Technology / Gaming Addiction

Technology/Gaming Addiction

Mainstream American culture is flooded with technological advance, often to our benefit but sometimes to our demise. Parents frequently come to us with concerns that their pre-teen children are far too engaged in the internet and video gaming culture, which can exact a heavy toll on kids in the areas of relationships, social skill building, personality development, and academics.

For the individual or family struggling with the problem of addictive use of entertainment and technology, we find that counseling can be helpful to uncover contributing factors. A variety of things can come in to play including:

• recognizing the difference between normal technology use and addiction
• different or conflicting standards between parents for limits on entertainment
• difficulty keeping up with technology advances and understanding options for monitoring and filtering
• parental uncertainty about how to set limits with their children’s friends
• general difficulty with talking to children about sexual topics
• kids having difficulties in their lives and finding few or no “safe” adults to confide in
• a lack of healthy alternative activities

After an initial assessment takes place we can design a plan for change that includes family members working together.  Contact our client relationship coordinator to schedule an assessment for you or your family.