Programme Available To Help S’porean Youths Balance Gaming & Life


Advertisements
 

Video games are great.

Especially with phones nowadays, it is extremely easy to just tap an app and start gaming away (for free no less).

And if you are anything like me, you’d have spent hours grinding one game and burnt all productivity away just to try and win.

Image: Tumblr

But when is it too much? When do we draw the line between virtual and reality?

Well if you get so addicted you fight your own parents to the point of shoving them to the ground.

It Actually Happened

Kids, real life is not a fighting game. You cannot simply piledriver your problems away. 

It has been reported that students from Jurong West Secondary School got so attached to their mobile games that they attacked their parents for confiscating their devices.

Image: memegenerator

In fact, the school counsellor got so worried he reached out to Touch Community Services for help.

Real talk if I saw a kid tackling his mom to get his phone back I would call for help immediately. 

Touch Community Services then started up an early intervention programme, DigitalMindset, for young people aged 12 to 21.

Uppercutting the Problem

Is it possible to be totally away from a digital device though? It’s 2019, so I highly doubt so.

In fact, Mr Shawn Soh, senior counsellor at the charity group’s Touch Youth Intervention and DigitalMindset lead, thinks so too.

“What we do is help them realise the consequences their gaming habits have on their lives and the people around them, and then teach them coping strategies.”

He feels that the young game for several reasons: to feel accomplished, be immersed in virtual reality and social interaction.

Even more of a win is that for those going through the therapy programme, they do not go through it alone.

Through group therapy sessions, young people can take part in activities such as dragon-boating or laser tag.


Advertisements
 
Image: Trip Advisor

The team even extends help to schools on how to support these young people.

If you ask me, instead of Counter-Strike, laser tag sounds like a good alternative. You get the shooting game experience offline and experience the high of winning, sounds like a huge win for everyone.

Plus you’ll burn more calories, too.

Gaming Is Not Bad

While it is easy to just blame games for a lot of problems, there is a pretty real and alternate reality to this:

Video games are not bad for you. 


Advertisements
 

Letting the addiction take over your life is the terrible part. 

Image: Giphy

In fact, there are actually a lot of positive effects that video games can have on you as well. From increased creativity to the ability to make quick decision making, video games actually provide several mental benefits to the player.

You just have to know how to moderate yourself.

12-hour gaming sprees with Mountain Dew and nachos diet will only hurt you. 

Once again, Mr Soh supports this notion, “What we do is help them realise the consequences their gaming habits have on their lives and the people around them, and then teach them coping strategies.”

In fact, be it work, games or studies, please remember that health should be placed above all. That itself is the biggest win.


Advertisements
 
Image: GifImage