JERSEY must take steps to tackle the issue of excessive gaming among young people, the children’s commissioner has said.
Andrea Le Saint also raised concerns about a lack of information about the number of hours Islanders are spending online and their gaming habits.
She added that the effect of gaming on young people’s mental health had recently been raised with the office of the children’s commissioner by Island parents, and said that managing “potentially addictive content” online was “one of the toughest challenges that young people, and their parents and carers, currently face”.
Recent UK research revealed that nearly a quarter of UK parents (23%) believed their child was “addicted” to gaming, and 38% said their children played for too many hours.
Comparable data is not available in Jersey, the JEP has found, revealing a gap in understanding the extent of the issue here. However, Statistics Jersey has plans to include further questions about the topic in the next Children and Young People’s survey, which has been postponed because of strike action.
Ms Le Saint said: “At a local level, it seems that there is perhaps a shortage of current, reliable data on young people’s online usage and habits when it comes to gaming.
“This would be the right place to start and would provide the Government of Jersey with a concrete indication of the level of need in the Island.
“The effect of gaming on young people’s mental health is an issue that has recently been raised with our office, and we very much sympathise with the concerns of parents, carers and young people themselves.”
According to the UK research, 41% of parents said their child became annoyed, frustrated or angry if they were prevented from gaming. However, research published in the international journal of Addictive Behaviours Reports in 2020 found that only 1.2% of players were “gaming addicts”.
In Jersey, lower self-esteem has been linked to those who spend more time gaming or looking at screens.
The children’s commissioner continued: “The public and charitable sectors in the UK have taken steps to address this issue nationally, and there is no reason to assume that similar steps might not need to be taken locally. Managing screen time, especially when it comes to potentially addictive content, is one of the toughest challenges that young people, and their parents and carers, currently face.”
Parents have also expressed concerns on social media that screen time is difficult to manage, with some saying that “technology is everywhere these kids go now” and that it was “unavoidable”, even in school settings and from a young age.
Some suggested parental controls on devices and other types of restricting usage, while some said “addictive games” targeting children should be banned.
Are there benefits to video games?
A mental-health expert who spoke to The Times said that gaming could provide distraction, pleasure, a way to socialise, connect, relax and cope with frustration and distress.
Allowing a child decompression time after school is important, and gaming can also be considered a social activity which allows players to join with their peers virtually.
It becomes problematic if it starts to have an impact on life offline. Parents have been told to remain alert to whether their child is out of step with their peers by, for example, carrying on when others know it is time to stop.
Is there support in Jersey?
There are no specific programmes in place to tackle any kind of gaming addiction because there is no evidence that this as an issue in Jersey, the government told the JEP.
When the JEP asked what support was available, we were directed to the school’s PSHE curriculum which covers physical health and emotional wellbeing.
Mind Jersey offers support to people struggling with their mental health. Parents can also find more information about gaming and mental health at Parent Zone (parentzone.org.uk) and the charity Young Minds (youngminds.org.uk), the latter of which has a Jersey branch.
What is the picture in Jersey?
The only local statistics come from a self-report question in the Children and Young People’s Survey from 2021.
This question found:
- Of Year 4 pupils, 26% spent three hours or more in the day playing games on a computer or games console (PlayStation, Xbox or tablet/smartphone).
- This was comparable to 24% of Year 6s, 28% of Year 8s, 29% of Year 10s and 23% of Year 12s.
Around 36% of boys had spent three or more hours gaming in the day, compared to 15% of girls.
- There was also a combined screen-time metric, which found that nearly half of all pupils with low self-esteem had spent more than five hours a day engaged in screen-based activity.
The 2023 Children and Young People’s Survey (it is due to be carried out once every two years) has been postponed owing to industrial action in schools.
A statistician at Statistics Jersey said: “We hope that it will take place in the spring term next year but this will depend on whether the industrial action is resolved.
“In the draft survey, we had included around three new questions relating to how young people spend their spare time in the evenings, particularly in relation to parental supervision as well as a question focusing on other leisure activities other than sports. The final wording of these questions is still to be confirmed.
“We review the question content each time we conduct the survey. New questions can be put forward on subjects of policy interest or where a data gap has been identified.”
Meanwhile, Children and Education Minister Inna Gardiner said: “We collect data on the amount of time children and young people spend on gaming, and other sedentary activities, as part of the Children and Young People’s Survey. The next Survey will run in 2024 and – as ever – we will consider the results of the survey and respond appropriately.”
