Many children and teenagers spend a lot of time on social media, video games, and other activities on screens. But internet addiction is not a clinical mental health diagnosis. That’s because screens don’t affect kids’ brains the same way that drugs or alcohol would. They probably feel like they can’t control their time on the internet, but they’re not chemically dependent in the same way.
Still, when people spend a lot of time online, it becomes a problem, especially if it interferes with a child’s ability to have a normal life. Social media and games are very stimulating to kids’ brains. That can make it hard for them to take breaks and focus on other things. Technology negatively impacts kids if they spend so much time on screens that they don’t want to eat, sleep, do their homework, or spend time with friends and families. Research suggests that heavy social media use can also be a risk factor for anxiety and depression in teenagers.
However, it’s important to remember that using tech to talk to friends, listen to music, explore interests, and play games isn’t a problem in moderation. If your child has enough time for all the other important activities in their life, then you probably don’t need to worry about their screen use.
Many of the things’ kids do on their devices are activities appropriate for their ages: socializing with peers, exploring personal interests, shopping, listening to music, doing schoolwork, watching movies or TV. Remember that in the past, before internet, people did these same activities but offline.
Texting and use of social media sites, for instance, are important channels for adolescents connecting to others and to receive social acceptance in their groups.
Role-playing games allow kids to interact with their close friends, and with people around the world. A 2016 report by Common Sense Media concluded: “What looks like excessive use and distraction is actually a reflection of new ways of maintaining peer relations and engaging in communities that are relevant to them.”
The answer is “yes”, it is a mental health disorder when a child unhealthily concentrates more on video games, to the point of social isolation and when a child doesn’t not pay constant attention to important things in life.
Dr. Anderson reports that he often tells parents, “We understand your hypothesis that your kid is addicted to games, but probably he is socially anxious. It’s possible that he is depressed or that he has a learning disorder.”
Dr. Anderson remembers a 16-year-old patient. The patient’s mother insisted that he had an addiction to video games. Dr Anderson said “I did in-home sessions with him. It was, indeed, very hard to make him stop playing Call of Duty. But I realized very quickly that he had both ADHD and depression. I also discovered that he had problems at school for as long as he could remember.”
Adapted from: https://childmind.org/article/is-internet-addiction-real/