1. Anxiety: Anyone who has played an action game knows that holding of breath and extreme concentration is needed. However, more subtly, anxiety creeps in. “Can I beat the boss of this level?” runs through the mind. This is temporary, for some. However, in children it can last longer.
2. Depression: There are those who don’t believe children can develop true depression. There are those who know otherwise. Video game addiction can lead to depression, especially if the youngster is having difficulty with the game(s) chosen.
3. Frustration: Veteran parents and grandparents have seen this whether the child is addicted or not. Sometimes it also involves throwing the gaming device across the room. The latter is more likely for an addicted child.
4. Boredom: There may be a better name for this, but for the kids who play using a device that has to be charged, they do not know what to do while the device is recharging. Asked to read a book or play with toys, they often pout.
5. Video game vision syndrome: This is another thing that those responsible for children who are addicted to video games see. So do many eye doctors. It is now a diagnosable thing, and it shows that playing video games more than thirty minutes a day, seven days a week are harmful to the eyes of the child thus employed.
6. Increased heart rate: While increasing the heart rate during exercise is helpful to the human body, doing it other ways may not be as beneficial. Several studies show an increase in heart rate during and after play.
7. Sleeplessness: Adults who spend a lot of time on screens have already noticed this. If one tries to go to bed right after using a screen for any reason… including watching TV… it can lead to a very sleepless night. Studies show that children, especially those addicted to video games, also develop this problem.
8. Aggressive behavior: This has to do more with all screen violence rather than just video game violence. Several large studies have found that watching constantly violent content leads to aggressive behavior. This is not just in children, but it is more dangerous for children.
9. Psychological child development: A study was done on whether or not video games could be helpful for this area of a child’s development. If the games were nonviolent, oftentimes they had a positive effect. Violent games were the opposite.

References:

• Effect of Addiction to Computer Games on Physical and Mental Health of Female and Male Students
• Screen Violence and Youth Behavior
• Neural Basis of Video Gaming: A Systematic Review
• Gaming disorder – World Health Organization
• Video Game Vision Syndrome: A New Clinical Picture in Children?
• Video Gaming and Children’s Psychosocial Wellbeing: A Longitudinal Study
• Video games can change your brain.

More to read:

• Protecting children from the dangers of “virtual violence”
• Violent Video Games and Aggression.

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