my little brother and ex also went through an addiction phase of video games but I would like to say it had a positive impact for both of them and heres why: 1

my little brother and ex also went through an addiction phase of video games but I would like to say it had a positive impact for both of them and heres why: 1. When my parents (mom and stepdad) went through an almost and very rough divorce, my mom was an alcoholic and my stepdad traveled all of the time. My mom couldn't be bothered to pay much attention to my little brother and I was taking all AP classes buried in homework, but I did what I could. With all of the fighting and lack of attention my little brother got, he turned to video games instead of getting involved with bad kids at school or staying out/getting into trouble with girls etc. 2. My ex was as only child with a widowed mother who worked all the item. He played MMOs has is to this day over a decade later still friends with many of the friends he made from these games and sees them in person now. Alot of these discussions center around the assumption there is this loving supportive family there, or a rich social life these kids would have to engage in, but video games is destroying their life. Many times is precisely the opposite, and kids turn to video games because their parents arent there, they don't have friends at school, and in many cases before video games they might turn to other alternatives that are objectively more dangerous. Furthermore, video games can develop good habits, and some of the smartest people I know spent as children an immense amount of time playing video games, and still do from time to time. I think for smart people who like to be constantly engaged in interesting work, video games provides that level of intense focus while also allowing the mind to relax during "down" time. That is a bit of a tangent, but I would argue in some cases video games can be therapeutic for children, and perhaps parents should take ownership of the fact that perhaps the "terror" in the childs life is coming from them, and video games are an escape. Of course no parent wants to admit or acknowledge that, but plenty of them passively do by not being around and having video games be the best alternative babysitter that they arent buying for their kids anyways.