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Gaming Disorder or just bad parenting?

this gaming malarkey is the same as 'affluenza'. Sh*t parenting. You don't even have to be tech savvy, as long as you know your way around a socket. My kids just get told 'you've been on too long' and they get off. Or they KNOW they will lose kindle, internet, Tele or (down to specifics) paw patrol and my little pony privileges. Minimum ban. One week. 'Can I go on sonic' (it's back!) is met with 'have you read/tidied/homeworked/etc'? They haven't asked in ages and answered the above with a 'no' because they know that I will send them to complete that task first. We've discussed the little girl swamping herself play computers. My children understand that should they do that then I'll rub their noses in it, make them tidy up and then remove privileges on electrical items until they are 18.
 
I'll add, I've previously worked on a gambling project with someone who has worked very closely with Henrietta. She's an excellent psychiatrist (running one of the only NHS gambling treatment centres in London/the UK) and also a world expert in addiction and has published research on all aspects from treatment predictors to the underlying neurobiology of addiction, so she certainly knows what she is talking about and also very well placed to make this thing work.
 
A lot of unnecessary time , expense and failure can be avoided by early sensible research and intervention - once adequate example has been explored and justified proofworthy even if it has to ride as a topic of Chatteratti excuse for a while to gain exposure. Kids have been segregated by age, and are being segregated indoors becuase of the big bad world outside - rather than teach them how to navigate the risks safely - so this was just waiting to happen. Some problems ares not swiftly rectified once established - as an example in progress - the effects of overly accessible porn to the inexperienced has lead to a dangerous rewiring of immature human sexuality: and current practical experience has measured that it takes 2 years to deprogramme human responses learned early.
 
Most parents probably aren't tech-savvy enough to properly control their childrens' access to the internet. Beyond the basics I rely on my children and grandson (aged 13) to negotiate me through the technology maze. On my rare attempts at a PS game, my grandson is usually reduced to laughter at my ineptitude. I was unaware until I read this post thread about being able to set the PS to turn itself off and I'm pretty sure my daughter doesn't know about it either. Control in our house is exercised verbally.

Yeah, and that's to be expected and totally fine. Doesn't change the fact that it's their fault the kid has developed an addiction to a game. It may have just been through ignorance of the implications of letting a child play Fortnite for 20 out of 24 hours in a day, but the blame still lies with them. It certainly does not lie with the game developers, or the console manufacturers, or anyone else that parents seem to want to blame for it.

I think you're certainly correct to just verbally police it if you don't know how to work stuff. My kid has an unrestricted console, but as soon as he starts taking the piss he gets parental controls slapped on again. Microsoft and Sony really have gone out their way to make setting up parental controls as easy as humanly possible for people who they know sill struggle with it.
 
Most parents probably aren't tech-savvy enough to properly control their childrens' access to the internet

That is no excuse. How many parents would take the same attitude with other hobbies and pastimes - particlarly sports. "I don't understand technology" is a complete cop-out. If your kids are into it, it's your duty to understand - same as if they are into football, rugby, ballet, kart racing, basket weaving, or anything else.

The littlest ninja did trampolining, a sport I had no knowledge or interest in. I could bore you all to death with the rules, regulations, how they've changes over the years, etc. etc. etc.

How many parents (over?) involve themselves with their kids sports, but refuse to pay any attention to their interest in computers and games?

It's bad parenting. Simple as that.
 
I'll add, I've previously worked on a gambling project with someone who has worked very closely with Henrietta. She's an excellent psychiatrist (running one of the only NHS gambling treatment centres in London/the UK) and also a world expert in addiction and has published research on all aspects from treatment predictors to the underlying neurobiology of addiction, so she certainly knows what she is talking about and also very well placed to make this thing work.

No no no - this is ARRSE man! You cannot go bringing Science and personal experience of working with someone from the 'we never had it in our day' and 'I could solve it' schools.

Is Gaming Disorder similar to gambling addiction in adults?
 
I'll add, I've previously worked on a gambling project with someone who has worked very closely with Henrietta. She's an excellent psychiatrist (running one of the only NHS gambling treatment centres in London/the UK) and also a world expert in addiction and has published research on all aspects from treatment predictors to the underlying neurobiology of addiction, so she certainly knows what she is talking about and also very well placed to make this thing work.
Are you saying that she has created a job for herself?
 
I agree with you on World of Warcraft. I had to almost physically force myself to stop playing that game and cancel the subscription. It's a vicious life-sucking bitch.
There’s a lot like that, especially the ones you have to log on, have to invest so much time, but can spend your way into buying the bolt on’s you need.

I do understand that games can be addictive if sorts, but it is poor parenting in many cases. My wife just bags me to stop playing.
 
Is Gaming Disorder similar to gambling addiction in adults?

I don't know if the presentation is exactly the same, but the harms are certainly comparable. Gambling addiction can be measured in one of two ways, most people will be unable to afford their addiction and their problems are financial. The other harm is time, in that they spend more time than they can afford on gambling.

I would expect gaming harms are in the latter category - although with the recent additions such as loot boxes etc, I suspect some financial harms will be seen now -and perhaps the RNG there (not knowing what you will get from a loot box) will contribute towards developing addiction.

As an example, the time related harms actually reminds me of a gentleman who took part in the study I worked on, he was one of the shops best customers and would spend a couple of 1000 per day on the electronic slot machines (FOBTs).

Financially it didn't matter to him because he owned most of the commercial premises in the town, however whilst I was assessing him for addiction, he admitted what really bothered him about playing was how he missed his kids growing up and spent so much time away from his family playing on those machines.
 
Are you saying that she has created a job for herself?

I don't think she has to - she's a very well respected consultant psychiatrist so could probably earn a fortune working solely in private medicine, instead she's chosen to use her time to get the NHS to provide something that would normal only be available to rich people.
 
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this gaming malarkey is the same as 'affluenza'. Sh*t parenting. You don't even have to be tech savvy, as long as you know your way around a socket. My kids just get told 'you've been on too long' and they get off. Or they KNOW they will lose kindle, internet, Tele or (down to specifics) paw patrol and my little pony privileges. Minimum ban. One week. 'Can I go on sonic' (it's back!) is met with 'have you read/tidied/homeworked/etc'? They haven't asked in ages and answered the above with a 'no' because they know that I will send them to complete that task first. We've discussed the little girl swamping herself play computers. My children understand that should they do that then I'll rub their noses in it, make them tidy up and then remove privileges on electrical items until they are 18.

Yes a part of this probably does come down to shit parenting, but not all parents are aware they are shit, so sometimes it's useful to have a professional observe for a bit and give advice on how they can become less shit.
 
I don't think she has too - she's a very well respected consultant psychiatrist so could probably earn a fortune working solely in private medicine, instead she's chosen to use her time to get the NHS to provide something that would normal only be available to rich people.
So she's after an MBE?
 
Yes a part of this probably does come down to shit parenting, but not all parents are aware they are shit, so sometimes it's useful to have a professional observe for a bit and give advice on how they can become less shit.
Stop your brats playing on consoles for long periods.
How much should I charge for that obvious advice?
 
Stop your brats playing on consoles for long periods.
How much should I charge for that obvious advice?

Well I guess if you want to go for the lowest denominator and just stop one undesirable behaviour, rather than tackling the root-cause sure and don't care if they go on to become problematic adults, underachieving adults, or the problem manifests itself in other ways such as anorexia etc, sure why not...
 
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