Problematic video game use affects 28% of teenagers, survey finds

About 28% of adolescents have criteria for diagnosing TJI (Internet Gaming Disorder), a condition in which there is excessive use of video games, with loss of activities such as eating and studying. The number was revealed in a doctoral research by the Institute of Psychology at USP (University of São Paulo) and exceeds the rates found in countries such as Canada (9.4%), France (17.7%) and the United Kingdom (19, 9%).

According to the study, the first to quantify TJI in Brazilian adolescents, young males, tobacco and alcohol users, who practice or are victims of bullying and who have difficulty relating to peers are more associated with the disorder. Conduct problems and hyperactivity symptoms are also more related to this condition.

“Like someone with ADHD [transtorno de déficit de atenção com hiperatividade] has difficulty engaging in activities that are not very motivating, the video game works perfectly. The individual tends to be more stimulated by the video game and has more difficulty in self-control to reconcile the game with doing the homework or leaving when the father calls”, says clinical psychologist Luiza Chaves Brandão, author of the research.

People with TJI generally spend eight or more hours a day playing video games and at least 30 hours a week. According to the APA (American Psychiatric Association), they often go long periods without sleep or food and neglect obligations related to school, work and the home environment, for example.

If banned from gambling, individuals with TJI become agitated and angry, and any attempt to redirect them to other activities is met with strong resistance.

The condition has been recognized as a pathology in recent years: the APA classified the disease and added it to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) in 2013 and, in 2018, the WHO (World Health Organization) included the pathological use of video games in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD).

“All of a sudden, people have thousands of free games in their hands, on their cell phones, and they don’t even know that it’s harmful. society and this media itself”, says the psychologist.

In addition to easy access, playing games to forget or alleviate real-life problems is also one of the reasons and was mentioned by 57% of teenagers, according to the survey. Brandão considers that aspects such as urban violence and restricted access to other leisure options contribute to this phenomenon.

The study considered the answers given by eighth grade students from 73 public schools in Eusébio (CE), Fortaleza and São Paulo to the questionnaire of the #Tamojunto 2.0 project, an action by the Ministry of Health that aims to prevent the consumption of alcohol and drugs by adolescents. The initiative’s team includes professors Márcia Helena da Silva Melo and Zila van der Meer Sanchez Dutenhefner, Brandão’s advisor and co-advisor, who made room for the inclusion of questions about the use of video games in the national investigation.

The nine questions about games were adapted from the DSM-5 and can be considered a thermometer of the relationship with video games. Adolescents who scored “yes” to five or more questions in the study were classified as problematic. Of the 3,939 students who responded to this part of the survey, 3,396 claimed to have played video games in the last 12 months and 1,077 met the TJI criteria, equivalent to 85.85% and 28.17% considering the mean of the confidence interval.

“Problem use usually involves families that are already in a high level of conflict because the adolescent is not performing other activities. In addition, problematic use rarely comes alone. It usually brings other mental health symptoms that say that if this adolescent If you’re having a problem with gambling, there’s a chance that other things won’t be cool either, so it’s important to get help from a mental health professional,” he advises.

Mother of five children, three of them teenagers, nanny Alexandra has been playing video games for years. In recent months, however, the 16-year-old has started spending more time online. “He changed his sleeping and eating routine. He does not interact with his family. There have been situations in which we went out for a walk or to visit relatives and he preferred to stay at home to play, play, play”, she reports. THE Sheet does not disclose her surname to protect the young man’s identity.

“My biggest concern is the detachment from the family’s daily life. There is also the question of who he talks to. I don’t know who is there, if he has ulterior motives”, he adds.

According to the researcher, the type of game, the content and the frequency modify the effects on the players. “Not every game is the same. It’s a huge universe,” she recalls.

She explains that previous research has indicated two types of games that are more problematic: violent games, considering the content, and MMORPGs (Massively Multi-User Online Role-Playing Game), considering their structural, role-playing characteristics. “MMORPG is the type that is most related to addiction”, points out the psychologist.

Alexandre Inforzato realized this in practice. A gamer since the 80s, the biotechnologist saw MUD (Multi-user dungeon) games, predecessors of MMORPGs, affect his daily life. “I spent hours and hours playing this to the detriment of my academic life, I neglected my classes, exams”, he says.

After months of dedicating most of his time to games, he realized that he needed to pay more attention to classes and professional life and changed his relationship with games. Today, he continues to play tabletop roleplaying games, but not the online multiplayer version. “They condition the player with small rewards and I disapprove of this strategy because games like this don’t necessarily encourage socialization. The focus is to keep people playing”, he says. He also doesn’t play mobile games.

Like the roughly 44% of teens who said they played video games, Inforzato was a victim of bullying and in part believes he played games to forget what happened at school.

“When teenagers play for escapism, it’s important to understand what they’re escaping from, what problem the game alleviates. For example, if the teenager is doing poorly in school and in other areas, but in the video game he’s doing well, he can’t not want to be dedicate to other things”, says the psychologist.

In the case of Inforzato, the balance was more positive than negative. He made friends, developed an interest in English and became a language teacher. Today, he uses games as a way to enrich classes and interact with students. “For me, games are an art form. You can be exposed to new universes of ideas, aesthetics and experiences when you consume literature and cinema, for example. The same goes for video games.”