If a child loves games, first check whether sleep, homework, and going outdoors are being squeezed out — do not only watch how long they play

True “gaming disorder” is about two or three people in a hundred. If questionnaire cutoffs are low and only teens are sampled, the rate looks high. Looking at real logs from game companies, there is almost no sign that playing more or less changes happiness. By rule, minors may play only Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and holidays from 8 pm to 9 pm.

Cost

No money. Once a week notice when they sleep, whether homework is turned in, and whether they go out.

Benefit

A meta-analysis pooled 53 studies from 17 countries, 226247 people. Prevalence of gaming disorder was 3.05% (95% CI 2.38–3.91; that is the credible range). Counting only studies with stricter sampling, 1.96%. Results differed widely across studies; 77% of the spread came from which questionnaire was used. Teen samples, low cutoff scores, and small samples all push the rate up. Another study took data from 7 game companies and linked 38935 players’ real play time over six weeks to self-reported happiness. Almost no evidence that play time affects happiness. The National Press and Publication Administration requires game firms to offer minors only 1 hour of service a day on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and statutory holidays, from 20:00 to 21:00 (nationwide / international, from 2021)

Notes

Grade B because prevalence swings a lot with the questionnaire, and the happiness study followed only six weeks. In the author’s judgment, the most common cost of games is crowding out sleep and outdoor time; no research number was found for that sentence. Written sleep rules are in item 10 of this section (sleep, homework, PE). Outdoors are in item 4 of this section (2 hours outdoors a day); screen time is in item 5 of this section (non-study use no more than 1 hour a day). Top-ups and refunds are in Section 5, item 9 (child uses a phone to top up or tip). If grades, sleep, and family ties all collapse together and talk will not stop it, take the child to psychiatry or child psychology. Do not send them to a closed internet-addiction school — see item 18 of this section (internet-addiction schools). The beneficiary is the child.

Sources · 3

1. Stevens MW, Dorstyn D, Delfabbro PH, King DL. (2021). Global prevalence of gaming disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry, 55(6), 553–568. doi.org/10.1177/0004867420962851
2. Vuorre M, Johannes N, Magnusson K, Przybylski AK. (2022). Time spent playing video games is unlikely to impact well-being. Royal Society Open Science, 9(7), 220411. doi.org/10.1098/rsos.220411
3. 国家新闻出版署 (2021). 关于进一步严格管理切实防止未成年人沉迷网络游戏的通知（国新出发〔2021〕14 号）. gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/2021-09/01/content_5…