How to Stop Your Child From Being a Video Game Junkie.
The first thing you have to do to stop your child from being a video game junkie is to determine why your child is spending so much time playing video games. Once you find out the reasons that your child is playing video games you can work to replace the game-time with something that continues to meet the needs of your child. Children play video games for different reasons. The reasons can be social, emotional, reward-based, and psychological. Gamers are judged and accepted by other players based on their ability to play a game and not by their looks, stature, social skills, or social status. It is possible for your child to reach a social status in the gaming world that is difficult to obtain in the real world. Your child can also use video games as a retreat to another place where they do not feel the pressures that they feel when they are not gaming. Gamers assume different roles which allow them to feel powerful, competent, important, or socially relevant. The successful completion of a game-level or the annihilation of a gaming foe provides immediate reward and gratification. Finally, gamers play because they have some level of control over their characters and their gaming world. In short, playing video games helps your child to satisfy basic human needs.
To reduced game time find ways to replace the earlier mentioned motivations with activities that can provide the same kind of need fulfillment in your child’s life. Ferguson and Olson (2012) found that children may play video games not because they are particularly engaged with them, but simply because there seems to be little else for them to do (Ferguson & Olson, 2013). Boredom is a motivation that you can address by filling your child’s schedule with productive things to do. You can encourage your child to get a part-time job, play sports, participate in community service projects, discover a hobby, find an acceptable group of friends, or take your child on outings where he or she can participate in productive activities. In one study, an independent, main effect of theFor the record, I am not suggesting that playing video games is bad for children. There are many studies that argue both sides of the argument. Ferguson’s findings suggest that over the four high school years, playing strategic video games may enhance adolescents’ self-reported
References
Adachi, P., & Willoughby, T. (2013). More Than Just Fun and Games: The Longitudinal Relationships Between Strategic Video Games, Self-Reported Problem Solving Skills, and Academic Grades. J Youth Adolescence, 42:1041–1052.
Choo, H., Sim, T., Liau, A., Gentile, D., & Khoo, a. A. (2014). Parental Influences on Pathological Symptoms of Video-Gaming Among Children and Adolescents: A Prospective Study. J Child Fam Stud, 24:1429–1441.
Ferguson, C., & Olson, C. (2013). Friends, fun, frustration and fantasy: Child motivations for video game play. Motiv Emot , 37:154–164.