PREVENTION
There are only three strategies needed in preventing computer addiction in young children. All three strategies are necessary for it to be effective. These strategies could also be applied for someone who is in recovery (that is, the addiction has stopped) so that relapse can be prevented. The strategies are:
Developing the alternative
Setting limits
Supervision
In addition, it would help for parents to understand some technical aspects of the computer so that they have a little more control over its use.
Developing the alternatives
A basic behavioural principle in stopping an undesired behaviour is to promote the opposite or alternative behaviour. A child who steals should not be merely punished but could be taught to share. When watching too much TV is bad for the eyes, a child merely cannot be told to stop watching TV and give his eyes a rest. He needs something to do or he gets bored.
If there are no fun activities for a child, computer games are most certainly fun. To prevent this from being the only fun thing for a child, we need to introduce other activities so that there are real life fun things to do. The earlier this is done, the better this is.
Parents are often at a loss as to the kind of activities that could be introduced to a child. For some, cost could be a consideration. Listed below are some categories of activities that could be introduced to children.
- Sports
- Fine / visual arts
- Performing arts
- Environmental interest (including keeping pets)
- Social / moral development groups
- Personal / social learning activities
Setting limits
Imagine letting a child play computer games with no limits. There is no reason why he should stop on his own after just a few minutes. When he gets tired and stops, he will continue the next day to play for hours. Within a month, he would be addicted and you will have a hard time getting him to stop. This would be about the time it takes for someone to get addicted to computer games. Many of such cases occur during the year end or even mid year school holidays.
Parents do not set limits or find it hard to set limits because they are busy and the child has no other interests. Besides the child always has the excuse that it is the holidays and he should be allowed to do what he likes to do.
There are two parts to setting limits. The first has to do with the time given for computer games and the other has to do with enforcement. Parents often underestimate the time their child spends on gaming. They simply cannot watch the clock and count the hours spent playing. Instead they rely on estimates and what they see which ultimately affects their mood. It usually occurs to a parent that too much time has been spent playing because the child has not been seen going through his books. When this happens, children spend much more time playing than what the parent had intended.
Setting the limit would refer to the time given to the child to play and also to the time of the day when play is allowed. What then would be a reasonable time for a child to play computer games? Going by reason and logic alone, one can say that a younger child in primary school can be given more time to play since he has less homework and more playtime. An average primary school child could easily have 3 hours a day available for play whereas a secondary school child may have one to two hours a day. One could also argue that a secondary school child should be more mature enough to understand that he should play less because of the demands of school work.
The reality is that this is not a good arrangement. Once a young child has access to many hours of gaming time, it soon becomes a habit (not an addiction yet). He loses interest in other activities and expects to have more and more time playing games. Over time, it becomes an obsession (not an addiction yet) and he starts to find out about other interesting games and tips on winning these games. It may only be a matter of time before addiction sets in.
Therefore, my belief is that a young child should be granted as little playing time as possible. One hour per day translates into about ten hours a week because the child plays more on weekends. This may be a reasonable and practical limit.. If possible, gaming time should not be an entitlement. It can be used as a reward or when the child has finished his work and he gets one hour of playing time. Doing this will make a parents’ job easier as it then becomes a rule.
Setting limits is of no use if it is not enforced and some parents do not know how to enforce their rules. As a result, the child pleads for 5 minutes more, one last game or “I’m going to die soon” so leave me alone. When such an interaction occurs daily, it eventually leads to bigger conflict when emotions run high.
There are two steps to enforce the limits. The first is to discuss the problem with the child and work out a solution. If this is not possible, then the parent could give the child a 5 minute warning before the time is up and then switch off the power supply or internet connection to the computer.
Supervision
Setting limits is of no use if parents do not supervise their child and monitor what is happening at home. When limits are set, you can expect children to find ways to get around your limits. They play when you are not watching or give excuses to use the computer for their school work.
Parents must therefore find the time and take the trouble to monitor computer use. The first thing that needs to be done is to make sure that the child does not have total access to the computer or to use it in a place where the parent cannot see what is going on. Therefore, there should be no computers in a child’s bedroom. It could be placed in the study room but should be placed at an angle where the parent can see the monitor upon entering the room. If a child spends a considerable amount of time at a relative’s home, there should be a way of monitoring what is going on.
It is common for students to be given assignments where they have to do research and complete their project. This is an opportunity for the child to play his games when the parents are not watching or when parents are at work. A simple way of handling this is to allow computer access only when the parent is around. The parent also needs to find out what is required in the project and the estimated amount of time needed to do the research. To make sure that research is being done, the child can be asked to show the pages that he has visited. Such monitoring is possible, provided that the parent makes an effort.
Managing the computer - Technical Details
To monitor and limit computer use, parents need some computer knowledge to manage access to the computer. This section is meant to provide basic information parents can use to set passwords and know some of the limitations.
1. Setting password at the BIOS level
This allows you to set a password at the point the computer is switched on. Without the password, the user is unable to allow Windows to start. Upon starting the computer, you need to press the correct key to enter a special setup mode. This allows you to set your password. Unfortunately, different brands of computers have a different key. However, the common ones are Del, Esc, F1, F2, F10, F12 or Ctrl+Alt+Esc. You will just have to use trial and error or refer to the computer manual to access the BIOS.
Be warned that you have to remember the password you have set or you will be unable to access the computer. Be also warned that this is a very insecure way of preventing access. The password is easily hacked and there are many ways of getting around this security method. However, try this first and if you find that your child is hacking in, go on to the next method.
2. Setting password for a user login for Windows
Create a user for Windows and give it a password that you know. Windows has a feature to allow you to create multiple users with each having his own password. This is usually not necessary in many cases or if you have only one child. To do this, go to the Start button, Control Panel, User Accounts. Set your password at one of the user accounts.
This password can also be hacked but you can prolong your control by changing the password just before switching off the computer.
3. Setting parental controls
This feature is available under Windows Vista. You need to first set up a user account for your child as it will not work for a user with administrative rights. Go to Start, Control Panel and Parental Controls. Here you can set the time limits for computer use, filter web surfing or block specific programs from running.
These features may not be practical if you have a teenager as some controls are too restrictive. It may be suitable if you have a younger child. Again be warned that your child can find ways to get around this control.
4. Controlling the internet
If you are using a router, some models allow you to place restrictions on internet use. I will not go into detail here as different models handle this differently and the steps are a little too complicated to be described here. Just note that this can be done for some models and like all computer security methods, it can also be hacked.
5. Buying commercial software
There are many commercial software available you can buy. I’ve not tried them myself and I do not really see the point in getting one. Most of these software provides web filtering functions and are therefore not suitable for controlling gaming by your child. Vista allows you to have some control and if you decide to buy a piece of software, you may find that it is not practical for use with your teenage tech-savvy child. If you wish to find out about what is available, make a search on the internet for parental control software.