Joan Freeman (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the presence in the Public Gallery of a student called Nathan Hilton Regan. He is on work experience and has helped me to complete a survey on gaming among children. This is a follow-on from Senator Craughwell's very lively discussion yesterday evening on gambling. I want the House to realise that gambling starts in childhood and it starts with gaming. We all know about Playstation and Xbox consoles and Nathan carried out a survey among 48 students in the last few days on same. We were both surprised that the students responded so readily. In the survey, 73% agreed that they play inappropriate video games such as Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption. We all know that inappropriate games can have a very negative impact on children, especially when the games involve aggression and violence and get children's adrenaline pumping. When the game is over, where does that adrenaline and aggression go? Furthermore, 50% of those surveyed agreed that gaming affects their sleep. Some children are gaming first thing in the morning while others are gaming through the night. We can all imagine the impact that has on children's performance at school and on their moods. It was very worrying to find that 79% of the students surveyed agreed that their parents knew of the violent nature of the games they were playing. To be honest, I found that strange. Some 91% of the children surveyed have an Xbox or Playstation but I discovered for the first time that they can access social media through these gaming devices. These innocent-looking boxes are given to children for Christmas by their parents, who think they are being kind and are giving them something that will entertain them. Many do not realise that they are giving them direct access to social media and to all the difficult and evil things involved in that.

Around 25% of the children said that they had spent ten hours gaming in the last seven days, while 19% said that they were not aware of physical needs such as needing food, water or to use the bathroom because they were so consumed by what they were doing. The other worrying fact is that 63% of the students either agreed or strongly agreed that their work and grades were suffering due to gaming. When children are exposed to Playstation and Xbox games that are violent, they become addicted. In fact, Nathan discovered that the Rutland Centre acknowledges that a gaming addiction is as serious as problem gambling. According to that centre, a gaming addiction is very similar to a gambling addiction. Indeed, many video games are actually designed to be addictive. These games are targeted at our young people.To be honest, I do not know what we can do with this. Parents obviously need to be informed, as do schools. I thank Nathan for all the help he gave me this week. We are going to add another survey and complete a report, and we can maybe then come up with some ideas on how this problem can be tackled.