Even under ordinary circumstances, it can be difficult for educators to gauge how much time children are spending online.

However, the recent switch to online schooling during worldwide lockdowns has made this issue an increasingly important topic.

After all, the risk of the online world in terms of cyberbullying, accessing inappropriate material and online chat rooms is well understood.

However, what may be much harder to notice but may have taken place during lockdown is the gradual increase in online time that can present not just a risk for young people, but result in an actual addiction (Graham, 2019).

One such internet-based addiction comes in the form of gaming.

A growing issue

In recent years, several countries have recognised the issue of gaming addictions as a major public health issue, leading to several responses.

Recently, UNICEF released a discussion paper entitled Child Rights and Online Gaming: opportunities and challenges for children and the industry, in which they defined online gaming as “playing any type of single- or multiplayer commercial digital game via any internet-connected device, including dedicated consoles, desktop computers, laptops, tablets and mobile phones”.

It is important to note here that to meet the classification of a gaming disorder, the behaviours exhibited by the young person must display sufficient severity and therefore result in significant impairment to personal, family, social, educational and other important areas of life for a period of at least 12 months (UNICEF, 2019).

Gaming disorders are now also formally recognised by the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) (WHO, 2018).

According to a recent study, the prevalence of gaming disorders is rising across the globe, and such disorders are currently estimated to be found in 1-10 per cent of young people in Western countries and 10-15 per cent of young people in a number of Eastern countries, as reported in national surveys (Saunders et al, 2017).

In the same way that young people can be at risk of developing addictions to drugs and alcohol, it is possible for children and adolescents to develop addictions to gaming.

Signs to look out for

Some of the signs that young people may be experiencing problematic gaming behaviours, and may need help, include the following:

• Constantly thinking about or wanting to play the game.
• Feeling irritable and restless (fidgety) when not playing.
• Underreporting or lying about how much time you’ve spent playing or playing in secret (such as in the middle of the night).
• Tiredness, headaches or hand pain from too much screen time and use of controllers.
• Not wanting to pay attention to things like your personal hygiene (eg, washing) or eating.
• Not seeing friends as often or doing other things you used to enjoy doing as all your time is spent gaming.
• Not wanting to go to school so that you can game.

Furthermore, some of the most addictive online games include Fortnite Battle Royale, World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, Minecraft and Angry Birds - titles I’m sure many teachers will recognise from discussions between students.

The scale of the problem

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused significant disruption to normal activities, which has in turn led to an increase in consumption of digital content and, more specifically, online gaming.

Verizon recently reported a 75 per cent increase in online gaming activity, which coincided with lockdown and quarantine measures in the US (Shanley, 2020).

Additionally, a 70 per cent increase in Fortnite-gaming-related internet traffic was reported in Italy due to stay-at-home measures (Lepido and Rolander, 2020).

This means that, as recent research has suggested, the increased difficulty in discerning work/school and at-home practices during lockdown, as well as prolonged periods of isolation and limited face-to-face interaction, could have increased the dangers of solidifying unhealthy lifestyle patterns and intensifying technology-related disorders (King et al, 2020).

No easy answer

This is clearly an issue that is not going away.

Attention to the issue of gaming-related problems has only started to grow over the last couple of years, with countries such as South Korea experiencing a significant public health issue as a result of gaming disorders - so much so that public policies and laws have been enacted in order to tackle this (Gasner, 2019). 

Therefore difficulties with gaming will certainly be an issue that schools will increasingly encounter and teachers will need to be aware of.

What can you do?

While it could be argued that there may be little that schools can do to govern at-home behaviours, in school the inclusion of these topics in PSHE or home room [form room] discussions is to be encouraged.

It could also be that teachers may be the first to notice signs of a student struggling with anxiety or depression, or other symptoms that could be associated with a gaming addiction.

It’s certainly worth being aware of how it can manifest itself, as outlined above.

As international schools start to reopen in the next few weeks, schools and teachers could play an important role in working with their students, as well as parent communities, to highlight that online gaming addictions are a genuine problem, and to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of gaming disorders.

It may also be beneficial to signpost parents to sources of support - both locally and (ironically) online too.

Sadie Hollins is head of sixth form at a British-curriculum school in Thailand and has been teaching internationally for two years