5 Ways to Tell Your Kid May Be Gaming a Bit Too Much

Video games are one of the best forms of pastime in 2024, no matter what they tell you. It’s a safe, interactive medium that requires your attention and may have many benefits for your cognitive abilities.

Young adults can apply things they learned from WoW raids in their cooperative workplace; this is a way to boost their communication skills, and they may even develop a knack for problem-solving. Strategy gamers are great at managing resources, and people who love puzzle games are great at recognizing patterns. FPS gamers have amazing reflexes and work well under pressure.

However, all of these things are good in moderation.

Is it possible to play too much?

Absolutely!

With that in mind and in order to avoid some of the worst outcomes, here are the top seven ways to tell your kid may be gaming abit too much. 

1. Install a spy app on their phone

Kids are masters at hiding things from their parents, so the best way to get one step ahead of them is to convince them that there’s no reason for them to hide to begin with. After all, they won’t try to hide from you if they don’t know you’re watching.

How important is this? 

Well, if you take their phone away or insist on them using it in front of you, they’ll just get another phone. You’ll be lulled into a false sense of security and believe that you’ve resolved the issue. We’re no longer in 1997, and getting a new phone or computer is easier and cheaper than ever before.

Installing a spy app is a method that’s so subtle that it has to work. They won’t know that you’re spying on them, and if they don’t discover it, it won’t deteriorate your trust. On top of this, it’s completely legal for a parent to do so.

There’s a specialized smartphone for every device you can think of, so pick a specialized device. For instance, if you want to make sure they’re not gaming on their Samsung phone, just look for spy apps for Android, pick the right one, and install it. 

2. Their sleep patterns are changing

One of the best-known phenomena of passionate gaming is the one-more-turn. This is a term that originates from turn-based strategies that can sometimes get so addictive. 

The secret, according to Sid Meier, the godfather of the genre, lies in the fact that you have to complete a task that will unlock something new in the game. This way, every subsequent turn is unique because you get to do something you couldn’t have done the previous turn. 

This will result in many sleepless nights and result in their difficulty of waking up for school. As a working person, chances are that you’re going to bed before your teenager, which means that you don’t see when they go to bed. What you do see is what they look like when they get up.

They’ll also try to make up for lack of a good night’s sleep by napping during the day. How does this make sense? Well, they can’t play in front of you, so it’s a better deal for them to be up when you’re sleeping. This way, they can play undisturbed. 

Constant tiredness or irritability is another thing to watch out for, since it’s a common symptom of sleep deprivation. 

3. Social interactions have decreased

Kids with a gaming addiction are often seen avoiding family time. Why? Well, because they would rather be someplace else.

While they’re sitting in a living room, enjoying a meal with their family, their minds are wandering in a completely different direction. They’re calculating how much gold they need to try a new build or where they could move their merchant (in a strategy game) to make a greater profit.

They also lose interest in seeing friends, especially if they don’t play this game with these friends. It’s the same as with other addictions, really. 

In fact, it’s not that uncommon that they find a new group of friends and start preferring online friends over real-life ones.

Before you know it, they’ll be canceling all their social plans and subject their entire lives to this one digital medium. It’s restricting, it’s unhealthy, and it’s obsessive. Most importantly, it cuts a lot deeper than you think. 

4. They become irritable when not gaming

Now, we come to behavior that’s typical for any addict, and if you notice it in your children when gaming is in question, it’s time to take some drastic measures.

First of all, you’ll see some extreme mood swings when they are asked to stop. They’ll feel like you’re doing them some great harm and it’s not unexpected for them to show signs of actual hysteria.

Then, you will encounter frustration over minor interruptions. Sure, boomer parents don’t know that you can’t pause an online game but even a ranked online game shouldn’t be seen as a matter of life and death. If they start seeing it like this, it’s a sign that they need to log off for a while.

Kids who are gaming too much will start expressing anger or anxiety when away from the game. We’re not talking about days away from the game, either.

Lastly, they’ll express difficulty focusing on non-gaming activities. They’ll constantly be on the lookout for the nearest device and gaming terminal. They’ll use every opportunity to play the game, and even if they can’t play, they’ll look up content on YouTube or Twitch. 

5. They start neglecting homework or chores

One of the main signs of addiction is the fact that you’re neglecting your responsibilities in pursuit of it. Make no mistake: gaming addiction has been voted as real by the World Health Organization. Like if you were an alcoholic, it’s not just about the amount that you drink; it’s about missing your work assignments because of it and being unable to keep a steady job. 

The first symptom that your child may have problems with gaming is when they start missing their assignments. When you notice that they’ve started neglecting homework or chores yet are always on their device, this is a worrying sign that you have to address. 

It’s not just about the homework. Their chores will consistently be left undone. Sometimes, they’ll plan on throwing out the trash from their room, but they’ll decide to do it after one more game or one more turn. Before they know it, the day is gone, and the chore is still not done.

Their time management will be the first victim of their gaming addiction, but they’ll always have another excuse.

If you don’t act quickly enough, they’ll fall behind in school.

Recognizing a problem in time gives you so many options to make things right

You don’t want to prevent your kids from gaming. You do not want to ban video games in their life, and you don’t want to put them in a position where all of their peers are allowed to do something they can’t. All that you want is to prevent the situation from getting out of hand. In order for this to work, you need to spot the problem from a mile away.