now a story to help you and your family
live healthy being sucked into a video
for hours is the norm it seems these
days particularly for teenagers and for
some the idea of unplugging is just
unthinkable the World Health
Organization has officially classified
gaming disorder as a mental health
condition this happened yesterday and
says that some gamers can even get
addicted this of course comes after a
story out of the United Kingdom about
this nine year old girl she was placed
in rehab after becoming so addicted to
the video game fortnight that she wet
herself rather than quit playing the
game I read this and I just cringed
experts say that classifying game gaming
disorder is is really a separate
condition it will help governments
families and health care workers be more
vigilant about identifying the risk for
some gamers so what does that mean for
you and your teenager joining me now is
Lori o Saatchi with the body image
Counseling Center Lori good morning I
you and I talked about this the last
time you were here because I have a 13
year old who swears to me that all of
his other friends play Fortnite as much
as he wants to and I'm constantly
creating these limits what are the
warning signs that this is moving from
an obsession let's say that we'll
eventually he'll outgrow to an addiction
well I definitely think peeing not
getting up to go pee not having that
issue thankfully well the truth is that
parents shouldn't be frightened about
this diagnosis not many people it's
really a severe for the most severe end
of the spectrum you okay and also a lot
of the signs of addiction are really
signs of being a teenager you know like
not listening to limits being
oppositional so you shouldn't panic if
your child is you know fighting fighting
you but if they if their grades are
slipping if they if they are on for
hours and hours at a time more than I
would say three hours at a time even
that I think is a little a little much
but I guess the kids wouldn't be well
you know it's hard during the summer
months you know the reality is is you
know kids are in camp and this is you
know is should there be a difference
between coz nowadays I'm like oh you
just want to watch a two-hour show on TV
great let's watch a movie I feel like
that's so much better than
a fortnight game but it's still TV time
isn't it well the truth is it's very
very different then maybe I sound like
I'm a million years old but when I was
growing up you know we would go guide or
buy I said races odds every time I say
but on the other hand you know I think
part of part of the answers for parents
not to see this as totally evil because
it can be very social a lot of times you
know kids are very social now on the
phone and on even on the video games
when they play with big groups so it's
not all evil and it can some of these
games do help logic skills and do help
you know socialization and I will tell
you about the fortnight game also
because this is the crazy I probably
every parent that I know on Facebook is
constantly saying oh my gosh how do I
pull my particularly my teenage boy away
from this game and it is social because
you can't play with another person
unless they have an Xbox that they bring
to your house so this is really about
communicating and there's probably 11 or
12 friends that my son plays with at a
time and it is cute hearing them talk
it's not gory it's not bloody but the
point is is they want to play for three
or four hours at a time
and that's where you start wondering
well are we losing our concept of
creating balance and doing other things
and is this the only thing that we're
doing right and that's also a sign it's
becoming addictive if they won't go
outside and exercise ever or if they
don't do clubs at school or they're not
going over to friends houses or going
out to the mall you know if they're just
doing this video gaming that's really a
danger a warning sign just has to put
the kibosh on it so then let's talk
about what parents can do without
getting the eye roll like I get every
single night and that oh you just don't
understand kind of love oh you are gonna
get the eye roll you have to do it
despite the eye roll so again as you
mentioned don't panic but limiting some
time and maybe actually offering it as a
reward right I think you can say I guess
all right I call this to say yes can i
play on these video games yes as soon as
you do this chore or as soon as you get
outside and take a walk ride your bike
as soon as you show me that you're you
you got your 3.0 average at school yeah
it's interesting too because what I'm
constantly saying is creating balance so
I think that you have to sit down and
have a conversation would you agree with
your child about what is bow
it's X amount of homework done and in
this case it's summer break so you don't
have to worry about it but X amount of
exercise may be X amount of reading
right what I do as well
yes and maybe let your child participate
and what those activities should be so
maybe they don't want to write exactly
maybe they don't want to ride the bike
maybe they are a reader you know or
maybe you know maybe they want to do
something different let them participate
the more yeses you can give I'll kind of
sneak in the know in there that's gonna
help a lot more I think that's that's
just the secret to trying to just be as
best the parent that you can be as it is
without your child hating you yeah and
if you're feeling adventurous you should
play a little with them too because then
that you get a little view into their
world it doesn't seem so scary you might
actually have a little fun and then it's
more of a camaraderie where you can set
the limits now I have worked with
parents where their kids were so
oppositional that that they would not
give over the phone or the xbox
controller and if they would get violent
and that's a problem too if your child
will not a lot of parents have told me
this their kid would not hand over an
electronic and it became physical so
that's a big problem you know that when
you decide that you can't solve this
maybe at home but need to talk to
someone like yourself yeah parents need
a lot of kazi's these are electronics
are very hypnotizing and parents need a
lot of support to be a team and just be
consistent because you are gonna get a
rolling and worse you know but the more
you are consistent and stand up the
better it will get this too will pass as
my parents say Lori thank you for being
here great insight on the warning signs