León Felipe Beltrán Guerra, a researcher at the Institute of Psychological Research at the University of Veracruz, has revealed that currently, girls in primary school (and who have access to video games) have a higher level of addiction to this type of entertainment, with compared to children of the same age.
These data were highlighted in the presentation of the “Informative and Guidance Manual on Casual Use and Problematic Use of Video Games”. In addition, Beltrán Guerra added that, although during the confinement by COVID-19, the use of video games helped children and adolescents to maintain social interaction, it is important that parents be alert to prevent this form of entertainment from spreading. become an addiction, which, throughout their lives, could bring them closer to other types of addictions.
Proposals have been launched on the healthy use of video games
Recently, León Felipe Beltrán Guerra has also participated in the Virtual Forum “Effects on mental health and the use of video games” and addressed the issue of this type of games in educational contexts, derived from a line of research that they develop in the Institute for Psychological Research (IIP), which describes characteristics of these entertainment media and their relationship with addictive behavior to this type of technological devices, its main characteristics and implication.
On the other hand, Enrique Romero Pedraza, a researcher at the IIP, is leading a project, together with Jorge Luis Arellanez, that integrates a study of video game addiction carried out with students at the primary and secondary levels. This project makes it possible to propose considerations that must be taken in a context where distancing due to COVID-19 promoted their use. Proposals have also been launched on the healthy use of video games as an option to strengthen practices that generate healthy habits.
They have also had a positive impact.
What has been determined is that in the last two years, as a consequence of the pandemic, technologies allowed students to maintain contact, recover some content, knowledge and learning. However, they also made people, particularly children, move to these spaces of interaction with virtuality.
It is true that these media helped in a positive way to stay connected and maintain social interactions; although its use has also caused affectations in different aspects of life.