By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Decades ago, kids would sink into beanbag chairs to try their skills at simple Nintendo Mario games on the family TV set.
Now, kids can play sophisticated electronic games almost anytime, anywhere – on consoles, computers, or cell phones.
Members of the Wood County Addiction Task Force and Prevention Coalition have focused past efforts on risky behaviors involving drugs, alcohol and mental health. But now, after many local youth have spent an unusual year learning and socializing online, the organization is taking a closer look at problem gaming or online gambling among school-age youth.
As head of the Wood County Addiction Task Force at the Wood County Educational Service Center, Judy Steiner, recently attended a conference on problem gaming and gambling for youth.
“We learned some really sobering things,” Steiner said.
Some youth are learning early how to use virtual currently for gaming and gambling, she said. Many video games start out free, but then have built in “loot boxes” that allow gamers to purchase other features.
“They look an awful lot like casino games,” Steiner said. “It’s about grooming kids to gamble later in life.”
Every two years, a youth survey is conducted of local school age children by Dr. Bill Ivoska to look at addictive or risky behaviors.
In the last survey prior to COVID, 61% of local sixth graders said they spent time gaming every day in the year before. A total of 38% said they spent more than two hours every day gaming, according to Kyle Clark, prevention education director of Wood County Educational Service Center.
“That’s where the concern is for us,” Clark said.
Clark predicted those numbers are even higher – now that some students have had an entire year of remote learning.
Steiner referred to youth gaming and gambling as “hidden addictions,” which quite often occur with other addictions.
Clark noted that the number of youth gaming and gambling online is predicted to grow with the legalization of sports betting expected soon in Ohio. Four of the five states bordering on Ohio have already legalized sports betting, he said.
The last local youth survey presented the following information on their gaming or gambling habits. Adolescents in Wood County have grown up in a world where gambling has been legal, available, acceptable and normal. These activities may include home poker games, dice or board games with family or friends, peer betting on games of personal skill in sports, video games, lottery purchases, internet gaming sites, video lottery terminals, and more.
Parents do not view gambling as a harmful activity for their children, especially when compared to other potentially risky behaviors.
The problem for adolescent gambling, according to the survey, is that social or recreational gambling can move along a continuum toward problematic or disordered gambling. Adolescents are considered an at-risk group to develop gambling problems, with male adolescents more likely to experience disordered gambling problems.
The most prevalent types of gambling activities among Wood County adolescents are betting money on sports – sports teams, fantasy sports or games with an entry fee to play. The second highest level of prevalence occurs in playing cards, and purchasing Ohio Lottery tickets or scratch off tickets.
Gambling activities are more common among males than females in Wood County and among older adolescents, aged 17 to 19, than younger adolescents aged 14 to 16.
Many parents worry about the impact of screen use on their children, according to a Mayo Clinic report addressing the controversy over the effects of screen use and exposure to violence in video games.
The report talked about the 2020 action by the American Academy of Pediatrics to lessen the strict guidelines for screen time, citing that not all time children spend in front of digital devices is negative. The AAP sought to strike a balance between the increasing dependence on technology and what is healthy for young, developing minds.
But the concerns still exist.
According to the Mayo Clinic:
- A 2014 study conducted by Zhejiang Normal University in China found that young adults who were addicted to online gaming showed lower volumes of gray and white brain matter than young adults in the control group who were not addicted to online gaming. Lower volumes of gray and white matter in some areas of the brain translates to increased difficulties with decision-making, impulse control and emotion regulation.
- Recent studies have found that excessive video game and screen time interferes with sleep, mood and social learning in children and adolescents.
- Brains, bodies and relationships can be damaged while on video games and screens. The action and interaction in video games mimics sensory input that brains associate with danger. It’s important to understand that our brains react to sensory input whether it’s real or perceived.
- Excessive video game use can lead to children’s brains being revved up in a constant state of hyperarousal, where the fight-flight response that perceives danger is too often triggered by exposure to intense stimulation and violence in a video game. Deficits in expression of compassion, creativity and interest in learning also can be impacted.
- For some, the release of the stress hormone cortisol, associated with the fight-flight response, can lead to chronic stress, which has its own symptoms, such as decreased immune function, irritability, depression and unstable blood sugar levels. One consequence is many young children develop a craving for sweets and will snack on them while playing video games. Compounded with the sedentary nature of the activity of video games, healthy diet and weight are negatively affected.
- Hyperarousal also can be triggered by a release of dopamine, the feel-good chemical that’s released in the brain when people experience success or achievement. It’s the same dopamine release process that triggers addiction to video games, screens and chemicals, such as alcohol.
