Children addicted to video games ran away from home in the middle of the night to find WiFi when parents turned their internet connection off, says expert

L4sBot@lemmy.worldmod to Technology@lemmy.world – 157 points – Children addicted to video games ran away from home in the middle of the night to find WiFi when parents turned their internet connection off, says expert
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Children addicted to video games ran away from home in the middle of the night to find WiFi when parents turned their internet connection off, says expert::Children have been found sitting by the front door of random homes, desperately trying to tap into the owner's WiFi connection.

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Even more horrifyingly, children addicted to books stayed up late, reading under their bed covers using flashlights...

LOL! Guilty as charged. But I’m better now. I read on my phone under the covers, no flashlight needed. :)

I used to do this lol. Lights out at 10 PM on a school night but if I was ever in the middle of an interesting book, I just couldn't help myself. Would sometimes read till 1 in the morning and then yawn all the day at school.

I'm 90% sure that's why I needed glasses. Probably ruined my eyes trying to read at close range in the dark after I was told to stop and go to sleep.

I've fixed with laser eye surgery now though. Hopefully I don't fall into the same trap with my phone this time!

We should be telling kids about how simple it is to build an antenna, how there are many types for different situations, and how directional antennas work. Buy them a copy of the ARRL books https://arrl.org/ and you'll potentially inspire an engineer.

Back when I was a kid I got into building a cantenna and aircrack-ng when my parents shut the internet off every night. Wasn’t addicted to games, just found it interesting and entertaining. Also came in handy in the days of shaped internet when you ran out of GB for the month.

You built your own wifi antenna?

A cantenna is typically a regular wifi antenna with a can around it to provide both directional control, and signal amplification. They are actually fairly simple things to cobble together.

Well, if there's something that has increased compulsive behaviors in gaming, and by design, is the concept of the "daily mission" - punishing players for skipping the game a day or two, very especially on free-to-play games where that's the only way to afford playing more or less competitively without resorting to mom's credit card, is a surefire way to make kids feel like the end of the world when they can't connect for the day.

It’s so important to distinguish between what games kids play. It really does make all the difference and a lot of parents aren’t equipped with the knowledge or tenacity to pursue it.

one thing i would be interested in seeing is what kinds of games are causing these problems. I would bet its mostly your mobile gatcha games, at least that kid running away from home must be. A lot of actual psycological research goes into making those games addictive, so no wonder they are addictive. Having actual stats to back it up tho would be nice and could maybe get some restrictions on them passed, especially lootboxes as is somewhat talked about in the article

As somone who has used video games as escapism there could also be something underlying that nobody is considering.

This is interesting. I don't think any really productive debate is going to come out of this - it'll be the same one that's been rehashed a million times - but it's hard to say "be a parent and control what your children do" when they're literally running away from home and threatening suicide when the parents try to parent.

I suppose if nothing else, hopefully we get more research and support services for these extreme cases of behavioral addiction.

Yeah, it’s child dependent really. My oldest is pretty sucked into her minecraft and roblox shit but when it comes time to get off, it’s “ok dad.” My youngest on the other hand is a child scorned in the same circumstance. I’m just glad I don’t have worse behavioral issues with them.

Look, I don't know anything about these kids, but I wouldn't trust these "experts" until I learned more.

Kids freaking love games, regardless of other factors. I would have desperately looked for an internet connection as a kid too, and I found ways to sneak away and play video games a lot because my adoptive parents sheltered us. I still loved to read, create things, play sports, and watch TV. "Running away looking for internet" isn't "video game addiction" in and of itself.

Just sounds like little Timmy figured out why they're called mobile games before his parents did.

Good ol’ war driving. Didn’t think this generation would ever have the need, but it really brings me back when we always had shitty internet and I wanted to go play some online games or finish a download.

As someone who is contemplating becoming a parent soon, what’s a good solution to managing screen time? I’m an IT guy so managing their devices will be standardized, but ethically I’m a bit worried about going too far with it. I really want my kids to grow up being creative and a bit bored sometimes so they have to make their own fun, but I also want them to game a bit like when I was a kid. It’s going to take quite a bit of work to restrict access to certain services at certain times of day, plus I’m considering absolutely no social media until they’re in high school but I’m worried that it’ll make them rebel and get desperate

Don't put the devices in their hands until they're older. And even when you do, immediately limit the time from the start. As an IT guy too, it's how I'm doing it. Use an older device without any accounts setup on it. Install fdroid and only get apps from there. Leave it on airplane mode except when wifi is needed (by you).

At this point, my 4yr old gets bored rather quickly with my old phone.

I have a 4 year with unlimited access to her tablet. She will throw it down in a second to go to the park or play with friends. Or just because I told her to put it down.

I gave it to her at 2. I think the key for me is disallowing it in combination with anything else. She can't hang out with me and play on her tablet. She can't play in the park and use her tablet. I also keep her in Amazon's walled garden for now. I've decided that Amazon's opinion about what's good for kids is better than most others. I've also been encouraging my daughter to use it as a learning tool like she'll have to as an adult. She's used to to trying to learn Spanish when she got a friend who spoke it and to reinforce what she's learning in preschool.

All in all, I think that technology is mostly about boundaries. My nephews are addicts but mostly because they have no boundaries. My sister overruled me over having a "digital detox" day after her son had been playing videogames non-stop for 3 days now. Kid watch some YouTube or something. Nope apparently it's summer so he can do whatever. This will definitely not be a problem when school starts 🙄.

Any kid who is desperate enough to leave the house for wifi was failed years ago about boundaries and healthy usage. Their parents are silly anyway. Parental controls can make a literal any device a brick. This is the first lesson I taught my kid. Tablets work at my pleasure. My daughter doesn't even whine about it anymore. Tablet becomes a brick at 8pm sharp and she just plugs it up and gets into bed.

A UK clinic designed for treating video game addiction, originally expected to help just 50 people a year, has had more than 850 referrals since its inception in 2020.

850 game addicts across 2-3 years is pretty small potatoes. Wonder how many alcoholics and gambling addicts there are in that area.

Also says "referrals", so wondering how many of those were actually cases.

I did not read the article, but I have one important question: did they found a WiFi they could use or not?

Article says they just went and sat on their neighbor's front steps.

I guess this makes a good argument for slowing down connections to old dial up modem speeds, but you have to wonder if part of it is an underlying psychological problem (possibly related to our current mishandling of society)

I tried that things timeout like crazy these days. you pretty much can’t do anything modern with 56k

Have video games now been found addictive by professional psychologists — the only people qualified to make that determination? Last I heard, “technology addiction” was a myth promulgated by abusive “boot camp” operators who were practicing unlicensed mental health care (i.e. scams, and dangerous ones at that).

Those microtransactions-laden mobile games employs a whole stack of evil tricks to make sure their users got addicted and can't miss even a single day not playing.

I'm sure those kids sneaking out of home to find wifi aren't doing so to play Mario Kart. They're probably playing one of those free to play mobile games.

No doubt some games manipulate users to increase engagement. This is not addiction. I wouldn’t presume to speculate which games these kids play.

No doubt some games manipulate users to increase engagement. This is not addiction.

You could make the same ridiculous reductionist statement about casinos.

Are you claiming that the statement is incorrect? Or did you just feel the need to show off an ad hominem fallacy?

It's in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - THE authoritative guide on what is or is not considered a mental disorder, yes.

This is hardly groundbreaking stuff - people can be addicted to porn, food, exercise, pretty much anything. Really the primary criteria in calling any addiction a "disorder" is "what negative effects is it having on your life?" Well, "I literally want to kill myself when my parents cut off the wifi" is a pretty negative effect.

Addiction is defined by repeated behavior despite repeated consequences.

My little cousins stole my aunt’s credit card and spent $10k on digital goods. This wasn’t the first time this happened.

There are legitimate concerns about how these services are shaping the minds of children, constantly poking the reward center of their malleable brains and wiring them a specific way to open pathways to addictive behavior. YouTube channels promoting desperate consumerism by featuring kids opening endless “presents” for an hour as an example.

I will admit that as someone who is a bit more tech savvy than the average person this stuff is pretty alarming. I’m planning to become a parent soon and it seems like keeping their usage in check will be an endless game of whack a mole, and that screen/game/content addiction is now the default outcome because they’re all built to be so predatory and addictive by nature.

Yes, I’m aware that the APA has recommended much further study in order to determine whether technology use might be an addiction. Or did you not bother to read the page you linked?

I did bother to read it. Did you? Just because it hasn't been fully fleshed out to be officially listed with diagnostic criteria and full information for the manual doesn't mean that it hasn't been defined or that it doesn't exist or that the APA does not classify it as a mental disorder.

Do you have some kind of ideological problem with the concept of gaming addiction, specifically, in the universe of all the other behavioral addictions out there? Gamers™ sure do seem to get sensitive any time anyone says anything that could be construed as remotely negative about their hobby - like that some people develop crippling addictions to it as outlined in the topic article.

The article makes no such claims. It outlines the major positions and recommends further research. Gaming is not an addiction, according to the APA.

Gambling addiction - a rather well documented phenomenon over centuries - wasn't even in the DSM until the fifth edition. Gaming addiction will be in the sixth. See you then.

I look forward to seeing if you actually are able to predict the future, Nostradamus.

It's crazy to me that some people don't believe that this is a thing. I knew this guy who seemed like he had it all. A decent job, a house, a wife and kids, good friends, etc, you name it.

Warning: This gets a bit heavy

Over time, this guy's gaming addiction cost him nearly everything. He kept calling in sick to work in order to game instead, so he lost his job. His gaming also caused him to neglect getting mental health treatment for one of their children. His wife worked as much as legally possible, but it wasn't enough for them to keep their house. They were forced to move in with their family for a while, on the other side of the US.

Of course, it didn't end there. They got a new place of their own somewhere else a few years later, only for him to fall back into those same habits. His wife divorced him when she discovered that he was cheating with someone that he had met while gaming.

One of their kids (may they rest in peace) is no longer with us due to their terrible experiences throughout all of this. You never forget seeing a distraught parent at their own kid's funeral. I will never forget the horror in their eyes. The guilt.

Gaming addiction is absolutely a thing.

What kind of gaming/game was it? I'm betting either a mobile game literally designed to get you trapped in it, or some hyper competitive lootbox and microtransactionv filled game

There can be mental addictions, but older generations don't tend to care unless it's something they don't like.

I don't feel like I was addicted to games growing up, but I know I was using them for escapism. Nobody from the outside would have looked any farther than "you spend X amount a day playing games", and ignore why I felt the need for it.

Too many self important people act like addiction is a personal failing when it's usually somone trying to find some relief in a society that has failed them.

Addictions are, by definition, mental. They are also complex and multifaceted phenomena with myriad causes and expression.

I’m sorry that you felt failed by society. I hope things are better now.

For me it was that I didn't have the information I needed to process what I was feeling and deal with what was wrong. I didn't have the language to even describe that something was wrong.

I know many others in my situation that ended up with worse coping mechanisms in the same circumstance. Heavy drinking and drug use is common in the community.

That said, addictions can be physical. There's a reason you have to ween people off of certain substances because withdrawal can kill them.

Good ol’ war driving. Didn’t think this generation would ever have the need, but it really brings me back when we always had shitty internet and I wanted to go play some online games or finish a download.