the period during lockdown was extremely hard,” says Keeber, who runs online business hub Immortal Monkey.
“As a single parent who runs their own business and works from home, it was really difficult to manage having two children at home, home schooling them, and trying to keep them entertained.
“I think I’m probably not the only parent [in this situation]. Some parents are probably scared to admit the amount of time their kids are spending on games.”
Excessive gaming can also have a financial impact: Johnson has heard from parents who have had thousands of pounds run up on their credit cards or their children have set up credit cards in their name. Some have even secretly sold household items online to pay for their addiction. “It can bring a real sense of dishonesty into the family,” she says.
Young people playing video games isn’t itself a sign of addiction. Neither does it have to do with how many hours as much as the attitude towards gaming, says Dr Joanne Orlando of Western Sydney University, who researches the effect of technology on children. There are a few things parents can look for and the WHO have made these red flags very clear. One key difference between an obsessed and addicted child is the extent to which gaming takes over their life to the detriment of washing, eating or talking to friends.
Undoubtedly there are those for whom addiction is significant and a real concern. James Good, from Shropshire, who first picked up a video game at the age of four, dropped out of university because of his addiction to gaming – once spending 32 hours non-stop playing games. It took the help of a peer support group – Game Quitters – to recalibrate his relationship with games. “I almost feel like a new person, doing this chapter in my life,” he says.
But despite those who have felt the impact of addiction most keenly, the 56 referrals to the NHS gaming addiction clinic in the first five months of 2021 represents a tiny fraction of the 12 million child and young adult gamers in the UK. “During lockdown games played an invaluable part in keeping friends and families of all ages connected and entertained and have been cited by many as playing a significant part in maintaining good mental health during those long periods of isolation,” says a spokesperson for UKIE, the games industry body.
It seems, like all of us, children are looking for a way to escape the challenges and frustrations of the past year; the key for worried parents is to know when and where to draw the line.
