© AlamyTroubling: A charity has warned that addiction to playing computer games is set to become a major issue, particularly for 10 to 16-year-olds
Addiction to playing computer games is set to become a major issue, a charity has warned.
New research carried out by Norfolk-based Norcas - which helps people overcome addiction to drugs, alcohol and gambling - revealed that huge numbers of 10 to 16-year-olds would be lost without computer games.
The charity commissioned independent research into gaming and addictive behaviours which revealed that more than a third of people surveyed above the age of 16 think they know of at least one person addicted to gaming.
For those under the age of 16 that number rose to almost 40 per cent.
The findings have led the charity to believe that gaming will be the next major area where it will have to offer support.
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'If played responsibly, gaming is a good pastime, but we need people to be aware of the problems that will arise if the gaming takes hold.
'Some 86 per cent of the people we spoke to agreed that gaming can be addictive and revealed lack of exercise and poorer relationships with friends, partners and parents as some of the problems experienced as a result of gaming.'
The survey found that about a third of adults and more than 40 per cent of youngsters said they played video games most days.
The key playing time was found to be between 6pm and 9pm - the hours when many families can enjoy time together.
With many parents buying computer games for their children in the lead up to Christmas, Norcas has also urged parents to recognise the age-restriction guidelines set by the Pan-European Games Information (PEGI).
It is keen to stress that gaming certificates are based on content suitability - as in films - and not capability.
It also recommends that players take regular breaks from extended lengths of game play.
I can see the headlines now:
"Food is next major troubling addiction."
I'm not a gamer. But likening this behavior to destroying oneself on drugs or alcohol is grossly misguided.
Who is choosing to position this behavior with addiction, and why?
Is someone planning to invent a bunch of drugs that don't work, then get worried parents to pay high prices to feed those drugs to their gamer children? Then we WILL have a bunch of drug addicts on our hands!
If this is a cultural problem - and it might not even be one - then the way to solve it is to realize who these kids really are.
Most of these kids are people who grew up - last life - with screens in front of their faces. TV screens and computer screens. A few of them will have been soldiers in one of our recent modern wars. Some of them may be from off-world societies that are very computer-reliant. So they will be drawn to screens as a source of experience.
Most of these kids are walking into families that still don't have a clue. The parents are normally pitifully out of communication with their kids. They have failed to provide meaningful alternative activities, including part-time employment. Gaming is the safest, most interesting activity that most of these kids have available to them.
If you want your kid to spend less time on the Xbox, don't drug him; get in communication with him!
I think the shadowy people trying to control society are quite happy about "game addiction." They need more people like that, and there is every indication that they are responsible for the upsurge in gaming. So don't look to them and the institutions they control to solve this.
Like all the other real problems of modern life, this one is up to us to figure out.