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Keeping Children Safe Online
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, children addicted to gaming tended to be more socially awkward, have less impulse control, and spend more than the average time playing games.
Who is at fault for allowing children to play video games most of the time? As a parent, do you monitor the time your child plays on the computer? Is your child playing educational games? Is your child playing games that contain a lot of violence?
Have children stopped playing with dolls, playing house, playing hopscotch, racing out doors or jumping rope? Do we have a new generation of “computer children?” Do we have children that only want to play internet games?
Little Girl playing with paper dolls. Author: User: Janke, Licensed Creative Commons Attributions-Share Alike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0)
According to CNET News, a young man, Dennis Bennett realized that the online game “Ever Quest” almost ruined his life.” He goes further to state, “It was his life.”
Online games can become a problem when they consumer your life. If there is no balance in your life, this can be a problem. Because children are so impressionable, it is vital to protect them from too much internet online gaming.
Because children are very impressionable, it is so important to monitor computer behaviors. Several built in hooks within the video games with the internet helps to make them addictive, according to Video Addiction. They are as follows:
1. High score- They are constantly trying to beat the high score.
2. Beating the game becomes very important.
3. When role-playing they become the characters
4. They develop a relationship to the community online.
Do your children display above game addiction symptoms? I once remember watching Dr. Phil. The husband stated that he actually became the characters when on the internet. His wife stated that her child was emulating the father on the computer. What type of example was the father setting for his child?
Video Game Play and Addiction
There is something built within us that makes us want to be the best. Men especially tend to be most competitive. There is something about that conquering quest. How many times have you just wanted to beat the game? With the role-playing, you can then become those characters. It is almost like living in a fantasy world. When the child interacts with the online community increasingly, and does not have other relationships aside form this, that can be dangerous. The child may think they know whom they are talking to when playing the games, when in reality it could be a pedophile.
According to the American Academy Pediatric News, it is not a good idea to put a computer in your children’s room. Instead, keep it in an area where you can easily monitor it. They go on further to say you should find out what your child likes to do online. Some War craft games are particularly addictive, because they draw you into “a second life.” Experts states it affects about 8%-12% of United State Children.
Cyber Junkie
Source:
Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia, Video game addiction
American Academy of Pediatrics News, Internet addiction a real problem for United States kids
Video Game Addiction, What Makes a Video Game Addictive?
CNET news, When Games Stop Being Fun
The Sydney Morning Herald, Hope for children addicted to gaming
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