After the Bell: Be a sport – gaming’s more than fun and games

A quick disclaimer: I don’t play games. Well, not any longer. 

I wish I could say I gave them up for a nobler reason than I was about to flunk French and philosophy at varsity because Wolfenstein, Warcraft and Sim City — and not sex, drugs and clubbing — were keeping me up all night (and out of lectures). 

Turns out, not perpetually playing games paid off. I not only pulled up my marks but passed that year, had some fun, and the university refunded my academic fees. The parentals were happy. Halcyon days.

Now, I’m just the designated buzzkill in the house: I police my own child’s screen time, curb her Robux expenditure, and screech “game over” like a harpy before it starts to work on my nerves.

Why do I do this? Well, like most parents, I’m particularly concerned about too much screen time, and lump gaming into the equation because, well, they both just seem to suck you in. And that cannot be a good thing.

Children’s exposure to screen time has certainly erupted. 

A 2023 global education monitoring report for Unesco warns that excessive screen time can negatively affect self-control, social development, physical health and emotional stability. Others warn that screen time disrupts sleep, brain development and language acquisition. 

While screens offer some educational, social and other benefits — through access to information, improving visual intelligence, enhancing teamwork and creativity, preparing them for future learning and so forth — too much can result in poorer academic performance, reduced social interaction and increased mental health issues. 

Like most things in life, it’s about balance and quality: it’s also up to parents to be the parents by setting boundaries, encouraging outdoor play and modelling responsible screen use.

The question is, how bad is gaming? And should we be worried that our kids will become addicted to Fortnite, Minecraft, Roblox or Grand Theft Auto? Well, it depends.

The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR), which is used by psychologists and psychiatrists to diagnose mental disorders, identifies a condition known as Internet Gaming Disorder, which, to be diagnosed, must cause “significant impairment or distress” in several aspects of a person’s life before a diagnosis can be made. It recommends more research.

Across the Atlantic, where mental health professionals are not as given to over-diagnosing and pathologising otherwise normal conditions (a long-standing criticism of the DSM), European mental health professionals look to the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases. This defines gaming disorder as “impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences”.

Both the DSM and ICD agree that gaming addiction is rare, affecting just a small percentage of people, but both say it requires further study.

Lucrative