KOLKATA: Increased online interactions and gadget-dependence have made more youngsters fall prey to ‘gaming addiction’ over the last two years of the pandemic, say experts, who believe it could have repercussions on their academic and professional careers.
With life switching back to offline mode, a significant number of school-going kids are struggling to come to terms with it, and many showing signs of stress and even withdrawal, sometimes as acute as those experienced by drug or alcohol addicts.
In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) included “gaming disorder” in its International Classification of Diseases as a behavioural disorder similar to substance addiction.
Several children have been secretly carrying cellphones to school since physical classes resumed last month, said psychiatrists and psychologists.
“Covid has encouraged this addiction, since children and adolescents had no other entertainment and got easily hooked to the virtual world. Parents also couldn’t resist much, since their children had no friends to play with and needed something to remain engaged with,” said psychologist Soumya Mukherjee.
Youngsters showing signs of heightened digital dependence post-Covid could require de-addiction therapy, according to psychiatrist J Ram. “It could be very severe, comparable with drug addiction,” he explained. “Treating gaming or digital addiction is trickier, for unlike dependence on drugs or alcohol, you can’t take the patient off gadgets completely. They often need to use it for convenience or academic reasons. So, a gradual reduction in use has to be recommended, together with medicines. The initial stages of therapy could be difficult for the patients, since they go through the same kind of withdrawal symptoms as substance addicts do,” he added.
