I’ve always been into electronics. From an Atari system when I was young, to a PC, and through the PS1, PS2, PS3, and PS4. We also have a Wii and of course got the iPad 1, and now an iPad Air 2. Not to mention our smart phones, android for me and iPhone for my wife.
With all these electronics around, it was only natural that Jay, our son, was exposed at an early age. It seemed like such a great idea, and there are plenty of educational apps for him to use and get a head start on his education. And he did. He’s always kept a bit ahead of his peers because of that early learning, whether it was learning his numbers and alphabet, or math and english.
Of course, he has also played plenty of games, minecraft being one of the big ones that we have on the PS3 and PS4, on the PC and even on the iPads. There’s plenty of other games too, and he happily goes from one to another constantly. And this is where we start to run in to problems.
A lot of us in this situation have probably seen the results first hand, the aggressive behaviour when the electronics are turned off or taken away, the boredom in not being constantly stimulated, the apathy. But how bad is it, really?
There’s been a lot of research in recent years on the effects of this stimulation and how it physically effects the frontal cortex of the brain, which controls things like impulse control, in much the same way as cocaine does. Dopamine levels are increased, creating pleasurable stimuli in much the same way as sex does, and is directly related to addictive behaviour. In other words, our kids are experiencing the effects of drug addiction simply by playing their favourite games.
Numerous studies have shown a direct causal link between gaming and increased anxiety, aggression and depression, and in some cases even psychotic behaviour.
So, where do we go from here? If our kids are already going down that road, experts suggest a complete separation from electronic devices, including TV, for between 4 and 6 weeks. With electronics everywhere, that seems like an almost impossible task. But for the sake of our children, it’s something that we need to face.
The best option, of course, is to prevent it in the first place. Which means spending more time in the real world, playing with toys, going out and playing sports, and spending time with friends. And let’s keep dinner time electronics free, we can talk to our kids and have some useful interaction with them. This is something that we’ve always tried to do with Jay, and we’ve mostly been successful with it.
We haven’t been totally successful in stopping him from being addicted, but we’re trying, and I think we need to take a break from the electronics for a while. So, we’ll have to sit down and talk to him about it, and explain why it’s a good idea, and go from there. Wish us luck.