In May, a national observatory for gaming disorder (electronic game disorder) will operate for the first time in our country, which will carry out research on the issue at regular intervals, it was emphasized at the informative event “Child and Internet: safe surf”, organized by Noesis and the municipality of Thermi, at Thessaloniki.

The experience of his addiction to video games was testified by the 1st High School student, Christos Tatsiopoulos. As he said, three years ago, with his first contact on the internet, a new world opened up and he and his friends were discussing when they would get into electronic games to play together. Soon the little time his family allowed him to play was progressively increasing. Because of the addiction, he added, his personality changed, he became angry, stressed and argued with his family, especially his brother.

He said it was far from easy to overcome, “as an addict, I was very angry that I was deprived, the video games it was a habit”, he said characteristically.

When he got over this period of inactivity, as he described it, he wanted to do something creative and wrote the children’s novel “The Gem of Life”, about love, cooperation and kindness, dedicated to his brother.

Christos Tatsiopoulos said that he continues to play games, but in moderation and uses parental controls on his devices.

THE Konstantinos Siomosprofessor psychiatrist and president of the Hellenic Society for the Study of Internet Addiction Disorder, emphasized that since 2018 the World Health Organization has included electronic game disorder among mental disorders.

He pointed out that children who play electronic games less than 2 to 3 hours a day have better family relationships, school performance and social life, and more recreational activities, than those who do more than 3 hours

He referred to education, to point out that the modern school must teach, not only how we can use modern technology, but also digital intelligence, the ability, that is, to adapt to the modern world.

According to the information presented by the deputy constable Christos Papadopoulosfrom the Cybercrime Prosecution Directorate of Northern Greece, 1 in 3 children have seen sexual images on the internet by accident, mainly on social media, 6% have shared photos of similar content online, 17% have received sexual harassment online and more than 30% did not say it anywhere.

As for precautions, he pointed out that we should regularly change the password on our home router, especially if we share it with someone. As he characteristically mentioned, in a case of child pornography the IP address led the police to the wrong house and it turned out that the neighbor was guilty. Accordingly, young people gathered outside a house and used the home router to curse their peers.

Mr. Papadopoulos emphasized the security of devices and added that we should update software, buy anti-virus programs and use lock codes. In the event that a device is stolen, both Google and Apple allow us to remotely delete content. Finally, he asked parents not to expose their children’s personal data on social media.