What Effect Does Video Game Disorder Have on my Rhode Island Teen?
Video game disorder is very hard to treat, even for teens and young adults and young adults from Rhode Island. In one surprising study, In one study 84% of addicted gamers were still addicted two years later, demonstrating how difficult gaming addiction is to treat. In the same study, 7% of online gamers were classified as psychologically or behaviorally dependent on online gaming.
This begs the question, “Why is gaming so addictive?” According to research in the Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 41% of people who play online video games do so as an, “escape from the real world.” Another risk factor is found in players with strong social motivation. Some games involve social obligations, where players have to work together. This can mean a player feels obliged to play along as the rest of the group wants to play. Farmville strives to ensure participation at regular intervals by making gamers dependent on each other for daily allotments of fantasy resources.
Putting together role play and social use in one game should yield a highly compelling game. World of Warcraft, a massive multiplayer online role-playing game, fits this description and is, anecdotally, pretty addictive.
There is much debate currently about the effect of video game violence on the real world. According to a study in Pediatrics, as much as 20% of real-life violence may be attributable to media violence. Why is this? Researchers speculate that there is a two-fold issue here. First, constant exposure to video game violence decreases our sensitivity to real-world violence. Seeing a fight at school might seem more normal to a child who has been exposed to ongoing video game violence, making them less likely to intervene or even more likely to instigate violence themselves.
Does Your Child Have Video Game Disorder? A Place for Rhode Island Families to Start
Our program helps teens and young adults from Rhode Island and across the country with video game disorders. Many parents who enroll their children at Summerland Camps for Gaming Addiction Treatment try in-home interventions first. A behavioral contract can work, but parents need to remember that a contract is like a marriage. Both parties need to agree. You can’t just force the rules upon your child. Ask them what they want to work for, and how much time is reasonable to play online after homework is done.
Some Rhode Island clients need a higher level of care than what a therapist can provide, and this may not have been initially clear to their therapist. For example, if your teen has co-occurring depression that is not responding to once-per-week outpatient psychotherapy, they might need more intensive care, including psychiatric medication, more frequent visits or inpatient care with a therapist who has more excellent training in treating depression, and/or a therapist who specializes in treating severe depression along with video game disorder and working as part of a help team.
If video game playing is an ongoing source of tension in your family, you may be beyond the stage of trying an in-home intervention. If any attempt to curb your teen’s video game use or cellphone/computer use results in a heated argument, please call us today.
The Summerland Gaming Addiction Rehab Process:
Let’s have some unplugged fun!
We assist families seeking video game help and social media addiction therapy facilities including:
- Gaming Disorder Treatment
- Technology Addiction Rehab
- Video Game Addiction Camp
- Teen Smartphone Addiction
- Social Media Addiction Treatment
- Gaming Addiction Help
- Smartphone Addiction Treatment
- Technology Addiction Programs
- Gaming Rehab
- Internet Addiction Programs
- Cell phone Addiction Rehab
- Internet Addiction Rehab Centers
- Video Game Addiction Programs
- Video Game Addiction Counseling
- Internet Addiction Programs
Causes of Video Game Addiction
Several factors contribute to the development of video game addiction:
Reward Systems: Many video games are designed with intricate reward systems that trigger the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and motivation. This neurological response can lead to compulsive gaming to experience those rewards repeatedly.
Escapism: Video games often provide an escape from real-life challenges and stressors. Individuals may use games as a coping mechanism, leading to excessive gameplay to avoid confronting their problems.
Social Interaction: Online multiplayer games offer a platform for social interaction, especially for those who struggle with face-to-face communication. This can lead to overindulgence in gaming to maintain connections.
Competition and Achievement: The desire to achieve higher levels, beat high scores, and outperform others can drive individuals to spend extensive time playing, sometimes at the expense of other responsibilities.
If Your Rhode Island Teen Only Feels Successful Online, Now is the Time for Gaming Addiction Help
Consider the cost of doing nothing. If you send your child off to college not prepared to deal with unstructured time, how likely will they be in the 50% that fail to graduate college? Consider the cost of wasted tuition, wasted time, and the cost of supporting your child back at home if they fail to thrive. Investing in Summerland Camps for Gaming Addiction Treatment is insignificant compared to the cost of failure.
There are several reasons why you should NOT wait:
- Parents know their teens and young adults best, and parents have good instincts about possible problems their teens and young adults might be having. If you have that little nagging feeling in your gut, trust it!
- Theoretically speaking, we know that we need to intervene as soon as possible since the majority of a human’s brain development occurs in the early years. Think about the social level of a 10-year-old versus an 18-year-old. It’s only 8 years but the differences in development are vast.
- The effectiveness of early intervention has been demonstrated by plenty of research studies that went beyond the theoretical and actually investigated clinical cases. Teens and Young Adults with social, developmental, and addiction issues who get early intervention have better outcomes.
- Sometimes excessive gaming and avoiding social opportunities is actually a sign that there are other problems occurring.
- Missing social learning opportunities results in later frustration. Teens and Young Adults who have difficulty communicating have difficulty connecting with others socially. This leads to frustration, tantrums, and potentially unmet needs.
Who does Summerland Camps for Gaming Addiction Treatment help?
Summerland Camps for Gaming Addiction Treatment helps teens and young adults struggling with issues similar to those below:
– Family Conflict
– Impulse Control
– Video game addiction
– Addictive Behaviors
– Low Self Esteem
– ADHD
– Poor Communication Skills
– Technology Addiction
– Depression
– Social Issues
– Trauma
– Social Anxiety Disorder
– Social isolation
– Autism Spectrum
– Anxiety
– School Refusal
Resources
Gaming Addiction Help: Setting up Controls on Your Apple Computer and Phone
Apple brand products offer some of the best and hardest to get around controls for parents.
You can learn how to set up parental controls for Apple products here: https://support.apple.com/kb/ph18571?locale=en_US
As a parent, you want your kids to have a safe and happy experience on the Mac. Using Parental Control preferences, you can manage, monitor, and control the time your kids spend on the Mac, the websites they visit, and the people they chat with. After you set restrictions for a child using a Mac, you can manage parental controls from a different Mac. Both computers must be on the same network.
Smartphone and Tablet Resources for Teens and Young Adults with Video Game Disorder
Teens and Young Adults are becoming increasingly tech-savvy these days. It’s hard for us as parents to keep up. At Summerland Camps for Gaming Addiction Treatment we’ve heard it all – campers bypassing routers, logging on to friend’s routers next door, creating proxies, you name it and we’ve heard it!
Here are some resources specifically for smartphones and tablets. These devices are especially problematic for parents because they are portable and you can’t just block them through your router if your child is connecting at school or a friend’s house:
Android Devices: https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/how-to/google-android/android-parental-controls-3461359/
Apple Products: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201304
Google Play Store: https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/1075738?hl=en
Summerland Camps for Gaming Addiction Treatment Helps Rhode Island Families From Cities Such As:
Some examples of cities from Rhode Island that may have families who could use Summerland Camps for Gaming Addiction Treatment: Providence Warwick Cranston Pawtucket Jamestown