It’s not easy if you’re not familiar with gaming, but I’ve created succinct weekly videos to help parents who are worried that their children may be addicted to gaming, that can be accessed via my Patreon project.Īddiction can mean something very scary to parents and carers. This approach, particularly started at an early age, will keep gaming safe and sensible for most youngsters. Play together, help set healthy limits and actively find a variety of activities for children to consume online. The best way to resolve this in most cases is to encourage parents to be present in the gaming world of their children. My experience is that it’s as much a parenting issue as it is a childhood disorder. It’s important that parents don’t just focus on the individual child exhibiting this behaviour. While children that won’t stop playing when it’s dinner time are certainly not suffering from a disorder, parents should keep an eye on any child who neglects relationships, exercise, school work and personal hygiene in favour of playing games. That said, it does offer helpful language to identify when children stray from enjoyment and avid gaming into less healthy patterns. We also need to use these labels carefully so as not to trivialise other mental health issues. The problem this creates for parents is that it can confuse healthy enthusiasm and enjoyment with a clinical disorder. It lists symptoms such as impaired control over gaming, increased priority and escalation of gaming despite negative consequences. It’s significant because the WHO guide is used by doctors to diagnose disease. Gaming Disorder is listed in a draft document that remains to be finalised.