Dublin: Are Ireland’s young generation becoming slaves to digital video games? Parents are being questioned by Irish psychologists. Psychiatrists warn parents that if they don’t track teens closely and understand their behavioral changes, they will lose their children.
With the early changes slowly slipping away from the family environment, teenagers become entirely digital play tools. If parents can understand this change from the beginning, they can get their children back. Or they may be addicted to digital games, like alcohol and drugs, and can be added to the category of digital patients.
Last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that digital games could enslave children and require treatment to save them. But just like other warnings, it has been ignored.
Dr. Jerry McCarney, Head of the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the College of Ireland in Ireland, says that there are teens in Ireland who are trapped in digital games ranging from 12 to 15 hours and there are even teens who have been engaged for the entire day. The continuous overuse makes children digitally harmed, Dr. Jerry McCarney reminded.
We need to save this generation from this danger. He said that, with keeping this in mind a special group has been formed under the leadership of the college to examine the psychological development of children. In our country we can find people who seek more advice than treatment.
But there are many cases that require treatment. Digital intoxication is just like alcohol and drugs. Some people decide not to have it. But swallow it whole. There are people who use the internet and the digital world intelligently. But a minority sees it as a ‘job’ and is stuck in front of it. They are the troublemakers.
If there are teenagers at home waking up at night and playing games, they are definitely addicted to video games. “Home inspections are essential to determine how many hours our children spend in front of the Internet each day,” Dr. Carney said.