A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Like most teenage boys, Cam Adair played computer games. He would play the games – Starcraft: Brood War, World of Warcraft –with his cousin, or to unwind after school or hockey practice. "Then I started to experience a lot of bullying," the Canadian recalls. "And that bullying meant the gaming went from something that I [...]
Just when you thought that the Fortnite video game was worrying enough, think again. Supplement companies are now making caffeine-loaded gaming stimulants and drinks. The most worrying thing? These companies are using popular Instagrammers to target young people. Using hashtags such as #gamersupplements #reactiontime #insomnia and #fortnite, Instagrammers are promoting the products, which claim to [...]
Parents of teens who haven’t gone to school for as long as two years because of their gaming addictions have been slammed for their efforts to stop the problem behaviour. Logan Ford, profiled last night on 60 Minutes, is one of several teens in Australia confined to their bedrooms because of gaming addiction. The 14-year-old [...]
The video gaming industry has transitioned from a group of backyard innovators to an industry of multi-billion dollar companies, hiring psychologists, neuroscientists and marketing experts to turn customers into addicts. The latest trend is the creation of "whales", people so addicted to games that they spend their entire life savings to keep playing. But the video gaming industry, [...]
Boys who regularly play video games are more than twice as likely to have emotional and behavioural problems in childhood, but girls aren't similarly affected. This is one of the findings from the first large population-based study to show clear links between mental health and the amount of time spent using TV, video games and [...]
Flickr Images It was nearing midnight when she slipped out of bed, padded across the wood floors and peered into the room across the hall. Her 15-year-old son was still awake, like she knew he would be, sitting in his bed, staring at his laptop screen. This had long been his nightly ritual: [...]
Flickr Images We keep our kids safe from stranger danger, and the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse. We understand, in part from our own experience, the inherent risks. Who has not felt relief that the kids were indoors in front of the computer screen, or plugged into their smartphone instead of out [...]
Flickr Images Danny Izquierdo, a 22-year-old who lives with his parents in Silver Spring, Md., has found little satisfaction in a series of part-time, low-wage jobs he’s held since earning an associate degree from Brooklyn College. But the video games he plays, including “FIFA 16” and “Rocket League” on PlayStation and Pokémon Go [...]
Flickr Images Susan* bought her 6-year-old son John an iPad when he was in first grade. “I thought, ‘Why not let him get a jump on things?’ ” she told me during a therapy session. John’s school had begun using the devices with younger and younger grades — and his technology teacher had [...]
Pixabay Images Leading American Psychologist Philip Zimbardo recently discussed how men are getting left behind. For the first time in history young men are less educated than their fathers. The American Paediatric Society's 2013 study found that teenagers spend more time engrossed in media than they do in school and that time on [...]
