DEAR SCREENED-OUT AND SCARED IN WEST MONROE:  Online gaming and its impact on mental health is a hotly debated topic. The Digital Wellness Lab conducted a Pulse Survey in 2024 that found, among other things, that a substantial majority of teens reported positive experiences when gaming with others, regardless of their gender or the type of play. For every type of gameplay, positive experiences outnumbered negative ones, with no specific type being rated by a majority of respondents as “unsafe”, “toxic” or “negative.” 

 

According to the website icon-era.com, teenagers between the ages of 13-17 spend the most amount of time engaged in gaming, clocking between 2-4 hours per session for an average of 15.2 hours in 2025, which is an 6.4% increase over 2024. According to a paper published on the NIH National Library of Medicine, there is a correlation between increased play time of Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) genre games and psychological wellbeing. The paper is very technical but inciteful.

 

Your son’s irritability and decline in grades are cause for concern. One of my recommendations was going to be that you allow your son to continue with his gaming activities but require he play with a group of friends in person but the Pulse Survey referenced above determined that local (in-person) multiplayer gaming showed the strongest correlation with loneliness. In its conclusion, the Survey emphasized that while gaming can be a powerful social tool, it’s crucial for young people to maintain a healthy balance of social experiences and meaningful connections both online and offline.

 

I do suggest that you have a family night of online game play. By engaging in the activity with your son, he will see that you are not anti-gaming and the time spent together may give you new insights into what is driving his increase in time spent gaming.

 

Try setting a daily time limit for gaming activities and give him opportunities to earn additional play time if he completes a chore not already assigned to him or his grades improve. You can enforce time limitations by using the parental controls functions on the gaming devices and his cell phone. The parental controls can also restrict which gaming platforms he can access.

 

Lead by example.  If you spend an unhealthy amount of time scrolling through your phone, lazing on the couch watching T.V. or burning the midnight hours working on your computer, try to find non-screen type activities that both you and your son can do together.  Cook a meal together and play a board game or put a puzzle together afterwards. Invest  in a foosball table or a dart board, both of which require skill, concentration and offer a fun way to get in some exercise.

 

Finally, and most importantly, talk to your son’s pediatrician or school counselor, who may be able to help you devise a family media plan or refer you to local mental health experts if your son’s game playing has entered into addiction territory.