Why parents need to be careful about video game usage

See Rick Meeves, PhD, LMFT 's video on Why parents need to be careful about video game usage...
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Why parents need to be careful about video game usage

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Parents really start to question, "Gosh, my kid is spending two or three hours a day; is it really that bad?" "I'd rather have my child at home so I know where he is rather than at his friend's where I can't control what is going on." That's the early part of the problem, that parents can get trapped into. "Hey, my kids are at home. I know what games they are playing." Kids can become so engrossed in that, there is no other interaction, maybe parents have to work, it's common. So it becomes a little bit of a babysitter. This is not to strike guilt and terror into parents, but they have got to be mindful of the fact that these two or three hours can start to lead into more intensive games, five, six, seven, eight hours, where we start to talk about what an addiction is. We've got to be really careful about that. There are some research studies where they are utilizing brain imaging and look at the extensive effects of video games. They are finding that adolescence who play eight, night hours of violent video games, their brains are starting to look like cocaine and heroin addicts. So this is how bad it actually can be. It's not just good to sit their kids home for hours on end playing video games. It does affect their cognitive functioning and their emotional regulation.

See Rick Meeves, PhD, LMFT 's video on Why parents need to be careful about video game usage...

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Rick Meeves, PhD, LMFT

Clinical Director of CRC

Dr. Rick Meeves has spent the last 16 years working with adolescents and their families. He currently serves as the Director of Adolescent Clinical Services for CRC Health Group, the nation’s largest provider of addiction treatment and related behavioral health services.  Rick has helped families deal with the rapidly expanding access to video and electronic media. As a practitioner he has seen teens lock themselves in their rooms, playing video games for days on end. He has also seen teens who became addicted to online gambling. Rick has seen parents who have accepted this behavior as some acceptable alternative to staying out all night or using drugs or alcohol. He has helped families re-establish healthy patterns and use of electronic gaming and has established healthy patterns with his own boys.

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