Gaming addiction may be seen as an attempt to distort the paradise of technology, but it is a real and dangerous disease
it is important that we deal with it as well because if we turn a blind eye to it, it is as if we turn a blind eye to a curse we do not want to see
The size of the electronic games and video games market reached 203.12 billion dollars in 2020, and it is expected that the size of this market will reach 546 billion dollars in 2028, with a compound annual growth rate of 13.2% during this period, as reported by the Fortune Business platform . Insights) in a recent report.
The number of people playing these games reached 2.69 billion players worldwide in 2020, and this number will rise to 3.07 billion in 2023, with a compound annual growth rate of 5.6%, as recently reported by the Finance Online platform .
There are between 3% and 4% of these players are completely addicted to these games, and in a systematic review, it was found that the global prevalence of gaming disorder is 3.05%, and this means that there are about 60 million or more people suffering from gaming disorder or addiction, as I mentioned The gamequitters platform finally .
In 2019, the World Health Organization classified electronic games and video games as a serious disease that should be treated, with more children and adolescents in particular and in various parts of the world exposed to this danger every day.
Drugs of the digital age
Technology is a double-edged sword, a blessing and a curse.. Many of us have heard this phrase at least once in our lives, yet many people see the good in technology much more than they see the bad.
With video games, a large part of this virtual world is filled with limitless opportunities to express ourselves and our feelings with few consequences that we can fear, and it is quite clear that these games have become an essential part of our lives and the lives of our children in the digital age, according to the Japanese writer. Yoo Shin Koo in an article published by Gainesville recently.
Designed to be appealing to a large, broad, and multi-interest audience, players are quickly, easily, and unpredictably drawn into a virtual world that instantly rewards players for their efforts—a huge difference compared to the often boring and slow real-world outcomes. With the complete sensory immersion felt by players who are taken to other worlds away from the realities of reality, it is as if these games were designed just like addictive drugs, as the writer mentioned in his article.
Yu Shin-kuo explained that there is a lot of similarity between the two, as video games cause the release of dopamine, the pleasure hormone, on a par with amphetamine and methylphenidate. These drugs are usually used - under medical supervision - to treat ADHD and narcolepsy, and it is known that these drugs - when taken away from medical supervision - have serious health repercussions such as loss of cognitive ability, sleep deprivation and addiction, and these are all symptoms of playing games video for long periods of time.
The key to recognizing gaming addiction is relatively simple: look for any change in your child's lifestyle, whether it's staying up long hours after bedtime, or his desire to be isolated and not interact with the rest of the family... This is, in short, addiction.
Addiction usually begins with a small dose, when the child at an early age learns about these games, then the matter develops, and the child begins to spend more and more time immersed in them until eventually it reaches an extreme point, neglecting his studies or trying to steal money from his parents to get More fun, but these seemingly strange tales go further in many cases, with children and teens cutting ties with their families completely, locking themselves up in their rooms to be alone with their toys.
The writer confirms the existence of more extreme cases, when these children and adolescents are motivated and pushed by tension, anger and loss of social ties to attack others, and cases of killing adolescents due to violent gaming addiction extend to school shootings, with some developing plans for attacks using the same game programs. These effects of gaming addiction may seem extreme to many, but it is a reality and societies have suffered greatly, and many parents have lost their children as a result.
Treatment starts with acknowledging the problem
It sounds very dangerous and frightening, and it really is, but fortunately there are solutions as well, and as with any type of addiction, the first step towards treatment is to acknowledge the problem, because not acknowledging that you or your child is addicted leads to a lack of effort to get rid of it.
Everyone around you such as friends and family members should be aware of the addiction as well, in this way there is a greater chance of getting rid of it successfully because of the support and encouragement it will give you or your child. Then comes the hardest part which is getting away from playing the game.
The writer asserts that the results showed that immediate cutting and moving away from playing completely will lead to the best results, but this is the difficult path that many may not be able to, and here the gradual cutting may seem to be the easiest path, but you must be firm in the program that you will set for yourself Or for your child in this case.
Finding alternative hobbies such as playing sports or learning to play a musical instrument that you or your child loves is critical to preventing the desire to return to play.
Treating addiction is not easy, so it is important to prevent gaming addiction completely from the beginning rather than falling into it, and then struggle to get out of it, especially with the existence of a world centered around technology and gaming opportunities spread everywhere, the risk of falling into this trap is a major concern. To many parents all over the world.
As a disease that many do not recognize, gaming addiction may be seen as an attempt to distort the paradise of technology, but it is a real and dangerous disease, and it is important that we deal with it as well because if we turn a blind eye to it, it is as if we are turning a blind eye to a curse we do not want to see, or a malignant cancer that we do not want to discover and deal With him before he spends our lives or the lives of our loved ones.
Tags:
DIGITAL LINE