addiction in online games research paper

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• Published: 10 December 2020

Effect of internet use and electronic game-play on academic performance of Australian children

• Md Irteja Islam 1 , 2 ,
• Raaj Kishore Biswas 3 &
• Rasheda Khanam 1  

Scientific Reports volume  10 , Article number:  21727 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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This study examined the association of internet use, and electronic game-play with academic performance respectively on weekdays and weekends in Australian children. It also assessed whether addiction tendency to internet and game-play is associated with academic performance. Overall, 1704 children of 11–17-year-olds from young minds matter (YMM), a cross-sectional nationwide survey, were analysed. The generalized linear regression models adjusted for survey weights were applied to investigate the association between internet use, and electronic-gaming with academic performance (measured by NAPLAN–National standard score). About 70% of the sample spent > 2 h/day using the internet and nearly 30% played electronic-games for > 2 h/day. Internet users during weekdays (> 4 h/day) were less likely to get higher scores in reading and numeracy, and internet use on weekends (> 2–4 h/day) was positively associated with academic performance. In contrast, 16% of electronic gamers were more likely to get better reading scores on weekdays compared to those who did not. Addiction tendency to internet and electronic-gaming is found to be adversely associated with academic achievement. Further, results indicated the need for parental monitoring and/or self-regulation to limit the timing and duration of internet use/electronic-gaming to overcome the detrimental effects of internet use and electronic game-play on academic achievement.

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Introduction.

Over the past two decades, with the proliferation of high-tech devices (e.g. Smartphone, tablets and computers), both the internet and electronic games have become increasingly popular with people of all ages, but particularly with children and adolescents 1 , 2 , 3 . Recent estimates have shown that one in three under-18-year-olds across the world uses the Internet, and 75% of adolescents play electronic games daily in developed countries 4 , 5 , 6 . Studies in the United States reported that adolescents are occupied with over 11 h a day with modern electronic media such as computer/Internet and electronic games, which is more than they spend in school or with friends 7 , 8 . In Australia, it is reported that about 98% of children aged 15–17 years are among Internet users and 98% of adolescents play electronic games, which is significantly higher than the USA and Europe 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 .

In recent times, the Internet and electronic games have been regarded as important, not just for better results at school, but also for self-expression, sociability, creativity and entertainment for children and adolescents 13 , 14 . For instance, 88% of 12–17 year-olds in the USA considered the Internet as a useful mechanism for making progress in school 15 , and similarly, electronic gaming in children and adolescents may assist in developing skills such as decision-making, smart-thinking and coordination 3 , 15 .

On the other hand, evidence points to the fact that the use of the Internet and electronic games is found to have detrimental effects such as reduced sleeping time, behavioural problems (e.g. low self-esteem, anxiety, depression), attention problems and poor academic performance in adolescents 1 , 5 , 12 , 16 . In addition, excessive Internet usage and increased electronic gaming are found to be addictive and may cause serious functional impairment in the daily life of children and adolescents 1 , 12 , 13 , 16 . For example, the AU Kids Online survey 17 reported that 50% of Australian children were more likely to experience behavioural problems associated with Internet use compared to children from 25 European countries (29%) surveyed in the EU Kids Online study 18 , which is alarming 12 . These mixed results require an urgent need of understanding the effect of the Internet use and electronic gaming on the development of children and adolescents, particularly on their academic performance.

Despite many international studies and a smaller number in Australia 12 , several systematic limitations remain in the existing literature, particularly regarding the association of academic performance with the use of Internet and electronic games in children and adolescents 13 , 16 , 19 . First, the majority of the earlier studies have either relied on school grades or children’s self assessments—which contain an innate subjectivity by the assessor; and have not considered the standardized tests of academic performance 16 , 20 , 21 , 22 . Second, most previous studies have tested the hypothesis in the school-based settings instead of canvassing the whole community, and cannot therefore adjust for sociodemographic confounders 9 , 16 . Third, most studies have been typically limited to smaller sample sizes, which might have reduced the reliability of the results 9 , 16 , 23 .

By considering these issues, this study aimed to investigate the association of internet usage and electronic gaming on a standardized test of academic performance—NAPLAN (The National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy) among Australian adolescents aged 11–17 years using nationally representative data from the Second Australian Child and Adolescent Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing—Young Minds Matter (YMM). It is hypothesized that the findings of this study will provide a population-wide, contextual view of excessive Internet use and electronic games played separately on weekdays and weekends by Australian adolescents, which may be beneficial for evidence-based policies.

Subject demographics

Respondents who attended gave NAPLAN in 2008 (N = 4) and 2009 (N = 29) were removed from the sample due to smaller sample size, as later years (2010–2015) had over 100 samples yearly. The NAPLAN scores from 2008 might not align with a survey conducted in 2013. Further missing cases were deleted with the assumption that data were missing at random for unbiased estimates, which is common for large-scale surveys 24 . From the initial survey of 2967 samples, 1704 adolescents were sampled for this study.

The sample characteristics were displayed in Table 1 . For example, distribution of daily average internet use was checked, showing that over 50% of the sampled adolescents spent 2–4 h on internet (Table 1 ). Although all respondents in the survey used internet, nearly 21% of them did not play any electronic games in a day and almost one in every three (33%) adolescents played electronic games beyond the recommended time of 2 h per day. Girls had more addictive tendency to internet/game-play in compare to boys.

The mean scores for the three NAPLAN tests scores (reading, writing and numeracy) ranged from 520 to 600. A gradual decline in average NAPLAN tests scores (reading, writing and numeracy) scores were observed for internet use over 4 h during weekdays, and over 3 h during weekends (Table 2 ). Table 2 also shows that adolescents who played no electronic games at all have better scores in writing compared to those who play electronic games. Moreover, Table 2 shows no particular pattern between time spent on gaming and NAPLAN reading and numeracy scores. Among the survey samples, 308 adolescents were below the national standard average.

Internet use and academic performance

Our results show that internet (non-academic use) use during weekdays, especially more than 4 h, is negatively associated with academic performance (Table 3 ). For internet use during weekdays, all three models showed a significant negative association between time spent on internet and NAPLAN reading and numeracy scores. For example, in Model 1, adolescents who spent over 4 h on internet during weekdays are 15% and 17% less likely to get higher reading and numeracy scores respectively compared to those who spend less than 2 h. Similar results were found in Model 2 and 3 (Table 3 ), when we adjusted other confounders. The variable addiction tendency to internet was found to be negatively associated with NAPLAN results. The adolescents who had internet addiction were 17% less and 14% less likely to score higher in reading and numeracy respectively than those without such problematic behaviour.

Internet use during weekends showed a positive association with academic performance (Table 4 ). For example, Model 1 in Table 4 shows that internet use during weekends was significant for reading, writing and national standard scores. Youths who spend around 2–4 h and over 4 h on the internet during weekends were 21% and 15% more likely to get a higher reading scores respectively compared to those who spend less than 2 h (Model 1, Table 4 ). Similarly, in model 3, where the internet addiction of adolescents was adjusted, adolescents who spent 2–4 h on internet were 1.59 times more likely to score above the national standard. All three models of Table 4 confirmed that adolescents who spent 2–4 h on the internet during weekends are more likely to achieve better reading and writing scores and be at or above national standard compared to those who used the internet for less than 2 h. Numeracy scores were unlikely to be affected by internet use. The results obtained from Model 3 should be treated as robust, as this is the most comprehensive model that accounts for unobserved characteristics. The addiction tendency to internet/game-play variable showed a negative association with academic performance, but this is only significant for numeracy scores.

Electronic gaming and academic performance

Time spent on electronic gaming during weekdays had no effect on the academic performance of writing and language but had significant association with reading scores (Model 2, Table 5 ). Model 2 of Table 5 shows that adolescents who spent 1–2 h on gaming during weekdays were 13% more likely to get higher reading scores compared to those who did not play at all. It was an interesting result that while electronic gaming during weekdays tended to show a positive effect on reading scores, internet use during weekdays showed a negative effect. Addiction tendency to internet/game-play had a negative effect; the adolescents who were addicted to the internet were 14% less likely to score more highly in reading than those without any such behaviour.

All three models from Table 6 confirm that time spent on electronic gaming over 2 h during weekends had a positive effect on readings scores. For example, the results of Model 3 (Table 6 ) showed that adolescents who spent more than 2 h on electronic gaming during weekdays were 16% more likely to have better reading scores compared to adolescents who did not play games at all. Playing electronic games during weekends was not found to be statistically significant for writing and numeracy scores and national standard scores, although the odds ratios were positive. The results from all tables confirm that addiction tendency to internet/gaming is negatively associated with academic performance, although the variable is not always statistically significant.

Building on past research on the effect of the internet use and electronic gaming in adolescents, this study examined whether Internet use and playing electronic games were associated with academic performance (i.e. reading, writing and numeracy) using a standardized test of academic performance (i.e. NAPLAN) in a nationally representative dataset in Australia. The findings of this study question the conventional belief 9 , 25 that academic performance is negatively associated with internet use and electronic games, particularly when the internet is used for non-academic purpose.

In the current hi-tech world, many developed countries (e.g. the USA, Canada and Australia) have recommended that 5–17 year-olds limit electronic media (e.g. internet, electronic games) to 2 h per day for entertainment purposes, with concerns about the possible negative consequences of excessive use of electronic media 14 , 26 . However, previous research has often reported that children and adolescents spent more than the recommended time 26 . The present study also found similar results, that is, that about 70% of the sampled adolescents aged 11–17 spent more than 2 h per day on the Internet and nearly 30% spent more than 2-h on electronic gaming in a day. This could be attributed to the increased availability of computers/smart-phones and the internet among under-18s 12 . For instance, 97% of Australian households with children aged less than 15 years accessed internet at home in 2016–2017 10 ; as a result, policymakers recommended that parents restrict access to screens (e.g. Internet and electronic games) in children’s bedrooms, monitor children using screens, share screen hours with their children, and to act as role models by reducing their own screen time 14 .

This research has drawn attention to the fact that the average time spent using the internet, which is often more than 4 h during weekdays tends to be negatively associated with academic performance, especially a lower reading and numeracy score, while internet use of more than 2 h during weekends is positively associated with academic performance, particularly having a better reading and writing score and above national standard score. By dividing internet use and gaming by weekdays and weekends, this study find an answer to the mixed evidence found in previous literature 9 . The results of this study clearly show that the non-academic use of internet during weekdays, particularly, spending more than 4 h on internet is harmful for academic performance, whereas, internet use on the weekends is likely to incur a positive effect on academic performance. This result is consistent with a USA study that reported that internet use is positively associated with improved reading skills and higher scores on standardized tests 13 , 27 . It is also reported in the literature that academic performance is better among moderate users of the internet compared to non-users or high level users 13 , 27 , which was in line with the findings of this study. This may be due to the fact that the internet is predominantly a text-based format in which the internet users need to type and read to access most websites effectively 13 . The results of this study indicated that internet use is not harmful to academic performance if it is used moderately, especially, if ensuring very limited use on weekdays. The results of this study further confirmed that timing (weekdays or weekends) of internet use is a factor that needs to be considered.

Regarding electronic gaming, interestingly, the study found that the average time of gaming either in weekdays or weekends is positively associated with academic performance especially for reading scores. These results contradicted previous literatures 1 , 13 , 19 , 27 that have reported negative correlation between electronic games and educational performance in high-school children. The results of this study were consistent with studies conducted in the USA, Europe and other countries that claimed a positive correlation between gaming and academic performance, especially in numeracy and reading skills 28 , 29 . This is may be due to the fact that the instructions for playing most of the electronic games are text-heavy and many electronic games require gamers to solve puzzles 9 , 30 . The literature also found that playing electronic games develops cognitive skills (e.g. mental rotation abilities, dexterity), which can be attributable to better academic achievement 31 , 32 .

Consistent with previous research findings 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , the study also found that adolescents who had addiction tendency to internet usage and/or electronic gaming were less likely to achieve higher scores in reading and numeracy compared to those who had not problematic behaviour. Addiction tendency to Internet/gaming among adolescents was found to be negatively associated with overall academic performance compared to those who were not having addiction tendency, although the variables were not always statistically significant. This is mainly because adolescents’ skipped school and missed classes and tuitions, and provide less effort to do homework due to addictive internet usage and electronic gaming 19 , 35 . The results of this study indicated that parental monitoring and/ or self-regulation (by the users) regarding the timing and intensity of internet use/gaming are essential to outweigh any negative effect of internet use and gaming on academic performance.

Although the present study uses a large nationally representative sample and advances prior research on the academic performance among adolescents who reported using the internet and playing electronic games, the findings of this study also have some limitations that need to be addressed. Firstly, adolescents who reported on the internet use and electronic games relied on self-reported child data without any screening tests or any external validation and thus, results may be overestimated or underestimated. Second, the study primarily addresses the internet use and electronic games as distinct behaviours, as the YMM survey gathered information only on the amount of time spent on internet use and electronic gaming, and included only a few questions related to addiction due to resources and time constraints and did not provide enough information to medically diagnose internet/gaming addiction. Finally, the cross-sectional research design of the data outlawed evaluation of causality and temporality of the observed association of internet use and electronic gaming with the academic performance in adolescents.

This study found that the average time spent on the internet on weekends and electronic gaming (both in weekdays and weekends) is positively associated with academic performance (measured by NAPLAN) of Australian adolescents. However, it confirmed a negative association between addiction tendency (internet use or electronic gaming) and academic performance; nonetheless, most of the adolescents used the internet and played electronic games more than the recommended 2-h limit per day. The study also revealed that further research is required on the development and implementation of interventions aimed at improving parental monitoring and fostering users’ self-regulation to restrict the daily usage of the internet and/or electronic games.

Data description

Young minds matter (YMM) was an Australian nationwide cross-sectional survey, on children aged 4–17 years conducted in 2013–2014 37 . Out of the initial 76,606 households approached, a total of 6,310 parents/caregivers (eligible household response rate 55%) of 4–17 year-old children completed a structured questionnaire via face to face interview and 2967 children aged 11–17 years (eligible children response rate 89%) completed a computer-based self-reported questionnaire privately at home 37 .

Area based sampling was used for the survey. A total of 225 Statistical Area 1 (defined by Australian Bureau of Statistics) areas were selected based on the 2011 Census of Population and Housing. They were stratified by state/territory and by metropolitan versus non-metropolitan (rural/regional) to ensure proportional representation of geographic areas across Australia 38 . However, a small number of samples were excluded, based on most remote areas, homeless children, institutional care and children living in households where interviews could not be conducted in English. The details of the survey and methodology used in the survey can be found in Lawrence et al. 37 .

Following informed consent (both written and verbal) from the primary carers (parents/caregivers), information on the National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) of the children and adolescents were also added to the YMM dataset. The YMM survey is ethically approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the University of Western Australia and by the Australian Government Department of Health. In addition, the authors of this study obtained a written approval from Australian Data Archive (ADA) Dataverse to access the YMM dataset. All the researches were done in accordance with relevant ADA Dataverse guidelines and policy/regulations in using YMM datasets.

Outcome variables

The NAPLAN, conducted annually since 2008, is a nationwide standardized test of academic performance for all Australian students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 to assess their skills in reading, writing numeracy, grammar and spelling 39 , 40 . NAPLAN scores from 2010 to 2015, reported by YMM, were used as outcome variables in the models; while NAPLAN data of 2008 (N = 4) and 2009 (N = 29) were excluded for this study in order to reduce the time lag between YMM survey and the NAPLAN test. The NAPLAN gives point-in-time standardized scores, which provide the scope to compare children’s academic performance over time 40 , 41 . The NAPLAN tests are one component of the evaluation and grading phase of each school, and do not substitute for the comprehensive, consistent evaluations provided by teachers on the performance of each student 39 , 41 . All four domains—reading, writing, numeracy and language conventions (grammar and spelling) are in continuous scales in the dataset. The scores are given based on a series of tests; details can be found in 42 . The current study uses only reading, writing and numeracy scores to measure academic performance.

In this study, the National standard score is a combination of three variables: whether the student meets the national standard in reading, writing and numeracy. Based on national average score, a binary outcome variable is also generated. One category is ‘below standard’ if a child scores at least one standard deviation (one below scores) from the national standard in reading, writing and numeracy, and the rest is ‘at/above standard’.

Independent variables

Internet use and electronic gaming.

In the YMM survey, owing to the scope of the survey itself, an extensive set of questions about internet usage and electronic gaming could not be included. Internet usage omitted the time spent in academic purposes and/or related activities. Playing electronic games included playing games on a gaming console (e.g. PlayStation, Xbox, or similar console ) online or using a computer, or mobile phone, or a handled device 12 . The primary independent covariates were average internet use per day and average electronic game-play in hours per day. A combination of hours on weekdays and weekends was separately used in the models. These variables were based on a self-assessed questionnaire where the youths were asked questions regarding daily time spent on the Internet and electronic game-play, specifically on either weekends or weekdays. Since, internet use/game-play for a maximum of 2 h/day is recommended for children and adolescents aged between 5 and 17 years in many developed countries including Australia 14 , 26 ; therefore, to be consistent with the recommended time we preferred to categorize both the time variables of internet use and gaming into three groups with an interval of 2 h each. Internet use was categorized into three groups: (a) ≤ 2 h), (b) 2–4 h, and (c) > 4 h. Similar questions were asked for game-play h. The sample distribution for electronic game-play was skewed; therefore, this variable was categorized into three groups: (a) no game-play (0 h), (b) 1–2 h, and (c) > 2 h.

Other covariates

Family structure and several sociodemographic variables were used in the models to adjust for the differences in individual characteristics, parental inputs and tastes, household characteristics and place of residence. Individual characteristics included age (continuous) and sex of the child (boys, girls) and addiction tendency to internet use and/or game-play of the adolescent. Addiction tendency to internet/game-play was a binary independent variable. It was a combination of five behavioural questions relating to: whether the respondent avoided eating/sleeping due to internet use or game-play; feels bothered when s/he cannot access internet or play electronic games; keeps using internet or playing electronic games even when s/he is not really interested; spends less time with family/friends or on school works due to internet use or game-play; and unsuccessfully tries to spend less time on the internet or playing electronic games. There were four options for each question: never/almost never; not very often; fairly often; and very often. A binary covariate was simulated, where if any four out of five behaviours were reported as for example, fairly often or very often, then it was considered that the respondent had addictive tendency.

Household characteristics included household income (low, medium, high), family type (original, step, blended, sole parent/primary carer, other) 43 and remoteness (major cities, inner regional, outer regional, remote/very remote). Parental inputs and taste included education of primary carer (bachelor, diploma, year 10/11), primary carer’s likelihood of serious mental illness (K6 score -likely; not likely); primary carer’s smoking status (no, yes); and risk of alcoholic related harm by the primary carer (risky, none).

Statistical analysis

Descriptive statistics of the sample and distributions of the outcome variables were initially assessed. Based on these distributions, the categorization of outcome variables was conducted, as mentioned above. For formal analysis, generalized linear regression models (GLMs) 44 were used, adjusting for the survey weights, which allowed for generalization of the findings. As NAPLAN scores of three areas—reading, writing and numeracy—were continuous variables, linear models were fitted to daily average internet time and electronic game play time. The scores were standardized (mean = 0, SD = 1) for model fitness. The binary logistic model was fitted for the dichotomized national standard outcome variable. Separate models were estimated for internet and electronic gaming on weekends and weekdays.

We estimated three different models, where models varied based on covariates used to adjust the GLMs. Model 1 was adjusted for common sociodemographic factors including age and sex of the child, household income, education of primary carer’s and family type 43 . However, the results of this model did not account for some unobserved household characteristics (e.g. taste, preferences) that are unobserved to the researcher and are arguably correlated with potential outcomes. The effects of unobserved characteristics were reduced by using a comprehensive set of observable characteristics 45 , 46 that were available in YMM data. The issue of unobserved characteristics was addressed by estimating two additional models that include variables by including household characteristics such as parental taste, preference and inputs, and child characteristics in the model. In addition to the variables in Model 1, Model 2 included remoteness, primary carer’s mental health status, smoking status and risk of alcoholic related harm by the primary carer. Model 3 further included internet/game addiction of the adolescent in addition to all the covariates in Model 2. Model 3 was expected to account for a child’s level of unobserved characteristics as the children who were addicted to internet/games were different from others. The model will further show how academic performance is affected by internet/game addiction. The correlation among the variables ‘internet/game addiction’ and ‘internet use’ and ‘gaming’ (during weekdays and weekends) were also assessed, and they were less than 0.5. Multicollinearity was assessed using the variance inflation factor (VIF), which was under 5 for all models, suggesting no multicollinearity 47 .

p value below the threshold of 0.05 was considered the threshold of significance. All analysis was conducted in R (version 3.6.1). R-package survey (version 3.37) was used for modelling which is suited for complex survey samples 48 .

Data availability

The authors declare that they do not have permission to share dataset. However, the datasets of Young Minds Matter (YMM) survey data is available at the Australian Data Archive (ADA) Dataverse on request ( https://doi.org/10.4225/87/LCVEU3 ).

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the University of Western Australia, Roy Morgan Research, the Australian Government Department of Health for conducting the survey, and the Australian Data Archive for giving access to the YMM survey dataset. The authors also would like to thank Dr Barbara Harmes for proofreading the manuscript.

This research did not receive any specific Grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Centre for Health Research and School of Commerce, University of Southern Queensland, Workstation 15, Room T450, Block T, Toowoomba, QLD, 4350, Australia

Md Irteja Islam & Rasheda Khanam

Maternal and Child Health Division, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Mohakhali, Dhaka, 1212, Bangladesh

Md Irteja Islam

Transport and Road Safety (TARS) Research Centre, School of Aviation, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

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M.I.I.: Methodology, Validation, Visualization, Investigation, Writing—Original draft preparation, Writing—Reviewing and Editing. R.K.B.: Methodology, Software, Data curation, Formal Analysis, Writing—Original draft preparation. R.K.: Conceptualization, Methodology, Supervision, Writing- Reviewing and Editing.

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Islam, M.I., Biswas, R.K. & Khanam, R. Effect of internet use and electronic game-play on academic performance of Australian children. Sci Rep 10 , 21727 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-78916-9

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BRIEF RESEARCH REPORT article

The association between mobile game addiction and depression, social anxiety, and loneliness.

• 1 Center for Mental Health Education, School of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
• 2 Chongqing Youth and Vocational Technical College, Chongqing, China

As a new type of addictive behaviors and distinct from traditional internet game addiction on desktop computers, mobile game addiction has attracted researchers' attention due to its possible negative effects on mental health issues. However, very few studies have particularly examined the relationship between mobile game addiction and mental health outcomes, due to a lack of specified instrument for measuring this new type of behavioral addiction. In this study, we examined the relationship between mobile game addition and social anxiety, depression, and loneliness among adolescents. We found that mobile game addiction was positively associated with social anxiety, depression, and loneliness. A further analysis on gender difference in the paths from mobile game addiction to these mental health outcomes was examined, and results revealed that male adolescents tend to report more social anxiety when they use mobile game addictively. We also discussed limitations and implications for mental health practice.

With the fast development of mobile technology, many functions of desktop computers have been transferred to mobile devices like ipad and smartphone, which is especially the case for game applications. Mobile video games refer to games played by either single or multi players via online mobile devices. These games are particularly popular when they can be downloaded for free (e.g., “freemium games,” which are free but customers pay for extra features) ( 1 ). The latest China Internet Network Information Center's (CNNIC) report revealed that the growth rate of mobile online game has reached 9.6% and adolescents are the main user group ( 2 ). In comparison with most segments of society, adolescents are more vulnerable to Internet-related addiction because of their psychological and developmental characteristics, the easy access to Internet with a portable device, and the positive expectation of mobile gaming ( 3 ). It has been demonstrated that video game addicts suffered poorer mental health and cognitive functioning, and increased emotional difficulties, such as enhanced depression and anxiety, as well as more social isolation ( 4 ).

Despite this, relatively few studies have examined the relationship between mobile game addiction and mental health outcomes. This is because, so far, no measurement especially designed for mobile game addiction has been developed. In literature, problematic mobile video gaming has been defined as a phenomenon in which users strongly rely on mobile games and cannot help playing them repeatedly over a comparatively long period ( 5 ). Previous studies of Internet gaming disorder (IGD) have mainly focused on traditional online gaming addiction based on a desktop computer. However, recent research has suggested that there were only moderate correlations between the different forms of Internet addiction ( 6 ). In addition, although mobile game addiction has some similarity with traditional desktop computer online game addiction, there are still obvious differences. Specifically, mobile video games are characterized by portability, immediacy, and accessibility ( 7 ), which may increase the risk for addictive behavioral patterns and, thus, more severe mental health problems.

Additionally, most prior studies have treated social anxiety, depression, and loneliness as risk factors for Internet-relevant addiction ( 8 , 9 ), whereas, few studies have examined the alternative direction ( 10 ). A relevant study found that the relative risk for depression in students with Internet addiction after months was 1.5 times higher than that of non-Internet addiction participants, after controlling for potential confounding variables (gender, study burden, age, rural, or urban school). This indicated that Internet relevant addiction may also lead to depression and loneliness ( 11 ). Another reason for conducting the current study was because the relationship between playing video games and psychological adjustment during adolescence is relatively scarce, which is especially true for investigating the association between playing video games and social anxiety among adolescents ( 12 ). Therefore, an investigation on this issue can help us understand how mobile game addiction may hinder adolescents' social development and would provide some guidance for mental health education practice.

Theoretical Framework

Mobile game addiction and depression.

Internet game addiction is characterized by cognitive and emotional deficits. Previous studies have reported the co-occurrence of Internet addition and depression ( 13 , 14 ). In addition, a longitudinal study found that Internet game addition/depression severity at an earlier time positively predicted the depression/Internet game addition severity at a later time, which indicated that a possible bidirectional relationship existed between online gamers' depression symptoms and addiction. People cope with their emotional distress by playing online games, but the excessive use of online games for a long time may separate individuals from real-life relationships, thus causing severer mental health problems, such as depression ( 15 ). Therefore, in this study, we would expect a positive relationship between mobile game addition and depression.

Mobile Game Addition and Loneliness

Loneliness is defined as an unpleasant experience that derives from important deficiencies in a person's network of social relationships ( 16 ). Previous studies have consistently confirmed the connection between loneliness and online game addiction ( 17 , 18 ). Furthermore, loneliness is not only the cause of online gaming addiction but also the consequence; there is a possible reciprocal relationship ( 19 ). Prior research has indicated that, although playing online games may temporarily provide an escape from the negative feelings associated with social deficiencies, excessive gaming does little to facilitate the development or maintenance of real-life relationships. Instead, the substitution for interpersonal interactions in real life may exacerbate the deterioration of existing social relationships, thereby increasing loneliness ( 19 ). Thus, we would expect a positive association between mobile game addiction and loneliness in this study.

Social Anxiety

Social anxiety, which is the most common anxiety disorder in adolescence, is the state of tension or discomfort experienced by individuals in social situations ( 20 ). The investigation on the potential effects of mobile game addiction and adolescence social anxiety is of importance considering that approximately one third of adolescents meet the criteria for an anxiety disorder ( 21 , 22 ). Some literature indicates that Internet addiction, smartphone addiction, and online game addiction were all associated with an individual's social anxiety [e.g., ( 23 )]. Individuals with a serious tendency for online gaming addiction have significantly higher social anxiety levels than those who use online games normally. Lo et al. ( 24 ) investigated the potential effects of online games on the quality of interpersonal relationships and levels of social anxiety. The results indicated that the quality of interpersonal relationships may be undermined and the amount of social anxiety may increase when teenagers spend more time playing online games ( 24 ). In the current study, we would expect a positive association between mobile game addiction and social anxiety.

Gender Difference

Gender has been proposed as an important factor in influencing Internet use and its outcomes regarding mental health (e.g., 8). Evidence has suggested that males have a predilection toward activities that involve explosive action and combat, while females are drawn toward activities that are more social and communication focused ( 25 ). Females received more family supervision, which may prevent them from developing Internet addiction ( 26 ). In a more recent study, female video game addicts displayed significantly more somatic difficulties than male addicts ( 4 ). They further argued that female addicts may be uniquely at risk for negative physical health outcomes and sleep disturbances ( 4 ). Significant gender difference was also revealed on the association between family function and Internet addiction among adolescence ( 27 ). Females showed more negative consequences of its maladaptive mobile phone use ( 28 ). These studies highlighted the need to explore gender differences in mobile game addition and mental health problems further.

Participants and Data Collection Procedure

Data of this study was from the students ( n = 600) enrolled in the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades of a junior high school in Guizhou Province. Letters describing the project were sent home to parents with a consent form inviting participation. Children whose parents provided written informed consent and who themselves gave assent completed the questionnaire in classroom settings. Prior to answering the items, participants read information about the implications of participation and data protection. The information emphasized that participation was completely voluntary and anonymous. Excluding missing or incomplete data, 578 survey responses were collected (mean age = 15 years, SD = 1.05). 56.7% ( n = 328) participants were self-identified as males.

Mobile Game Addiction Scale

This scale was specially developed for the measurement of mobile game addiction and included 11 items ( 29 ). Each item was rated on a Likert-type scale from 1 = completely disagree to 5 = completely agree, with the total scores ranging from 11 to 55. A higher score indicated a severer addition tendency. This scale has shown good construct validity, with χ 2 /df = 2.835, RMSEA = 0.056, 90% CI (0.044, 0.069), SRMR = 0.037, CLI = 0.970, TLI = 0.959, the Cronbach alpha coefficient in the current study was 0.84. Sample items included: “ During the last year, have you felt miserable when you were unable to play mobile video games or played less than usual? ” and “ During the last year, have you played mobile video games so that you would not have to think about annoying things? ”

Depression Scale

The depression subscale from the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) was used to assess the depression symptoms ( 30 ). The scale contains 6 items and each item was rated on a 5-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (extremely serious). Higher scores indicate severe depressive symptoms. We did a measurement model analysis, and the scale showed good construct validity, with χ 2 /df = 1.931,RMSEA = 0.040,90% CI(0.000, 0.070),SRMR = 0.020,CFI = 0.994, TLI = 0.989. The Cronbach alpha coefficient in the current study was 0.84. Sample items included: “ You feel sad ” and “ You find everything dull .”

Child Loneliness Scale

The revised version of the Child Loneliness Scale was adopted to evaluate individuals' loneliness ( 31 ). The scale contains 16 items, which were answered using a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (always) to 5 (never); higher scores indicate elevated loneliness. Good construct validity was exhibited in the current sample, with χ 2 /df = 2.833, RMSEA = 0.056, 9 % CI(0.048, 0.065), SRMR = 0.0461, CFI = 0.940, TLI = 0.918. The Cronbach alpha coefficient in our sample was 0.86. Sample items included: “ I don't have any friends ” and “ I feel lonely .”

Child Social Anxiety Scale

The modified version of the Child Social Anxiety Scale was used to assess participants' social anxiety ( 32 ). The term “children” in the original scale was changed to “classmate” in the current version. The scale contains 10 items and each item was rated using a 3-point Likert scale, ranging from 1 = never to 3 = always. Higher scores indicate higher levels of social anxiety. The scale has been proved to have good construct validity in the current study, with χ 2 / df = 2.872, RMSEA = 0.057, 90% CI(0.044, 0.071), SRMR = 0.041, CFI = 0.951, TLI = 0.931, and the Cronbach alpha coefficient in our sample was 0.80. Sample items included: “ I think my classmates make fun of me ” and “ I'm afraid other students won't like me .”

Descriptive Statistics and Zero-Order Correlations Among the Study Variables

Table 1 shows the descriptive results and zero-order correlations among the study variables. Mobile addiction was positively correlated with depression, loneliness, and social anxiety, with the correlations ranging from 0.18 to 0.46 ( p s < 0.01).

Table 1 . Descriptive results and zero-order correlations among the study variables.

Structural Equation Modeling on the Relationship Between Mobile Game Addiction, Depression, Social Anxiety, and Loneliness

Using Amos 22.0, we conducted a structural equation analysis to examine the association between mobile game addiction, depression, social anxiety, and loneliness.

Several underlying statistical assumptions for multiple regression analysis were examined before running the structural modeling. The assumption of homoscedasticity was checked using the Levene's Test for Equality of Variances ( 33 ). The test ensured no significant differences in the variance of the three dependent variables of social anxiety, depression, and loneliness across groups defined by mobile gaming addiction ( p > 0.05 for all cases). Thus, the assumption of homoscedasticity was not violated ( 34 ). Second, the skewness values for all variables ranged from 0.25 to 0.82 and the kurtosis values ranged from 0.27 to 0.30, which are within the acceptable range of −1 to +1 for normality ( 35 ). Thus, the violation of the normality assumption was not present in the sample data. Thirdly, the assumption of independence of residuals was confirmed by the calculation of the Durbin–Watson statistics for the dependent variables of depression (= 1.36), social anxiety (= 1.76), and loneliness (= 1.71), which are within the acceptable range of 1.5–2.5 for independence ( 36 ). Lastly, multi-collinearity was evaluated through the assessment of zero-order correlations among selected measured constructs, as calculated in Table 1 . Harris and Hagger ( 37 ) noted that multicolline arity is not a serious issue if none of the correlation coefficients between variables exceeds 0.70. It is apparent that pair-wise bivariate associations between the study variables were not highly correlated with each other. Accordingly, multi-collinearity was dismissed from being a major concern in the present study ( 38 ). To conclude, the sample data were judged to meet the criteria for further analysis.

Model fit was assessed by considering multiple criteria: a Chi-square/df < 5 a root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of <0.08 and a comparative fit index (CFI) and a Tucker-Lewis index (TLI) of >0.90 ( 39 ). The model fit was considered acceptable when most abovementioned criteria were satisfied. Our results showed that the model fit to the data well, with χ 2 /df = 3.475, RMSEA = 0.065, 90% CI (0.06, 0.07), CLI = 0.937, TLI = 0.921. Mobile game addiction can explain 10% variance of depression, 6% variance of social anxiety, and 4% variance of loneliness. The standardized beta coefficients are shown in Figure 1 . Mobile game addiction was positively related to depression, social anxiety, and loneliness, with β = 0.31, p < 0.001, β = 0.25, p < 0.001, and β = 0.21, p < 0.001, respectively.

Figure 1 . The Structural Modeling on the relation between mobile game addiction and depression, social anxiety, and loneliness. *** p < 0.01.

Considering that gender was proposed as a variable that may moderate the relationship between mobile game addiction and mental health outcomes, the moderating effect of gender was tested. We created a multi-group model in AMOS to test the differences between males and females on the paths between mobile game addiction and its outcomes. The results show that significant gender differences exist considering the relationship between mobile game addiction and social anxiety. Male adolescents who used mobile game additively reported higher levels of social anxiety (β = 0.118, p < 0.001), depression (β = 0.280, p < 0.001), and loneliness (β = 0.311, p < 0.001), compared with female adolescents (β = 0.077, p < 0.001; β = 0.17, p < 0.01; and β = 0.16, p < 0.05, respectively; see Table 2 for details).

Table 2 . Multi-group (male and female) analysis on the relationship among mobile game addiction and depression, social anxiety, and loneliness.

The goal of this study was to examine the associations between mobile game addiction and depression, loneliness, social anxiety, and the potential gender difference in these associations were also investigated. The results revealed that adolescent with mobile game addiction had higher self-reported depression, social anxiety and loneliness, which have supported our three hypotheses regarding the association between mobile game addiction and depression, social anxiety, and loneliness. Further, gender difference was observed in the path between mobile game addiction and social anxiety, with male adolescents having a stronger association between mobile game addiction and social anxiety. This indicates that male adolescents may experience more social anxieties if they use mobile game addictively, compared with female adolescents.

As we expected, mobile game addiction was positively associated with depression, anxiety, and loneliness, which have supported all of our three hypotheses and are in line with prior findings. Literature has consistently shown that video game addicts reported more anxiety, depression, lower positive affect and psychological well-being. Literature has also shown that Internet addictions are related to poorer emotional health, in particular depression and anxiety ( 40 , 41 ). For instance, Whang et al. ( 41 ) found a significant association between degree of Internet addiction and loneliness and depression. Adolescents with high Internet use exhibited more psychopathology, as revealed by the Brief Symptoms Inventory (BSI, a reduced version of the Symptoms Checklist, SCL-90) compared with those with low those use ( 42 ). In a recent study, ( 4 ) reported that young adults addicted to video games showed increased depression and anxiety, and felt more socially isolated. The link between mobile game addiction and mental health may be due to the social isolation resulting from spending too much time gaming, which in turn leads to undermined psychological well-being ( 43 ). Our results regarding the association between mobile game addiction and loneliness are also in line with the displacement hypothesis in terms of Internet use, which argues that digital device users have spent most time in online settings, rather than offline, and their existing relationships have suffered as a result ( 44 ).

We also expected a gender difference considering the association between mobile game addiction and mental health outcomes. We found that males who were addicted to mobile games tended to suffer more social anxiety, loneliness, and social anxiety, compared with females. This finding is line with prior research (e.g., 24). Gender difference on social anxiety and loneliness has been widely reported in literature. Compared with female adolescents, male adolescents tended to lack social skills, were more socially withdrawn and disclosed less about themselves in offline communication settings ( 45 ). This is also a reason why males are more likely to be attracted to a virtual world like computer games since the online world is more comfortable and can offer more sense of security ( 46 ). This would further lead them to be more social isolated and experience more social anxiety, loneliness, and depression due to the lack of social bond in offline settings.

Limitations and future directions

The results of this study should be viewed in light of its limitations. First, this study is a cross-sectional design. Thus, we could not determine a causal link between study variables. Future investigations should adopt an experimental design to establish the causal relationship between variables, or a longitudinal design to examine the prospective relationship among the variables. As prior studies indicated, the association between mobile game addiction and mental health problems might be reciprocal. Second, the sample is a homogeneous group of students from a middle school in China. Whether the results can be generalized to all adolescents is a question for future research.

Despite the limitations, our study has examined the association between mobile game addiction and depression, social anxiety, and loneliness, based on an adolescent sample. The results indicated that mobile game addiction was positively related to these mental health problems, and this is especially true for male adolescents as they are more likely to experience a higher level of social anxiety, depression, and loneliness after excessive use of mobile gaming. Therefore, mental health educators and practicers should be aware of the negative effects caused by addictive mobile gaming, as this is such a common phenomenon today. Specifically, attention should be given to male adolescents who are addicted to mobile gaming, as they may suffer more social anxiety.

Data Availability

The datasets generated for this study are available on request to the corresponding author.

Ethics Statement

The studies involving human participants were reviewed and approved by Southwest University's Human Research Ethics Committee. Written informed consent to participate in this study was provided by the participants' legal guardian/next of kin.

Author Contributions

J-LW drafted the initial version of the manuscript and responded to the reviewers' comments. J-RS analyzed the data. H-ZW collected the data and provided the comments.

This study has been supported by the Major Cultivating Project in Southwest University (No. SWU1809006).

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

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Keywords: mobile game addiction, social anxiety, depression, loneliness, adolescents

Citation: Wang J-L, Sheng J-R and Wang H-Z (2019) The Association Between Mobile Game Addiction and Depression, Social Anxiety, and Loneliness. Front. Public Health 7:247. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2019.00247

Received: 04 June 2019; Accepted: 16 August 2019; Published: 06 September 2019.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2019 Wang, Sheng and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Jin-Liang Wang, wjl200789@163.com

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, the role of internet addiction in online game loyalty: an exploratory study.

Internet Research

ISSN : 1066-2243

Article publication date: 17 October 2008

The paper's aim is to explore the factors that affect the online game addiction and the role that online game addiction plays in the relationship between online satisfaction and loyalty.

Design/methodology/approach

A web survey of online game players was conducted, with 1,186 valid responses collected. Structure equation modeling – specifically partial least squares – was used to assess the relationships in the proposed research framework.

The results indicate that perceived playfulness and descriptive norms influence online game addiction. Furthermore, descriptive norms indirectly affect online game addiction through perceived playfulness. Addiction also directly contributes to loyalty and attenuates the relationship between satisfaction and loyalty. This finding partially explains why people remain loyal to an online game despite being dissatisfied.

Practical implications

Online gaming vendors should strive to create amusing game content and to maintain their online game communities in order to enhance players' perceptions of playfulness and the effects of social influences. Also, because satisfaction is the most significant indicator of loyalty, vendors can enhance loyalty by providing better services, such as fraud prevention and the detection of cheating behaviors.

Originality/value

The value of this study is that it reveals the moderating influences of addiction on the satisfaction‐loyalty relationship and factors that contribute to the online game addiction. Moreover, while many past studies focused on addiction's negative effects and on groups considered particularly vulnerable to Internet addiction, this paper extends previous work by investigating the relationship of addiction to other marketing variables and by using a more general population, mostly young adults, as research subjects.

• Indoor games
• Customer satisfaction
• Customer loyalty

Lu, H. and Wang, S. (2008), "The role of Internet addiction in online game loyalty: an exploratory study", Internet Research , Vol. 18 No. 5, pp. 499-519. https://doi.org/10.1108/10662240810912756

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Online Game Addiction and the Level of Depression Among Adolescents in Manila, Philippines

Article sidebar, main article content.

Introduction: World Health Organization recognizes online game addiction as a mental health condition. The rise of excessive online gaming is emerging in the Philippines, with 29.9 million gamers recorded in the country. The incidence of depression is also increasing in the country. The current correlational analysis evaluated the association between online game addiction and depression in Filipino adolescents.

Methods: A paper-and-pencil self-administered questionnaire assessing depression and online game addiction was distributed from August to November, 2018. The questionnaire included socio-demographic profiles of the respondents, and the 14-item Video Game Addiction Test (VAT) (Cronbach's ?=0.91) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (Cronbach's ?=0.88) to determine levels of online game addiction and depression, respectively. Multiple regression analyses were used to test the association between depression and online game addiction.

Results: Three hundred adolescents (59% males, 41% females) participated in the study. Fifty-three out of 300 respondents (12.0% males, 5.7% females) had high level of online game addiction as reflected in their high VAT scores. In this study, 37 respondents (6.7% males, 5.7% females) had moderately severe depression and 6 (2.0%) females had severe depression. Online game addiction was positively correlated with depression in this study ( r =0.31; p <0.001). When multiple regression analysis was computed, depression was found to be a predictor of online game addiction ( Coefficient =0.0121; 95% CI-8.1924 - 0.0242; p =0.05).

Conclusion: Depression, as associated with online game addiction, is a serious threat that needs to be addressed. High level of online game addiction, as positively correlated to the rate of depression among adolescents in Manila, could potentially be attributed to the booming internet industry and lack of suffiicent mental health interventions in the country. Recommended interventions include strengthening depression management among adolescents and improving mental health services for this vulnerable population groups in schools and within the communities.

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Ryan V. Labana, Polytechnic University of the Philippines

Jehan l. hadjisaid, polytechnic university of the philippines, adrian r. imperial, polytechnic university of the philippines, kyeth elmerson jumawid, polytechnic university of the philippines, marc jayson m. lupague, polytechnic university of the philippines, daniel c. malicdem, polytechnic university of the philippines.

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Digital games on vaping devices could lure more youth to nicotine addiction

Like other smart devices, smart vapes have high-definition animated displays

In an “Industry Watch” research paper in the journal Tobacco Control, two scientists at the University of California, Riverside, raise the alarm on new electronic cigarette products equipped with touch screens, animated displays, and built-in games. Because the products are user friendly and attractive to youth, they may couple nicotine addiction with gaming disorder, the researchers caution.

Of particular concern to the researchers is that coupling nicotine to existing youth behaviors, such as video gaming and screen time use, could broaden the smart electronic cigarette market to include youth with no prior interest in nicotine products, while also reinforcing nicotine addiction among current users.

“Our lab is constantly monitoring the electronic cigarette market for new devices, especially ones that target youth and young adults,” said Man Wong , first author of the paper and an assistant in the lab of Prue Talbot , a professor of the graduate division. “One of these devices, Craftbox V-Play, can run Pac-Man, Tetris, and F22 — classic arcade games. Other devices that we found alarming were vapes that had digital games that encourage users to vape, vapes with animations that change as users puff, vapes that have built-in bluetooth and can be customized with personal photos, and vapes with celebrity endorsements that offer promotional trading cards.”

Talbot stressed that it is critical to pay attention to shifting trends in vape designs, especially disposable vapes that are user friendly and popular among youth. 

“Disposable vapes were relatively simple two years ago, and functioned as nicotine delivery devices,” she said. “Now they are designed to resemble and include features of smart phones and handheld gaming devices. These features make vapes more attractive to youth.”

Talbot and Wong believe the new devices need to be closely monitored and regulated. They report that unlike prior versions of electronic cigarettes, smart vapes prey on three potential addictions: nicotine dependence, gaming disorder, and screen time obsession. Talbot and Wong hope their research will encourage the Food and Drug Administration and other government agencies to regulate the sales of these devices. 

“In the long-term, increasing awareness of how vapes can evolve in short periods of time can increase surveillance and monitoring to ensure products that are targeting youth are swiftly removed from the market,” Talbot said. “More strict regulation can be put into place to restrict some features of vapes, and it may even be appropriate to push for a disposable vape ban altogether, as some countries have.”

The researchers were surprised to learn that some smart vapes had games requiring the user to vape to progress in the games, potentially accelerating nicotine addiction. For example, they found the “URSA Pocket,” a refillable pod-system, has three built-in games.

“One game contains a virtual pet, which you feed with coins that you acquire by vaping; another game counts your puffs and has leaderboards, which you can submit your rankings to social media for a chance to win prizes,” Wong said. “CB15K is a vape endorsed by a celebrity and offers trading cards when you purchase the device. The trading cards have a scannable QR code and the message ‘scan for a chance to win.’ The vape also has a display that has animations when the user puffs the device and is built in with wireless charging. These features can entice youth to purchase and use vapes.”

The researchers are concerned that many of the devices are affordable, around $15-20 each, which could entice youth to purchase them. 

“This is roughly the same price as, or cheaper than, the price of PUFF BARs or ELFBARs when they dominated the market,” Wong said. “These new products, however, offer much more puffs, higher power, and smart features for a lower price. A majority of the new disposable vapes come with many advanced functions. Regulation has not kept up with vapes at the rate they are evolving, and youth are vulnerable to these devices. In addition, disposable vapes create a lot of waste as they are one-time-use products, and adding screens, bluetooth, and digital storage to these devices exacerbates the waste generated by vapes.”

The research was supported by grants from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Center for Tobacco Products.

The research paper is titled “Pac-Man on a vape: electronic cigarettes that target youth as handheld multimedia and gaming devices.”

Header image credit: Victor Perry , UC Riverside.

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गेल्या सहा महिन्यांपासून आर्यला मृत्यूची गाणी ऐकण्याचं वेड लागलं होतं..

पुण्यातल्या रावेतमधून (Pune News) एक धक्कादायक घटना समोर आली आहे. ब्ल्यू व्हेल गेमच्या (Blue Whale Online Game) व्यसनात रूनल सोसायटीतल्या एका 15 वर्षीय मुलाने रात्री 1 वाजता 14व्या मजल्यावरून उडी मारुन स्वतःचं जीवन संपवल्याचा प्रकार घडला आहे. आर्य शिरराव असं या मुलाचं नाव आहे. आर्य गेल्या सहा महिन्यांपासून ब्ल्यू व्हेल गेमच्या विळख्यात अडकला होता. तो दिवसदिवसभरात आपल्या खोलीत बसून राहायचा. याशिवाय या काळात मृत्यूसंदर्भातील गाणी त्याला आवडू लागली होती. तो मोठ्या आवाजात मृत्यूसंदर्भातील इंग्रजीतील गाणी ऐकत होता. धक्कादायक बाब म्हणजे त्याने इमारतीवरुन उडी मारण्यापूर्वी स्वत:च्या मृत्यूचा प्लान आखला होता. त्याने पेन्सिलिने याचे स्केच तयार केले होते.  आर्यचे वडील नायजेरियात कामाला आहेत. मुलगा सहा महिन्यांपासून ब्लू व्हेल खेळत असावा असा अंदाज आहे. या काळात आर्य फार आक्रमक झाला होता. आई आणि भावाला मारहाण करीत होता. स्वत:च्या हातावर वर ब्लेड मारून घेत होता. सकाळी 8 वाजता खोलीत गेला की, सायंकाळपर्यंत बाहेर येत नव्हता. आर्यने एक सुसाईट नोट लिहिली आहे. त्यावर त्याने 'लॅाग आऊट नोट, हाऊ तो राईट सुसाईट नोट' असं लिहिलं आहे. याच्याशेजारी दोन इमोजी आहेत. 

नक्की वाचा -  हिट अँड रनचा आणखी एक बळी; वरळीत BMW कारच्या धडकेत दुचाकी स्वाराचा मृत्यू

आर्यच्या निमित्ताने ऑनलाइन व्हिडिओ गेमच्या व्यसनाचा मुद्दा पुन्हा चर्चेत आला आहे. आर्य 14 व्या मजल्यावर राहत होता. त्याच्या घराच्या बाल्कनीला कबुतरांसाठीची नायलॅानची जाळी लावलेली आहे. ती जाळी कशी कापायची आणि खाली उडी कशी मारायची याचे स्केच मुलाने उडी मारण्यापूर्वी तयार केले होते. काही वर्षांपूर्वी ब्लू व्हेल गेम खूप चर्चेत आला होता. या गेमचा शेवटचा टप्पा म्हणजे स्वतःला संपवणं. अशातच हा गेम खेळत असताना प्रत्येक टप्पा पार करीत 15 वर्षांच्या आर्यने शेवटच्या टप्प्यात स्वतःला संपवलं अन् बाल्कनीतून उडी मारली.

आर्यबरोबर आणखी अनेक मुलं हा गेम खेळत होते. त्यांना यापासून वाचवावं अशी मागणी आर्यच्या वडिलांनी केली आहे.  

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• v.1(2); Fall 2009

Effect of Addiction to Computer Games on Physical and Mental Health of Female and Male Students of Guidance School in City of Isfahan

Eshrat zamani.

* Assistant Professor, School of Education, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

Maliheh Chashmi

** School of Education, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

Nasim Hedayati

*** Dentist, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

Background:

This study aimed to investigate the effects of addiction to computer games on physical and mental health of students.

The study population includes all students in the second year of public guidance schools in the city of Isfahan in the educational year of 2009-2010. The sample size includes 564 students selected by multiple steps stratified sampling. Dependent variables include general health in dimensions of physical health, anxiety and sleeplessness and impaired social functioning. Data were collected using General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) scale and a questionnaire on addiction to computer games. Pearson's correlation coefficient and structural model were used for data analysis.

There was a significant positive correlation between students' computer games addiction and their physical and mental health in dimensions of physical health, anxiety and sleeplessness There was a significant negative relationship between addictions to computer games and impaired social functioning.

Conclusion:

The results of this study are in agreement with the findings of other studies around the world. As the results show, addiction to computer games affects various dimensions of health and increases physical problems, anxiety and depression, while decreases social functioning disorder.

Introduction

Computer games are the most popular entertainments in modern societies and they target a variety of people in different ages. The addiction to the rivalry and excitements of the games make them the most common recreational programs for today's teenagers, so that they do anything to reach a higher level of the game, they immerse in the game so much that they completely separate from their surroundings. Challenging with the obstacles and reaching a higher level in the game, make the players excited and losing the game make them anxious. 1

Computer games started in 1972 with Pang, a computer tennis game, and then developed in hardware and software systems. Improvement of quality and variety of games increasingly spread it in the society especially adolescences. 2 It is believed that computer games like watching TV provides opportunities for visual learning. Especially because these games are more active compared to watching TV, they are considered more effective. 3 Since these games are known as the second entertainment after TV, opponents of these games emphasize on their negative effects such as stimulating anger and violence, costing a lot of money and having negative effects of physical and mental health, which are much higher than the positive effects of the games such as increasing the coordination of eyes and hands. 4 As Klein and Keepers mentioned in their research reports in 1990, students who prefer computer games to other entertainments have more behavioral problems that other students (cited from Patton). 5

Currently in Iran, a great part of students' leisure time out of school is spent on computer games . 6 The reasons for adolescents' attraction to these games include being excited and easily accessible while authorities and families do not have any proper plan for students' leisure time and there is not many options for their entertainments. Playing computer games to some extent can be useful, but long-term playing leads to various physical and mental complications. 7 Long term involvement with these games means the players long term tension, restlessness and worrisome and during the game, physical tensions and real physical stimulations are experiences. By sympathetic nervous system stimulation, this can gradually make this system sensitive and ready for response to limited stimulants, while causes anxiety symptoms in the player. A study by Sherry et al (2001) investigating the reasons for playing video and computer games by adolescents and their game priorities on 535 adolescents in age 15-20 in the West USA found that 68% of adolescents had these games as their weekly entertainment. The reasons for playing these games among boys were excitements and challenges and they insisted to win. Moreover, sport and violent games were more attractive for boys. 8

Development of electronic and computer games are a great threat for youth and adolescents and can lead to psychological disorders and depression in these groups. In previous times, kids were involved playing with other children, but children of today spend most of their time on computer games as soon as they understand and acquainted with them, while these games cannot create any emotional and human relationship. 9

Children's and adolescents attractions to the computer games cause many mental, physical and social problems for them. These effects are stimulating anger and violence, obesity, epilepsy due to games, social isolation, and other physical and mental damages. Many psychologists and mental health professionals have paid attention to the effects of these games. 10

The increasing prevalence of computer games among children and adolescents have made many researchers to determine the effects of these games on players. In Iran, there are few and limited studies on the effects of addiction to computer games on players. Considering the increasing rate of addiction to computer games among Iranian adolescents and youth, the present study was conducted to investigate the effects of addiction to computer games on physical and mental health including physical health, anxiety, and depression and impaired social functioning.

The aim of this descriptive correlation study was to determine the effects of computer games addiction on physical and mental health of male and female students of guidance schools in Isfahan city.

The study population includes all students in the second year of public guidance schools in Isfahan city in the educational year of 2009-2010. The sample size includes 564 students selected by multiple steps stratified sampling method. Data were collected by using General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) scale and a questionnaire on addiction to computer games. To do this research, at first 3 districts (2-4) were selected randomly among five districts of Isfahan Board of Education. From each district, one boy and one girl guidance school was chosen randomly. In total, 600 students were chosen for filling the questionnaires, after obtaining the permission from Isfahan Board of Education. The questionnaires distributed among sample. 564 students filled the questionnaires and returned to the researcher.

The data collection instrument was included the form of GHQ-28 inventory of physical and psychological health measurement. Another tool was Antwan's (2008) questionnaire for addiction to computer. The Cranbach's alpha was reported 0.92 by this researcher, 11 since the validity and reliability of this questionnaire was not assessed for Iran; 30 students were selected as sample for a pilot study and after data analysis, and the reliability was measured 0.76. This questionnaire was based on Lickert scale and scored from 1 to 5. 1was for very little and 5 score was considered for very much.

The GHQ 28 inventory is created by Goldberg (1972) for diagnosing psychological disorders in various centers and environments. The questions are about the psychological condition in past month, including signs such as thought, abnormal emotions and dimensions of behavior that are observable. Therefore, questions emphasize on the situation (here and now). This questionnaire is the most known instrument for screening in psychiatry, and has a significant effect on developing researches. This questionnaire is in forms of 30. 60. 12 and 28 questions. 11

The GHQ-28 which is used in this study was standardized by Palahang 12 (2005) and Yaqubi (2005) 13 in Iran. This questionnaire was used to assess health signs including physical complain, sleep disorder, disorder of social functioning and depression.

The study population included 564 students including 263 girls (46.6%) and 301 boys (53.4%). These 564 students were divided into two groups of 467 students (82.8%) as non-addicts and 97 students who played with computer games with a mean of 3 or higher (17.2%). The mean age of participants was 13 years old.

Based on the findings presented in table 1 , correlation between addiction to computer games and physical complains, anxiety and sleep disorder, disorder in social functioning and depression were significant in level P ≤ 0.05. Therefore, there was a direct relationship between addiction to computer games and physical disorders such as anxiety, sleep disorder and depression. But, there was a positive correlation between addiction to computer games and social dysfunction. In other words, based on coefficient of determination, 4% variance of addiction to computer games is common with physical disorder, 12% with anxiety and sleep disorder, 1% with disorder of social functioning and 6% with depression.

Correlation coefficient between addiction to computer games and health dimensions

Based on the findings presented in table 2 , correlation between addiction to computer games and physical complains, anxiety and sleep disorder, social dysfunction and depression were significant in level P ≤ 0.05. Therefore, there was a direct relationship between addiction to computer games and physical disorder, anxiety, sleep disorder and depression. But, the relationship between addiction to computer games and social dysfunction is reverse. In other words, based on coefficient of determination, 5% variance of addiction to computer games is common with physical disorder, 19% with anxiety and sleep disorder, 2% with disorder of social functioning and 10% with depression.

Correlation coefficient between addiction to computer games and health dimensions in male students

Based on the findings presented in table 3 , correlation between addiction to computer games and physical complains, anxiety and sleep disorder, social dysfunction and depression were significant in level P ≤ 0.05. Therefore, there was a direct relationship between addiction to computer games and physical disorder, anxiety, sleep disorder and depression. But, the relationship between addiction to computer games and disorder of social functioning is reverse. In other words, based on coefficient of determination, 3% variance of addiction to computer games is common with physical disorder, 12% with anxiety and sleep disorder, 0,9% with social dysfunction and 5% with depression.

Correlation coefficient between addiction to computer games and health dimensions of female students

The results in the table 4 show that all relationships between variables 2 x 2 are significant. The effects of health with addiction to games is 0.38 which is significant in level 0.99 and shows the positive effects of addiction to games on general health of students.

Relation between addiction to computer games and health dimensions

Based on the results presented in table 5 , all indices show the suitability of the model.

Suitability indices of variables

Figure 1 and figure 2 show standard coefficient of path analysis and t-chart of path analysis of relationship of health components and addiction to computer games respectively.

Standard coefficient of path analysis for relationship between health components and addiction to computer games

T-chart of path analysis of relationship between health components and addiction to computer games

The results of this study showed that there is a direct relationship between physical health, anxiety and depression with computer games addiction. However, the relationship of addiction to computer games and social dysfunction was significance and inverse. In 1990, Yuma et al conducted an intensive study in 9 cities of Japan about the computer games played by children and adolescents and its relationship with their physical health. The results showed that obese students were more attracted to computer games. In other words, playing more computer games cause adolescents to stay home, which lead to their lack of activity and getting fat. This is considered as a biological problem. 14 In psychological dimension, it seems that computer games have a negative relationship with mental health of adolescents and have a direct effect on their violent behavior, anxiety, depression and isolation of those adolescents who play these games. The effects of computer games on psychological health of people and severity and significance of that depends on factors such as level and intensity of violence in the game, the ability of player in differentiating virtual world and real world, player's ability to inhibit their desires and motivation, the values they are brought up with or living with and also values that are in the context and content of the games. 15 Anxiety was one of possible outcomes of computer games, which is studies by researchers. Studies showed that computer games increases players' heart beats to a level more than their body request. 16 In the present study also, we found a direct significant relationship between addiction to computer games and anxiety.

Payne et al (2000) studied the role of computer games on social isolation, low self-esteem and violence. The results showed no relationship between playing computer games and self-esteem in girls, but there was a negative relationship between the two in boys. Also, the scores of violence had a positive correlation with amount of exposure to computer games. Other results showed that in spite of children's attraction to games, there was no evidence that computer games cause social isolation. 17 Since in computer games, players conform to the characters in the game, in creating the new situations that occur in the game, the theory of participatory modeling and active conditioning can be used in explaining data on violent behaviors and possible rewards they get in response. 18

Azad Fallah et al (2001) in their study investigated the relationship between games and social skills of 258 male students of first grade of high school. The results showed a significant relationship between the game-type and presence of others in the game location with social skills of adolescents. Selecting home as the place of game had a significance negative relationship with social skills and those adolescents who were mostly playing at home, had less social skill (cited from Doran). 7 However, in the present study, there was an inverse relationship between addiction to computer games and social dysfunction. It means that as the addiction to computer games increases, social dysfunction will decrease.

Ahmadi (1998) studied the effects of computer games on adolescents of the city of Isfahan. The aim of his study was to find out if computer games have social effects. The results showed that violence and aggression in students who played these games was higher than those who did not play. Also, social participation of students who were playing computer games was low. 10

The first factor noticed in most studies as well as the present study is the disorder in general health of players. Various studies show that playing too much computer games causes physical damages and increases anxiety and depression in players. Many studies show that most adolescents who are addicted to computer games have high heart beat and blood pressure due to too much excitement and stress. Most of those who involve in these games do not notice the time passing and even forget to eat. It seems that creating a cause and effect relationship between computer games and physical health or more generally speaking, cause and effect relationship between addiction to computer games and mental and physical health is simplification of the subject. There are various causes for correlation between addiction to computer games and physical health, anxiety and depression. First, addiction to computer games can cause disorder in physical health, increase anxiety and depression. Second, it is possible that disorder in physical and mental health cause people to get attracted to computer games. Third way is that both addiction to computer games and disorder in physical and mental health are created due to the effects of other factors.

Considering associations between playing computer games and physical and mental disorders, the negative effects of these games are basically related to the games and their nature. Therefore, some computer games can be constructive, while others can have damaging effects on children's body and mind. Therefore, we should accept anyway that computer games like many other phenomenon of technology age have found their way to our children's and our lives. If we want to ignore them and deprive our children playing them, we make them more eager to access them and if they cannot play games at home, they will go to their friends, if they cannot play there, they will go to Internet cafe and places they can find computer games.

On the other hand, if we want to leave our children on their own in this field, mental, psychological and physical risks threat them. So, parents and authorities in cultural and educational fields should have appropriate plans to provide proper involvement of children in these games and in this regards, we should produce games which are based on our culture. Moreover, it is important to prevent import of damaging and harmful games to the country, which is a responsibility of authorities. Also, serious supervision on children's involvement with computer is needed at home; especially their involvement with computer games and parents should teach their children the proper culture of playing games. In fact, one of main worries about computer games, considering their wide usage among adolescents is that these games may create a more attractive environment compared to school works and interfere with school and educational performance of children. It is obvious that if children spend all their time out of school to computer games and neglects other activities which may be useful from the social viewpoint or for their thinking, it will not be favorable. In addition, the newness of this phenomenon demands lots of curiosities and researches. Investigating the negative effects of computer games on educational achievement is recommended for further studies.

In spite of more than 20 years studies on computer and video games and their outcomes and effects in the world, in Iran where a great portion of population is youth and adolescents and there is a significant prevalence of computer games, there are few studies on this topic, which suggest the need for further studies.

Conflict of interest:

The Authors have no conflict of interest

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Maharashtra teen jumps to death, leaves behind 'log out note' of online game

The boy left a note labelled "log out note" behind. according to the initial investigation, the police suspect the boy was addicted to online games which led him to take the extreme step..

Listen to Story

• 16-year-old boy allegedly dies by suicide in Pimpri-Chinchwad
• Police suspect addiction to online games
• Parents unable to access boy's password-protected laptop

A 16-year-old boy in Maharashtra's Pimpri-Chinchwad died after he jumped from the 14th floor of his residential building, the police said. According to the initial investigation, the police suspect the boy was addicted to online games which led him to take the extreme step.

The Blue Whale Game was a social media phenomenon that surfaced around 2016, reportedly originating in Russia. It's involved a series of tasks assigned to players over 50 days, with the final task being suicide. The game targetted teenagers and young adults, manipulating them through psychological tactics.

Police are continuing their investigation with the help of cyber experts to uncover more details about the online game and its impact on the boy.

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What We Know About the Global Microsoft Outage

Airlines to banks to retailers were affected in many countries. Businesses are struggling to recover.

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By Eshe Nelson and Danielle Kaye

Eshe Nelson reported from London and Danielle Kaye from New York.

Across the world, critical businesses and services including airlines, hospitals, train networks and TV stations, were disrupted on Friday by a global tech outage affecting Microsoft users.

In many countries, flights were grounded, workers could not get access to their systems and, in some cases, customers could not make card payments in stores. While some of the problems were resolved within hours, many businesses, websites and airlines continued to struggle to recover.

What happened?

A series of outages rippled across the globe as information displays, login systems and broadcasting networks went dark.

The problem affecting the majority of services was caused by a flawed update by CrowdStrike , an American cybersecurity firm, whose systems are intended to protect users from hackers. Microsoft said on Friday that it was aware of an issue affecting machines running “CrowdStrike Falcon.”

But Microsoft had also said there was an earlier outage affecting U.S. users of Azure, its cloud service system. Some users may have been affected by both. Even as CrowdStrike sent out a fix, some systems were still affected by midday in the United States as businesses needed to make manual updates to their systems to resolve the issue.

George Kurtz, the president and chief executive of CrowdStrike, said on Friday morning that it could take some time for some systems to recover.

How a Software Update Crashed Computers Around the World

Here’s a visual explanation for how a faulty software update crippled machines.

How the airline cancellations rippled around the world (and across time zones)

Share of canceled flights at 25 airports on Friday

50% of flights

Ai r po r t

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Dhaka Shahjalal

Minneapolis-Saint P aul

Stuttga r t

Melbou r ne

Be r lin B r anden b urg

London City

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Raleigh−Durham

B r adl e y

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1:20 a.m. ET

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The Effect of Online Game Addiction on Children and Adolescents Nazlım

• August 2019
• Thesis for: MSc foundations of clinical psychology
• Advisor: Dr. John McAlaney

• Bournemouth University

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