A special meeting was held in Kitsilano today to talk about parenting in the digital age, particularly addressing the issue of the games children play on their mobile devices and online — games like Candy Crush.
The app is the first game to ever be No. 1 on iOS, Android and Facebook at the same time.
It has been played 151 billion times since launch.
Dr. Shao-Hua Lu, a psychiatrist who specializes in addiction, said on Unfiltered with Jill Krop tonight some children spend up to 20 hours a week on gaming.
“That is a tremendous amount of time for a young child. That is half of school time over the course of a school week,” says Lu.
He says gaming and gambling stimulate the same part of brain that cocaine would stimulate.
“There’s increasing evidence to suggest that pathological video gaming acts the same way and in the same location within the brain.”
Psychiatrist Dr. Dinah Miller, who has written about the addictive elements of another game app Angry Birds, says there are valid reasons for why adults and children get addicted to games like Candy Crush.
“They are fun and rewarding, you feel like you have accomplished something. There is a whole sense of fun and reward,” says Miller.
She says there has been some evidence that both autistic children and children with ADHD are more susceptible to becoming addicted.
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Miller says she has personally played Candy Crush and finds it to be a ‘mindless’ game that lets one forget about daily problems.
Sandy Garossino of Vancouver Not Vegas says she has also played Candy Crash.
“I tried it and it is a pretty compelling game,” says Garossino.
She says games like Candy Crush are a big business, making hundreds of thousands of dollars a day.
“I believe that all the neuroscience that is going into slot machines has gone into the development of this game. It is not designed to be an entertainment game to play, it is designed to suck money out of people,” says Garossino.
Garossino suggests there should be a supervised user category for children’s mobile phones that would curb how much time children can spend playing games on their phones.
“From a psychiatrist point of view, I’d say no,” says Miller. “I would say it is a parent’s job to ensure that their child does their homework, gets to sports practice and plays the violin and does not spend a lot of time playing games on their phone. But some down time and relaxation is good.”
But Dr. Shao-Hua Lu says gaming is not a phase that one can “grow out of.”
“Parents should have a major responsibility in how much time a child spends on this. It is not a babysitter,” says Lu.
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