Is Gaming Creating Delusional Thoughts Among Children?

What is the first thought we get when we think of gaming? 

Don’t we get thoughts of unrealistic scenarios and different fantasies?

However, as an adult, if we experience it, let us just try and understand what our children must be thinking and feeling about the same. We all are aware to some extent that we do experience this but as an adult, we might feel to be on a moderate level but what about children who are experiencing and find it challenging to distinguish the fictional world and the reality? 

Today, I would like to share my discussions and experiences with my students as well as focus on their thought processes. I always ask my students, “

Video game room. Kids at the sofa playing a console game with two gamepad controllers and a tv interior of children’s home vector background. Illustration video game, boy and girl gaming console, “They do feel relaxed and agree with the fact that it is distracting but the urge of living in that moment is so much that living in a fantasy world makes them feel calmer. Few parents reported that children feel less motivated towards their lives and careers as they are involved in their virtual world. Most of the children consider themselves as the protagonist of the event. As we know in various games there will be a leader and different other characters who will have specific roles. Children in general are meant to be imaginative people, they are full of curiosity and explore new things in life due to which creating or having false beliefs about this thing is bound to happen. In such scenarios, it is very important to draw a line and make them aware of the reality because if this is not confronted by the children, then the frequency and intensity of the same increases. 

 

In one of my case studies, A boy named XYZ has anger concerns, he tends to destroy objects such as any household objects or engages himself in verbal aggression. Recently, he started playing games and has been spending time on them. The child experiences family conflict as well due to which he experiences the emotion of anger. We discussed the events that made him feel angry as well as the things that can help him to manage the anger emotion. The child mentioned, “One of the things is to play games because I have control to hit someone in the game as in reality it won’t be possible.” However, children are finding different ways to vent it out and one of the ways is through gaming. Most of the children are very well aware that the virtual world is not the reality world but they find their comfort zone in the world where they can express and vent it out and that is the gaming world. 

 

One of the models named ‘GAMM’ (General Affective Aggression Model) discusses the increase of aggressive behaviours and engagement in violent gaming. The model explains that when the children indulge themselves in the game world, it provokes the situation and automatically affects their cognitive thinking which leads to affecting the emotion i.e. state of feeling hostile leading to feeling revengeful which is acted out through the behaviour such as name-calling, teasing or using inappropriate language (Craig A. Anderson, Department of Psychology, University of Missouri—Columbia; Karen E. Dill, Department of Psychology, Lenoir-Rhyne College).  

In most of the findings, it has been seen that when children are in a state of confusion they tend to experience ‘Magical Thinking’ which means when they get confused between what is ‘real’ and what is ‘not real’, leading them to think magically (Bolton et. al, 2002 & Simonds, et. al, 2009). However, when children experience any emotion (Joy, excitement, sadness, or anger) they tend to relate to the character of the game and deviate their minds into the world of magical thinking (Antar, Rafi, “INVESTIGATING THE IMPACT OF VIDEO GAMING ON CHILDREN’S MAGICAL THINKING IN EARLY CHILDHOOD” (2019). College of Education Theses and Dissertations. 164.). 

Children are bound to create false beliefs among themselves but to what extent they are creating is something to be aware of. However, the key to understanding their thought process is to be in their age and their mind which will help us to figure out to what extent the children are in their magical world. 

 

“Children see magic because they look for it.” – Christopher Moore