Fight boredom, forget worries, reduce stress: this is how an addiction can slowly begin. Symbolic picture: 11333328 from Pixabay (Public Domain)
Media and gambling addiction among children and adolescents increases significantly in the pandemic. According to doctors, it will be difficult to get rid of it
The lockdowns with closed schools and leisure facilities led to a significant increase in media and gambling addiction among children and adolescents during the corona pandemic. More than four percent of ten to 17 year olds in Germany show what is known as pathological usage behavior.
In the field of computer games, the number of those affected rose from around 144,000 in 2019 to 219,000 this year. When using social networks such as TikTok, Snapchat, Whatsapp or Instagram, the number of those affected rose from 171,000 to 246,000 in the same period.
This resulted in a Study by the German Center for Addiction Issues in Children and Adolescents (DZSKJ) on behalf of the health insurance company DAK. According to their information, it is a “globally unique study” for which 1,200 families across Germany were asked several times about the digital media use of children, adolescents and parents.
From four hours a day it becomes pathological
According to this study, the increase in media addiction is closely related to the longer periods of use due to the elimination of other leisure activities. The researchers always found pathological behavior when children and adolescents spent four or more hours a day gambling. In the case of social networks, this value is 4.2 hours per day.
On average across Germany, children and young people spend 109 minutes playing computer games on a working day. That is 31 percent more than before the pandemic. In November 2019, boys and girls spent an average of 116 minutes on social networks on weekdays. The daily usage time is now 139 minutes.
Excessive media use often leads to a loss of control with far-reaching consequences, according to the experts. “Since personal, family and school goals take a back seat, age-typical development tasks are not adequately solved,” said Rainer Thomasius, head of studies and medical director at the DZSKJ. The result is a standstill in psychosocial maturation.
Motivation: fight boredom, reduce stress, forget worries
Thomasius emphasizes that digital media are a relevant means of dealing with challenging situations for children and young people. “And that includes the corona pandemic with its many restrictive measures.” According to the study, three out of four children and adolescents (73 percent) stated that they had maintained their social contacts through social networks and computer games. 71 percent wanted to combat boredom – and a third wanted to reduce stress or forget about worries.
Thomas Fischbach, President of the Professional Association of Pediatricians, stated: “Especially for children and adolescents who had previously used risky media, the lockdowns were a considerable health risk factor that virtually catalyzed the transition to pathological media use”. It is to be feared that this undesirable development cannot simply be reversed even after the end of the pandemic.
Fischbach sees one reason for this in the parents. They would not have adapted their influence to the situation through clear media rules in the family. Fischbach can also refer to the results of the DAK study: According to this, around half of the parents do not set any rules on the type and duration of use of digital media. The value has not changed in the course of the pandemic.
In view of the results of the study, the DAK board chairman, Andreas Storm, calls on politicians to launch a “broad prevention offensive in order to further strengthen the media skills of children and parents”. The executive federal drug commissioner Daniela Ludwig (CSU) also campaigned for more prevention at home, in day care centers and in schools.
For the study, parents and children were questioned several times by the opinion research institute Forsa. The first time in 2019 before the pandemic, a second time at the time of the first school closings in spring 2020, then in November 2020 before the schools were closed again.
The fourth and so far last survey took place in May and June of this year, when schools were slowly returning to normal operations after months of closings and alternating classes.
(Bernd Mueller)
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