Addiction to technology

The Pediatric Spanish Association of Primary Care (AEPAP) regrets the excessive and increasingly early use of mobiles, tablets and computers by children, and alert of the consequent risk of addiction and cyberbullying that they already begin to see in their consultations.

Definition

Addiction is a psychophysical state of dependence towards a substance or thing without which life results to have no incentive, nor taste, nor deserve to be lived.

Historically, in the occidental world, addiction has been linked to alcohol until a few decades ago. And it wasn’t easy for a teenager to be addicted to alcohol because of the scarcity of resources he had and social control for his expedition. Since 1960 the youth additions to drugs have multiplied and since 1990 we can add adolescent addiction to video consoles and mobile phones.

Some numbers

Over 50% of 17-year-olds are overwhelmed if they don’t have the mobile, 12% of Spanish teenagers abuse of mobile or Internet. And 14% of teenagers recognize being hooked to a video game, although it is not yet known how many of these teenagers will end up being pathological cases.

According to a study by the Association of Psychological and Social studies (Castilla-La Mancha), 14% of the young people of Castilla-La Mancha recognize that they use them considerably more than they should and that they lose a lot of time in them. It is significant that there is already a 5% that recognizes that he is hooked to social networks and has developed an excessive addiction that conditions his life. Of the total sample, 45% of young people say that they use social networks more than adequately.

These problems have suggested to the anti-drug agency to organize three programs to prevent addiction to the new technologies in three schools of Madrid. And have been treated during the celebration of the second multidisciplinary International Symposium on Attention Deficit disorder and behavior disorders, organized by CONFIAS (Foundation for a healthy childhood and adolescence) and the Hospital Ramón y Cajal of Madrid.

According to experts, mobile, Internet, chats or messenger can be simple entertainment, but, when they become addiction, there are imbalances in the child that impede their socialization and slow down their development. Finally, they say, the child is enslaved as with other addictions, which leads to consequences such as school and social failure, behavioral disturbances, autism and progressive enclosure in himself.

For specialists, behind these addictions, besides a social origin (customs) and biological (neurotransmitters), which are being investigated, there could be a problem of family negligence; they think that if families practiced the control function they should, this would not be happening.

The human brain has been investigated to look for a biological origin that conditions these addictions. According to studies, young people become addicted to a technology or behavior because, in the end, it becomes something biological and is related to several elements: dopamine (which is related to reward circuits), noradrenaline (related to excitation) and endorphins (also known as hormones of happiness).

Specialists’ recommendations to modify addictive behaviour

Behavioral therapies involving the child, the family, or both;
Medication that helps reduce impulsivity or increase brakes;
Educational processes, to redirect the child’s behavior towards positive purposes.

Symptoms

Glued to the mobile phone or the internet,
Connected to chats or Messenger,
Glued to the video console… These are some of the characteristics that distinguish children and adolescents of our time and that, at first glance, could go through mere tools that distract them and entertain. However, when these hobbies become an addiction problems begin to emerge.

As pointed out by Dr. Jesús de la Gándara, head of the psychiatric service of the care complex of Burgos, «although it is true that the use of these new technologies is a consequence of the hypermodernity in which we move, when its use becomes abusive the problem that causes to families is so great that it is worth studying these behaviors as addictions. In addition, there is a lot of talk about these issues, giving real questions that have not been scientifically verified, so the reflection and scientific evidence determine the fact that we can address these new skills in a scientific meeting. «

Although the addiction to the new technologies has, due to its recent implantation, with scarce epidemiological data in Spain and in the world in general, studies are beginning to show the increase of this incipient problem.

In the case of a work carried out by the Office of the Defender of the minor of the Comunidad of Madrid in the year 2004, for the 11-to 17-year-old population group, 10% reacted as «having a real bad time» to the inability to use the mobile and 28% felt » Overwhelmed «, a state of mind which, according to experts, may be indicative of suffering an addictive behavior.

Consequences for their development

In the opinion of Dr. Javier San Sebastián, coordinator of the Second Multidisciplinary International Symposium on Attention Deficit disorder and behavior disorders and head of psychiatry at the Ramón y Cajal University Hospital in Madrid, «it is true that this type of addictions to new technologies are becoming more common and perhaps the most disablings are the Internet, video games, chat, messenger, gambling, mobile telephony… «

School and social failure,
Behavioural disturbances,
Autism and progressive enclosure in oneself

Possible causes

According to Doctor San Sebastián «The origin of these new addictions could reside, among other causes, in the lack of family responsibilities, because if families had the control function they should, this would not happen and the offer of new technologies would not surpass that which the family has to offer.”

Adrián Pérez suggests: «I think that here we forget a fundamental point: the cause is not that families do not take responsibility controlling the time their children spend with technology. The reason is that children are in a world that does not respect them, they do not count, which forces them to do things they do not want to do. All this leads them to seek a better life, a virtual life, of which they feel owners, in which they do have something to say. «

Dr. De la Gándara, has been dedicated to investigating the human brain to seek a biological origin that conditions these addictions. As he points out, «to make science of all this we have to know the human brain and now we are studying models in which we observe how young people become addicted to technology because, in the end, this becomes something biological and that is related to several elements: Dopamine (which is related to reward circuits), noradrenaline (related to excitation) and endorphins (also known as hormones of Happiness)».

According to the Nielsen study published by Adese (Spanish Association of Distributors and publishers of Entertainment Software http://www.adese.es/web/estudios.asp) The most frequent reason that respondents allege to play video games is the sense of amusement inherent in this activity (mentioned by 80% as one of the reasons, and by 47% as the main motive). Factors such as the «challenge», «emotion» and the ability to «use imagination» are also widely mentioned, and seem to be key elements of the «fun» of video games as a whole. Although there is a passive element (41% claims to play when bored), more than half of european players surveyed (55%) say they play actively as a way to relieve tension or relax.

Positive aspects of video games

There are several positive aspects in the use of technologies, addiction is a case of misuse. It is the parents’ responsibility to attend this new demand of the adolescents, not to prohibit its use, or to ignore its use, but to play with and to teach to postpone an immediate satisfaction for the benefit of the education. Not easy, but essential.

Fun. All players and all experts stand out among as the most important positive facet of video games their ability to fun
Competitiveness is enhanced. Most players positively value that there is a certain degree of challenge. It is a kind of leisure that is satisfied by achieving a goal with skill. There is always a sense of winning or reaching a goal. It is a side that not all entertainments share and is more like the working world although there is no economic reward. Video games provide a satisfaction for participants and especially for the winners.
Mental agility is enhanced
Useful to learn languages
Serve to make friends and socialize
Open a field to creativity
Helps to learn computer science
Helps deal with stress
Promote social communication

Links

Bibliography

Bonnafont, G. (1992). Video games and the child. Paper presented at Myths and Realities of Play Seminar. London.
Brown, R.M., Brown, N.L. y Reid, K. (1992). Evidence for a players position advantage in a video game. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 74, 547-554.
Creasey, G. y Myers, B. (1986). Video games and children: Effects on leisure activities, schoolwork,and peer involvement. Merril-Palmer Quarterly, 32, 251-261.
Estallo, J.A. (1994). Videojuegos, personalidad y conducta. Psichotema. 6, 2.
Estallo, Juan Alberto. Los videojuegos. Juicios y prejuicios, Barcelona, Planeta, 1995

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Addiction to technology