A Scottish expert warns that excessive screen time among children, particularly with online gaming and social media, can lead to addiction problems later in life, including gambling, alcohol, and drug abuse.
Screen addiction among children can pave the way for them to become hooked on gambling, alcohol and drugs, a Scottish expert has warned. Tony Marini, senior therapist at Castle Craig rehab centre, warned more young people in Scotland are becoming obsessed with computer gaming and social media than ever before.
Marini, a former cocaine and gambling addict himself, has treated hundreds of patients with addiction at the facility in the Borders and is seeing a rising number of young people who have a problem with online gaming and social networking. He also found that more patients with serious drug and alcohol problems coming through his doors have, as teenagers and young adults, been addicted first to online games and the internet. He said: “With gaming we’re opening a can of worms here. These sites are hooking youngsters in from such a young age, isolating them away from their families or maybe they’re being bullied at school and it gives them an escape into a different world. “That’s how it starts off and it ends up that they’re spending 12, even 16 hours a day, on gaming. What I see is people starting from a young age isolating themselves with gaming, internet use and then cross-addicting into drugs, alcohol and gambling from that. “About 40 per cent of people who come in here started off wanting a form of escapism and it ends up cross-addicting into a substance problem.” Last year the World Health Organisation reported that 13-year-old boys in Scotland were among the most frequent gamers in the world, spending more time playing games than those of the same age in England, Wales, and in 44 other countries. About 60 per cent of boys aged 13 played games online every day with one in five boys aged 13-15 said to be at risk of problematic gaming. Girls were more likely than boys to have problems with social media addiction and, according to the report, more than a fifth of 13-year-old girls in Scotland were classed as being “addictive” social media user
SCREEN ADDICTION GAMBLING ALCOHOL DRUGS CHILDREN MENTAL HEALTH ONLINE GAMING SOCIAL MEDIA
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