Gaming and our youth

The 1970’s technological revolution was instrumental in the introduction of video games. In the beginning, there used to be a TV-like display within a wooden box frame, which had a few joysticks and buttons in them. In the Western world, it is known as arcade games or coin-op games. After that, we entered the era of Xbox. Nowadays, we have the technology to play high-resolution games on our smartphones.

Technology has enabled us to enjoy playing games in different ways, but it has also brought the curse of addiction along with it.

Today a good number of children and youth have access to smartphones. Many of them are becoming addicted to online games. They are spending too much screen time and that is having a negative impact on their regular life. Some of them are losing focus on and interest in real life. We have come across news where a few teenagers were found in a dire state, as they were playing online games without any break for days together.

Many of us might be familiar with the term couch-potato which basically describes a person who takes little or no exercise and watches a lot of television. Today besides television addiction the addiction of online video games is also on the rise.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic started, the World Health Organisation listed gaming addiction as a mental health condition. In the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), WHO defines gaming disorder as a pattern of behaviour characterised by impaired control over gaming, increased priority given to gaming over other daily activities, and continuation or escalation of gaming despite negative consequences. For gaming disorder diagnosis, the behaviour pattern must be of sufficient severity to result in significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of life that must be evident for at least 12 months, according to the WHO official website.

Parents are worried about the amount of time their children are spending on smartphones. There are motivational clips on the internet where big celebrities are found boasting about how sleep is overrated. If you talk or read about some of the creative minds of Silicon Valley or to people who are associated with creative work, they will tell you in order to produce better quality work to be innovative and, find new ideas you need that 8 hours of sleep. There are scientific studies that point to the fact that due to exposure to more light we have lost two hours of average sleep in just the last two generations. The games are designed in a certain way to hold onto one’s interest as long as possible. So, gaming disorder is having a negative impact on one’s sleep, food intake, social behaviour and in a nutshell one’s overall life.

According to Healthygamers.com (a mental health platform for the internet generation), 0.3 per cent to 1 per cent of the general population fit the criteria for a video game addiction diagnosis in the US, UK, Canada, and Germany. South Korea declared video game addiction a public health crisis since more than 600,000 children struggle with it.

Reliable studies say that 8.4 per cent of children and teenagers are addicted to gaming, of which, 11-12 per cent are boys, and 6-7 per cent are girls.

Now the above data is that of the developed countries, as to the best of this writer’s knowledge, there is no clear data or even survey available in our country. That is why it should be a matter of concern for us.

Recently there was an order from the High Court to the authorities concerned to remove all harmful games and mobile apps from Bangladesh’s online platforms.

One has to be clear about the fact that playing games are not an addiction if there is some form of control involved. Some games help children to become more creative and might help in improving one’s skills in terms of problem-solving. That been said, the youths seem to be more attracted towards games that are more violent and has gory elements in them. One does not have to have a PhD to understand that feeding violence might eventually alter the behaviour of the youth. Exposed to such content, people may become radical in a sense.

Now, what are the main strengths of these games and how can they attract young minds? We will find those answers just by looking at them. These games are designed and deliberately promoted in certain ways to catch the attention of the youth and keep them hooked as long as possible. They are marketed in such ways that without any regulation, suddenly they pop up on the screen of some of the less costly smartphones.

From the business perspective, the global gaming industry is worth over USD 200 billion per year. Some software companies from Bangladesh are developing mobile games. Nafis Rafsan, a former pro gamer now working as an executive in a private company was involved with the Bangladeshi gaming community for a decade or so. He and his brother, Iftekhar Rafsan, now a content creator, represented our country in different significant online gaming tournaments. They have even travelled abroad to participate in some international gaming competitions. Although they were pro gamers, they played games and that did not seem to affect their study or regular life. These are some of the positive aspects of the gaming industry.

Nevertheless, the sad thing is some of the games which are made while keeping the Bangladeshi gamers or people in mind does not appear to do that much damage as games like PUBG or other similar games are doing.

When someone falls victim to gaming disorder, they live in denial. Some stop communicating with the world, their parents and even friends. It is evident that lawmakers and authorities concerned are aware of the fact that there are different dangerous elements associated with online gaming or video games. The simple solution to this matter is that the children’s parents, teachers and guardians have to come forward and play a pivotal role in keeping this addiction under control. Nevertheless, it is not going to be easy, for example, many of our parents are not aware of the parental control features. There should be awareness-building programmes, and we must find better ways to engage the youth in more outdoor activities.

The writer is Editorial Assistant at The Business Post