NCSA concerned about gaming addiction among children

The National Council on Substance Abuse (NCSA) has expressed concern about the length of time children are spending playing online games, as it seeks to increase awareness about gaming addiction.

And Deputy Manager Troy Wickham is urging parents to pay closer attention to the activities their charges are engaged in online during the summer vacation.

He made the call during a recent one-day seminar for the Prevention First Club children’s session, hosted by the NCSA, in the Horatio Cooke Auditorium of the National Union of Public Workers.

Wickham advised parents that the World Health Organization had identified several indicators that their children had gaming addictions.

These, he said, are: thinking about gaming all or a lot of the time; feeling bad when they cannot play; needing to spend more and more time playing to feel good; not being able to quit or play less; not wanting to do other things that they used to like; experiencing problems at work, school, or home because of their gaming and playing despite these problems; lying to people close to them about how much time they spend playing; and using gaming to ease bad moods and feelings.

Additionally, Wickham reminded the children attending the seminar of the need to maintain drug-free lives, as well as the importance of being healthy, playing sports and enjoying time with their families and friends.

He noted that the NCSA’s 2020 National Primary School Survey found that 56.2 per cent of primary school children admitted to using a drug at some point, with the main drug being identified as alcohol, followed by energy drinks.

“That figure is still too high, and it calls for all to protect the nation’s children,” Wickham stressed.

During the one-day seminar, participants also attended sessions on conflict resolution, puberty, tobacco and alcohol. (BGIS)