Analysis of Children's Dependence on Online Games: A Report

This report addresses the growing concern of children's dependence on online games. It begins by explaining the problem, highlighting the shift from outdoor play to mobile and video games and the resulting impacts on children's mental and physical well-being. The report then provides a literature review, citing research on gaming addiction, its behavioral aspects, and the negative psychological consequences. It explores studies on treatment approaches, including familial influences and the role of parental involvement in mitigating addiction. The report proposes an approach to solving the problem, emphasizing parental cooperation and the establishment of time limits for gaming. It also mentions the use of qualitative research methods and questionnaires for data analysis. The conclusion reiterates the dangers of online gaming and stresses the importance of strong parent-child relationships and structured schedules to reduce excessive gaming. The report includes references to relevant books and journals.

ASSESTMENT 1

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Explanation of the problem.........................................................................................................3
Literature review.........................................................................................................................3
Approach for solving the problem..............................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Children now a days are not so active in playing outdoor games rather than they prefer to
play inside with video and mobile games. The parents and society are more concerned on the
children when they play online games. The online games not only impact their health but also on
their mental capability. This report will discuss the problem of dependence of children on the
mobile games. This report will further develop research question which are relevant to the
problem and can be achieved in the given time limit. In the end, approach for solving the
problem along with the methods for conducting the research and gather data and results will be
covered in this report.
MAIN BODY
Explanation of the problem
Children are considered as the future of human generation and the development of the
society depends upon these children. The children in old days spend time with family and friends
and tends to play outside the games which assist the growth of their physical well being. But
children in present time are spending much of their time on computer and mobiles. These
children spent their time by playing online games instead of talking with the family and friends.
There are a large number of side effects on the mental ability of the children due to playing these
online games. Children are becoming addicted towards the games such as PubG, fortnight,
Pokemon Go which is a growing concern for the parents.
Literature review
According to the Rob Walker, (2016) the medical and addiction experts, charities and
parents are concerned on the amount of time in which they children are spending the time on
playing online games. This increasing concern is because of the figures which shows that the
children in UK are spending around £3bn each year on games such as League of Legends, World
of Warcraft and Grand Theft Auto. Parents are demanding sleeping pills for their children so that
their time on online games can be reduced (Fears grow for children addicted to online games,
2016). Also by using the sleeping pills, children can sleep properly which is not possible due to
playing games. Only few parents knows how to monitor the online activities of their children
Whereas monitoring the online activities of their children is the major challenge faced by the
remaining parents.

According to the Mark D. Griffiths, (2014) Online gaming is a disorder similar to any
other behavioural addiction and it consists of compulsive behavioural involvement, lack of
interest in other activities, social circle of games addicts etc. due to which children stops taking
part in other social activities. These online games can leads to the negative psychological
consequences such as sacrificing work, education, hobbies, socializing, time with partner/family,
and sleep, increased stress etc. For tackling with this problem, the government of Netherlands
and the United Kingdom started gaming addiction clinics in which treatment is provided to the
addicts through a 12‐step self‐help treatment (Online games and addiction, 2014).
According to the King, Delfabbro and Griffiths (2010) there are various issues in treating
the addicts of mobile gaming. First is that Most of the studies fails to apply an objective
measurement of game usage. Another issue is that the past studies does not have any control
group for comparing the age groups (King, Delfabbro and Griffiths, 2010). Also the treatment
time and dose varies with the addiction level. Due to these issues, There is a lack of consistent
approaches for treating the gaming addicts and this also makes it difficult to draw valid
conclusion for the treatment.
According to the Schneider, King and Delfabbro, (2017) children are becoming gaming
addicts due to the familial influences. The poor quality of the relation with the parents has
increased the severity of problem of gaming. When the paternal relationship with the children
improves, then it can be leveraged by the fathers for reducing the addiction of their children.
Interventions for the children can be effective in some cases if the parents actively cooperate for
addressing the familial influences on problem of gaming (Schneider, King and Delfabbro, 2017).
Instead of enrolling the vulnerable children in individual-based training or temporarily isolating
adolescents from the family system, parents needs to provide their support and guidance to their
children so that the gaming habit can be regulated.
Approach for solving the problem
Questions:
Q1. What are the ways through which the problem of dependence of children on the online game
can be eliminated?
In order to solve the problem of dependence of children on the online games, parents
needs to cooperate with their children so that the children should feel alone and stressed. When
parents interact with their children then they can determine the problems and issues of the

children and resolve them so that the children does not involve in the games for seeking the
freedom from real world. Through this approach, the addiction of the gaming can be reduced to a
huge extent. Also parents can provide a particular time limit and time table for doing the various
activities in a timely manner such as online gaming, studies, outdoor physical activities etc. This
research is conducted using the qualitative research method so that valid and meaningful
conclusion can be drawn at the end of research. questionnaire is taken in this report for analysing
the data which is collected from the journals, books and newspaper articles who are considered
as the secondary data sources. This research can be executed in the given time period if the data
is collected from reliable and valid sources.
CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above research report that online gaming is dangerous for
the mental and physical well being of children. The parents needs to develop close relationship
with their children so that the children dies not suffer from loneliness and stress. Also parents
needs to provide the schedule to the children for daily activities so that they won't spend much
time in playing online games.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Schneider, L.A., King, D.L. and Delfabbro, P.H., 2017. Family factors in adolescent problematic
Internet gaming: a systematic review. Journal of Behavioral Addictions. 6(3). pp.321-
333.
King, D., Delfabbro, P. and Griffiths, M., 2010. Video game structural characteristics: A new
psychological taxonomy. International journal of mental health and addiction. 8(1).
pp.90-106.
Online
Fears grow for children addicted to online games. 2016. [Online]. Available
through:<https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/nov/06/fears-children-
addicted-online-games>.
Online games and addiction. 2014. [Online]. Available
through:<https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/9781118767771.wbiedcs044
>.