“There is hardly any difference between gaming addiction and alcoholism. It causes a similar pattern and then develops into a serious addiction.
According to a study published in the Indian Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health in 2020, about 3.5% of Indian adolescents suffer from Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD). This rate is 0.5% higher than the global average.
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Indian studies show that 8% of boys and 3% of girls fall within the IGD bracket. Experts blame prolonged screen time for the disorder.
Addicted to playing online games
“Nearly 41% of the Indian population is under the age of 20, which means that online games have a huge market ahead of them. The main target of this addiction is children between the ages of 5 and 18. When the brain is still immature. development Kumar said.
At this immature brain stage, they want instant enjoyment, which turns into addiction.
However, these are years of useless productive work with Internet games, causing lasting damage to this generation, leading to family conflicts, criminal tendencies and others in the later stages of life. life, said the professor of psychiatry.
Kumar blamed the Covid-19 pandemic for increasing such disorder to some extent, saying the health crisis had changed people’s lifestyles.
Everything is now available online, which has brought people to mobile devices, leading to excess screen time and device addiction.
“At the brain level, addiction is similar to a chemical mechanism,” says Nimesh G. Desai, former director of the Institute of Human and Allied Behavioral Sciences (IHBAS).
However, he added that not all users are addicted.
He says that technological advances are both helpful and harmful if we use them judiciously.
Shamsi Akbar, former research officer, said: “According to the WHO report, online gaming addiction is on par with substances such as cocaine, drugs and gambling. , Department of Geriatric Mental Health, College of Medicine King George.
She added that gamers are trapped in a situation known as Passive Phenomenon where an outside force is controlling them and when someone stops them from playing the game, they become aggressive.
Source: IANS
