More kids hooked on gaming

Cause for concern: Counsellors say they have seen a stark increase in reports from parents about their children being hooked on online gaming since the pandemic hit. — The Straits Times/ANN

Cooped up at home during the circuit breaker in 2020, his teenage daughter found a new way to pass the time with the help of video games.

Lim Cheng Mong was concerned about the long hours the 18-year-old spent gaming, which he estimated to be six hours a day.

But the father of two struggled to lay down any rules over computer usage, as he knew his children also needed the devices for schoolwork and projects.

“As a parent, I can’t stop my children from accessing the computer since they also have projects to complete,” said Lim, 56, a product manager. “It’s harder for us to control their timing now without being too intrusive.”

He is not the only one facing such a problem.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) said it has observed more students who have been counselled for gaming issues in recent years, with the increased access to technology and online games.

This may have worsened during the pandemic when more time is spent online, the ministry added. It did not give figures on the trend.

MOE said students who struggle with excessive online gaming may feel restless and irritable when they are unable to game, and often do not get enough sleep due to the strong urge to spend more time gaming.

Counsellors, too, said they have seen a stark increase in reports from parents about their children being hooked on online gaming since the pandemic hit.

Most of the seven counselling agencies interviewed by The Straits Times cited the 2020 circuit breaker as a catalyst for addiction in many children, with the number of cases rising by up to 60%.

Touch Youth Intervention (TYI), a non-profit agency providing counselling and intervention services for youth, said it received 1,004 calls last year regarding youngsters facing issues with excessive device use, including being addicted to gaming.

Senior counsellor and head of TYI, Shawn Soh, said that before Covid-19, the agency dealt with some 500 such cases each year.

While the time spent online can vary for each person, it becomes a problem when gaming eats away at a child’s other responsibilities like doing homework, health and family time, he added.

Soh, 33, added that at least two in three of the children referred to TYI behaved aggressively when confronted by their parents, throwing tantrums, shouting or hitting others.

“Covid-19 has definitely created more chaos at home as many kids are facing screens all day. Over time, this became the norm,” he said.

On Jan 24, a 14-year-old boy who had a gaming addiction was sentenced to five years’ detention for killing his father at their home, after the latter restricted his access to computer games.

The court heard that the boy grew resentful and stabbed his father with a knife in December 2020. The boy had autism, but his counsellors reported that this did not contribute to his offence.

We Care Community Services counsellor Alvin Seng, 34, said that since the pandemic, online addiction has become the biggest issue among young people at the addiction recovery centre.

The centre handled more than 40 cases of online addiction last year, up from fewer than 30 per year before the pandemic. — The Straits Times/ANN