Video Game Addiction

Parents are wise to understand the immense power video games and internet games can have over their children. The book Video Games & Your Kids: How Parents Stay in Control can help parents gain an understanding of the addictive nature of video games. The authors examine the research on the effects of excessive gaming on children and provide examples from their own clinical practices. They also provide guidelines for setting reasonable limits around the amount of screen time children can have each day.

One parent who reviewed the book wrote “I would strongly recommend this book, particularly to parents of young children who are playing video games. It details how gaming can become a serious problem and what steps to take to prevent it from happening. We have a 16 year old who became addicted to a game called World of Warcraft. If not for our own experience, I would have thought that the consequences of too much gaming that the book talks about are exaggerated, however, they are NOT exaggerated, as our child suffers from almost all of them. I wish I had this book 5 years ago. It is the first that I am aware of to address the growing problem of video game addiction.”