Excessive Gaming

Excessive gaming that interferes in a significant way with everyday life is now being recognized by some professionals as "Gaming Disorder." We receive many calls from parents with concern that their child/teen/young adult is engaging in excessive gaming and that the family feels they have run out of options to manage this without a lot of conflict. 

Parental concerns about their children include a decline in grades and academic effort, disrupted sleep, loss of interest in other activities, disinterest in family time, distress when doing poorly at a game or getting taunted during games by other players, and raging at parents when limits are set or devices are taken away.

Our concern at Bryn Mawr Psychological Associates is in helping struggling families to find a balance in the children’s use of games so that they can enjoy electronic gaming and be part of the conversation with their peers, while at the same time maintaining good academics, involvement in other activities, and good connection with their family.  Parents often are looking for expert advice on how to set reasonable limits and to manage those limits in a balanced way that does not result in undue conflict with their child.