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Gaming addiction in teens and the mental health issues that come from it

Gaming has been a popular leisure activity among teenagers and young adults. The

standard games include mobile and computer games, solitaire cards, and gambling, among others

(Saunders et al. 275). The amount of time they spend playing the games has increased rapidly,

with others spending many hours a day on phone or computer games. Gaming improves

memory, focus and enhancing multitasking, but when it becomes an addiction, much costs and

damage are caused to the users, especially teenagers. The teenagers risk growing dull and low

career and educational achievement, peer pressure, anti-social behaviors, and low concentration

in life matters. The dangers associated with addiction to gaming in teens are underscored where

more effects are on the psychological functioning. This paper studies more on gaming addiction

in teenagers and the mental health issues associated with it.

Parents and other professionals have raised concerns over the excessive teenager

addiction in gaming. The teens crave the games, lose control, have low self-esteem, anxiety, self-

efficacy, depression, and experience more consequences of addictive gaming (Saunders et al.

277). This becomes more of a mental disorder rather than behavioral addiction. The effects

associated are being anti-social, stress, low psychological wellbeing, loneliness, maladaptive

coping, psychosomatic issues, and decreased academic attainment. Some of the reasons these

individuals claim to play the games are therapeutic, leisure, social interactions, satisfaction, and

distraction from stress. Close examination of psychological symptoms, social support, and
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coping strategies is likely to deduce the adverse effects of gaming on psychological functioning.

Higher social anxiety, poor emotional health, depression, and loneliness are observed in teens

with game addiction.

A gender difference among the teenager gaming addiction is also observed. Boys suffer

more social anxiety and loneliness than girls. Addicted boys have low social skills and appear

socially withdrawn, will less self-disclosure communication when offline. They show a sense of

self-comfort and more security when in their virtual world (Saunders et al. 278). This leads to

social isolation, loneliness, anxiety, and depression due to fewer social bonds. Self-blame, denial,

drug abuse, behavioral disengagement, venting, and self-distraction are other psychological

problems observed in addicted teens. Gamers playing to enhance real-life abilities report more

online connections and show high levels of general positive affect. Their strong connection with

online friends because of virtual world social relations indicates some relation to psychology.

Gamers preferring action games appear more frustrated and perform poorly in school.

Those who prefer role-playing games are shyer and have low self-esteem; thus choose loneliness

with few offline associations (Sampogna et al. nd). Problematic behavior is seen as a situational

function, personal thoughts, feelings, and physical reactions. Spending lots of time on phones

and computers leads to personal prevention from functional coping strategy practice and

development, low social practice, and poor school performance, which are potential harms to

mental health. Internet gaming disorder is graded in three severity classes, from mild to moderate

to severe, depending on the functional damage involved. It is relevant to assess the reasons

behind distraction and fully understand the relation between gaming addiction and mental health

issues.
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Sometimes psychological issues and mental disorders lead to addicted gaming, and other

times, addicted gaming causes psychological problems. A study on different parts of the brain in

gamers indicated that when the amygdala, the amount of the brain that governs negative

emotions and fear, is active in times of fear and pain, and a person plays a video game. The

amygdala calms down (Sampogna et al. nd). This shows that gamers escape negative emotions

while suppressing them and making it hard to learn from their mistakes. Teenagers still get

addicted to playing video games even when they realize it does excellent harm than gain in life

progress.

Some of the mental disorders associated with gaming addiction are; alexithymia,

depression, and anxiety. Alexithymia is a condition caused by prolonged suppressing of

emotions, which is the inability to determine the inner emotional state (Şalvarlı et al. 20). It is a

protective and adaptive strategy because teenagers do not often have emotional guidance to

explain their feelings without getting judged at that young age. This eventually causes anger

expression and emotional outbursts instead of fear and pain limiting the emotional capacity.

They use gaming as a suppressive strategy for their emotions and play games all day. Physical

health and hygiene also get affected, resulting in more negative emotions and more gaming to

suppress them. Addiction to games causes anxiety and depression because of not doing the

things that should be done.

Anxiety is caused by not achieving the things that ought to be done and the underlying

consequences. Video games do not lead to stress, but the neglect of other things to play games

creates anxiety (Şalvarlı et al. 21). Teenagers addicted to gaming experience low self-esteem

when they realize that they have achieved significantly less in life than their peers and lose self-

confidence and self-worth. They get judged when offline by other people and get uncomfortable
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with it, leading to anti-social behaviors. Video games are not to blame for mental health

problems, but the addiction to such games leads to mental health issues. It is best enjoyed when

done as a leisure and recreational activity than a scapegoat for stress and negative emotions.

Excessive use and addiction to video games cause poor mental health, social

disconnection, dopamine addiction, emotional suppression, relationship issues, demotivation,

stress injuries, toxic gaming environments, and escapism. Dopamine released by the brain

neurotransmitter regulates pleasure feelings from video games (Paulus et al. 1201). With

occasional game playing, the constant dopamine supply causes random bursts occasionally. The

brain gets used to a steady dopamine supply with a more dopamine release requirement for fun in

gaming. This causes addiction and prevents enjoyment from things that are not as stimulating as

the games. Trials to stop gaming cause the brain to attract to other forms of stimulation like

YouTube browsing. This is the extent of dopamine addiction when gaming gets out of control.

Habit to video games hacks the triumph circuit, making people feel good when they successfully

tackle challenges. Games give the excitement, pleasure, victory, and adventure which comes

with overcoming.

In teenagers, video game addiction causes repetitive stress injuries because gaming

requires redundant and straining wrist and hand motion, causing inflammation and damage

(Paulus et al. 1203). Forgetting to eat or eating unhealthy snacks leading to obesity becomes a

risk factor associated with addictive gaming in teens. Eyestrain because of prolonged screen stare

leads to eye fatigue and eye problems. Posture problems also become common in teenagers with

addictive gaming because of the alteration of the development of the neuromusculoskeletal

system. This leads to curved backs, forward-leaned heads, rounded shoulders, and neck problems

later in life. Excessive gaming causes low concentration to other things not related to the games
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and long-term concentration abilities. Children with attention deficit disorders tend to get more

attracted to video games due to the various experiences they provide. Excessive video gaming

causes relationship issues between teenagers and their parents and siblings.

Social disconnection caused by addictive gaming is shared among teenagers. Even when

there are multiplayer games, the social connection remains poor, leading to mental health issues

because people need social support (DeRosier et al. 240). The toxic environment created when

competing in video games can lead to chaos and disagreements. Escapism to real-life issues is

one cause of addictive gaming in teens. They feel more safe and secure gaming when they do not

feel ready to deal with their life problems and prevent finding solutions to life issues. Playing

games for too long makes teenagers avoid facing their concerns directly and hiding from

responsibility. Some violent games affect the behaviors of the gamers, and some teens become

violent in their dealings and bullying others.

Neuroscientists have revealed that action video games harm the brain because habitual

gamers have decreased grey matter in the brain hippocampus. With more depletion of the

hippocampus, teens become more at risk of developing brain disorders which range from

depression to schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease (DeRosier et al. 242). Video games

contribute to the cognitive brain systems like memory and visual attention. Still, there is more

cost to that in the impacts caused on the hippocampus causing headaches, poor concentration,

and seizures. Gaming addiction causes loss of control, insomnia, sleep deprivation, circadian

rhythm disorders, aggression, loss of interest, and intolerance. A teenager with gaming disorder

portrays the loss of control, prioritizing games over other things, continuum of fun even with

deteriorating mental health and social problems.

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Gaming is not entirely the cause of mental health issues, but addiction deprives attention

to other things. Gaming is a pastime and leisure activity which when done with moderation, has

its benefits to teens. It provides social interactions when people come together to participate and

compete in social games. It prevents teenagers from feeling lonely in their indoor activities and

gives them a chance to socialize as they enjoy games. Gaming helps autistic kids with

communication challenges (Bean et al. 378). There are also cognitive benefits of controlled

gaming. These include boosting short-term memory, improving concentration, enhanced

reasoning, enhanced thinking skills and improved balance, and even training surgeons to do

complicated operations. On the brighter side, gaming is beneficial to teens when done in a

moderated manner and when not given long hours to the point of addiction.

In conclusion, addictive gaming in teens causes more harm to their mental health than the

benefits that come with it. Depression, anxiety, and social problems are the main impacts of a

long time spent on video games. Parents ought to monitor their children in the teenage because it

is the period when many of them adopt irresponsible behaviors, peer pressure, drug and

substance abuse, and addictive practices like games. Leisure time spared for video games need to

be controlled to prevent addiction and allow pauses in between to prevent effects on the eyes,

hands, and backs and long-term mental health issues. Some gamers live successful lives while

playing video games because they do it moderately for enjoyment and leisure while controlling

their other life responsibilities.

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Works Cited

Bean, Anthony M., et al. "Video game addiction: The push to pathologize video

games." Professional Psychology: Research and Practice 48.5 (2017): 378.

DeRosier, Melissa E., and James M. Thomas. "Video games and their impact on teens' mental

health." Technology and Adolescent Mental Health. Springer, Cham, 2018. 237-253.

Paulus, Frank W., et al. "Computer gaming disorder and ADHD in young children—a

population-based study." International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction 16.5

(2018): 1193-1207.

Şalvarlı, Şerife İnci, and Mark D. Griffiths. "Internet gaming disorder and its associated

personality traits: A systematic review using PRISMA guidelines." International Journal

of Mental Health and Addiction (2019): 1-23.

Sampogna, G., et al. "Is Internet gaming disorder really a new form of mental disorder? A

critical overview." Journal of Psychopathology (2018).

Saunders, John B., et al. "Gaming disorder: Its delineation as an important condition for

diagnosis, management, and prevention." Journal of behavioral addictions 6.3 (2017):

271-279.