Kids love their video games--but according to a new study of more than 3,000 kids in Singapore--kids who considered themselves as addicts and played about 20 hours a week were more likely to be depressed, anxious and have bad grades.
Michelle Keiffer has three young boys--including 12 year old Ashton.
Michelle said she can notice a difference when the kids play too much.
"When we have the rainy season or the cold spells and the boys do play more video games because they're indoors we see them get shorter fuses with one another--shorter fuses with the parents," Michelle said.
Psychologist Susan Fletcher isn't surprised by the study which found 1 in 10 kids to be addicts--she said it's not necessarily the video games--but rather the time spent playing them that causes social phobias.
"It kind of takes them out of the game socially so they are less likely to lean the kinds of skills to overcome things or deal with people in a social fashion," Dr. Fletcher said.
Ashton said he knows kids who play too much and have poor social skills--and even worse grades.
"You can tell actually because if it's some kind of game like Xbox 360 or something like that and you can talk online, they kind of get some kind of interaction talking to people but other than that they can't really speak well in public or stuff like that," Ashton said.
But there is good news--researchers also found that when kids stopped playing so much their depression, grades and anxieties got better.
"Well, think about it," Dr. Fletcher said. "You get outside you feel better, depression sometimes is influenced by being in a dark room and so getting outside, getting some fresh air, getting some sun, interacting with other people can really alleviate the symptoms."
As for Michelle--she'll continue to monitor how much time her boys play video games.
"If we didn't really watch them," Michelle said. "We would probably have 24-7 gaming going on at some level."
The study appears in the February edition of Pediatrics.
Michelle said she can notice a difference when the kids play too much.
"When we have the rainy season or the cold spells and the boys do play more video games because they're indoors we see them get shorter fuses with one another--shorter fuses with the parents," Michelle said.
Psychologist Susan Fletcher isn't surprised by the study which found 1 in 10 kids to be addicts--she said it's not necessarily the video games--but rather the time spent playing them that causes social phobias.
"It kind of takes them out of the game socially so they are less likely to lean the kinds of skills to overcome things or deal with people in a social fashion," Dr. Fletcher said.
Ashton said he knows kids who play too much and have poor social skills--and even worse grades.
"You can tell actually because if it's some kind of game like Xbox 360 or something like that and you can talk online, they kind of get some kind of interaction talking to people but other than that they can't really speak well in public or stuff like that," Ashton said.
But there is good news--researchers also found that when kids stopped playing so much their depression, grades and anxieties got better.
"Well, think about it," Dr. Fletcher said. "You get outside you feel better, depression sometimes is influenced by being in a dark room and so getting outside, getting some fresh air, getting some sun, interacting with other people can really alleviate the symptoms."
As for Michelle--she'll continue to monitor how much time her boys play video games.
"If we didn't really watch them," Michelle said. "We would probably have 24-7 gaming going on at some level."
The study appears in the February edition of Pediatrics.
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