The change in habits and schedules typical of summer, lack of supervision, and excessive hours spent on technological devices increase the risk of electronic device addiction in children and adolescents. This is explained by the Catalan Association of Social Addictions Center (ACENCAS), which indicates that in many cases, children stop engaging in social activities and having personal contact with their friends.
Therefore, during these months the main pastimes of children and adolescents become playing with mobile phones, game consoles, computers, or tablets. And not only that, but a continuous need to play more and more is generated. This constitutes an addiction on their part, as Perendreu warns, “They enter a world of magic for hours and then it becomes difficult to differentiate the real from the virtual.”
To prevent possible cases of technological device addiction, it is recommended that children and adolescents have other hobbies or activities to do during the day, in order to establish and ration the daily hours they can dedicate to playing video games or using their mobile phone.
It must be taken into account that, in addition to the severity this problem can reach, access to new technologies occurs at an increasingly younger age. This is an added problem, as both boredom and lack of supervision represent the main addiction risks.
Therefore, the ACENCAS association advises both parents and individuals in the minors’ environment to consult specialists when faced with reactions of extreme nervousness if they cannot play, or strong arguments and/or anger when told they spend too much time playing.
