Kids who are addicted to video games may be more prone to depression, anxiety, and other psychological problems according to experts.
A recent study reveals that kids who are hooked to video games or what they term pathological video gaming, end up having problems fitting with their peers. They also tend to be more impulsive compared with other children who are not addicted to video games. Addicted video gamers are more prone to phobias, depression and anxiety aside from the fact that their grades in school also come low.
The proponents of the study cannot really point out whether the addiction to video gaming came first or is it the depression that started the addiction. What is clear though are the risk factors because of video game addiction of the kids.
The study involved 3,034 kids from Singapore in different age groups who were subjected to surveys from 2007 through 2009.
The experts pointed out though that there are kids who play video games without having any effect to their social lives or life in general. Parents can consider it an addiction when the other aspects of the kid’s life is affected. Some symptoms may involve long hours inside his or her room playing video games, different set of friends, or decreased performance in school. Some factors that contribute to video addiction include playing video games 30 hours every week, decreased empathy, increased impulsiveness, and lower social competence.
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