Digital Drugs For Teenagers ?

What is wrong with society nowadays ? Lately, there are too many incidents of rapes, kidnaps, murders, assaults, and various socially unacceptable acts committed by youths. In a very definitive stand, these unacceptable acts are caused by breakdowns of family institutions and decaying of moral values. But what causes the breakdowns of family units and decaying of moral values ? There are many factors, but one of the factors that we overlooked is, the addiction and over indulgence in inappropriate online games !

Walking into any home, you will not be surprised to see teenagers or youth locking themselves in the room indulging in hours of serious online games. Some parents have the misconceptions that their teenage children are IT savvy, nodded their approval, and in the process, unknowingly assisting teenagers to slowly acquire addictions from unbalanced exposure to online games. Are these “tech savvy” teenagers psychotically invulnerable to the never ending fantasy cleverly crafted by the online games providers?

Should parents take comforts to know that their teenage children are at home playing online games and not loitering in pubs, cyber cafés, night clubs, etc. ? Would the home then be a safe place for teenagers characters development ? The safest place is the most dangerous place ! With the availability of broadband Internet connections, digital poisons are being delivered right into the rooms of our teenagers – pornography, dangerous liaisons, online games, etc. 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

As a parent, looking back, reflecting on my childhood days, and drawing analogy to the present, I believed I am not wrong to state that the process of parenting has not changed much, However, the environment has changed drastically over the past twenty years. Teenagers nowadays spend a significant proportion of their time on the Internet playing some sort of online games or others, at the cyber cafes or at homes. At that tender age, do these teenagers has the right mental strength and emotional stability to withstand misinformation, pornography, violence, propagandas, and addictions ? Are parents in this “Digital Age” equipped with the awareness and knowledge to assist these teenagers to made balance use of the Internet ?

Computers and Internet are necessary tools to assist teenager to acquired knowledge. However, with these tools, teenagers are also expose to undesirable online games especially Massively Multi player Role Playing games. Some of these online games are addictive, violent, and its contents are inappropriate. Consequently, addiction and social ills are natural manifestations. Within this digitally polluted environment as a background, there is no stopping for teenagers or youth to be uncounciously influenced and seeking avenue to act out their criminal fantasy in the REAL world ! When these unfortunate incidents happened, the simple minded and the biased interest groups with ulterior objectives will quick to jump to the conclusions of bad parenting skills and hypothesized lack of love and weak family foundation as the cause. However, are we being fair to blame the parents for this new form of digital illness ? Do parents in this digital age has the capability to fight the onslaught of these digital poisons that constantly negate the fundamental moral values ?

In our relentless pursuit to develop and establish world class ICT infrastructure and encourage its citizens to be Internet savvy, we have unknowingly failed to assess our own mental maturity and psychological readiness to embrace the Internet technology. Has our planners seriously look into the social impacts resulting from the abuse and unbalance use of the Internet technology ? Is there a cyber wellness program being developed in parallel to ensure knowledges gained are supplemented by conventionalisms ?

In the early seventies, drug abuse and addiction was a serious social illness, and it has left a trail of social destructions. The authorities introduced firm measures such as death penalties to curb drug abuse and illegal trafficking. In certain extend, these problems has been controlled. In these modern digital age, teenagers’ and youths’ minds are constantly being poison by certain online games – the digital drugs that let you fantasize, acquired virtual strength, virtual friendships, mass killings, violent, etc. We have people in business attires, paid online games reviewers, online games subscription outlets, and people with vested interest constantly pushing online games in various media and physical locations to teenagers. They have a very simple objective - the more people are addicted to online games means more profitability. Do these people actually realize these selfish profit motivations caused miseries and sufferings to many families ? Do they care about the wellbeing of our youth ?

I read an online article by a woman game magazine editor encouraging young girls to involve in a new online games without proper researching on the background, appropriateness, and motives of the online games. Enticing them with the advise that they can make more friends and built camaraderie thru this game. But, a quick research of reference also shows that the game epitomize the the pursuit of self satisfactions through negativism. Leaving aside my over sensitive unqualified judgment, I must emphasize that, it doesn’t matter how many online friends you have and how good you feel. They are not real friends ! but a beginning of a journey of fantasy that eventually leads you to addictions and social isolation. In a letter to an Editor of a local news daily, a writer claimed that cyber cafés are actually a good daycare centre. I have also read articles by people claiming to be a “serious gamers” excelling in academic and work performance. The truth is, we have yet to come across an addict that can perform these achievements. These are typical examples of absurdities by people with vested interest to mislead parents into helping teenagers or youths to acquire online games addiction. It is these type of constant bombardments of false claims that attract teenagers to escape into the world of cyber fantasy.

We also heard of severe cases of on-line game addictions that leads to fatal ends. For example, “In April 2003, a 21-year-old Hudson youth who was addicted to online games killed himself. His mother said the youth would sacrificed everything so he could play for hours, ignoring his family, and losing himself in a the virtual world where millions of people worldwide adventure in a never-ending fantasy. “It is like any other addiction, “ said the mother. “ either you died, go insane or you quit. My son died. “, In another example, “ A Korean youth, who was also addicted to online games was found dead after long hours of playing online games.” There is also an infamous Snipper in United State few years ago who randomly shoot people to death purely because he wanted to act out his fantasy ! And recently, there is also a reported case in Malaysia of a 16 years old teenager who committed sucide due to alleged over indulgence in online games. There are also many reported serious incidents resulting from online games addictions in various part of the world.

Parents and Schools by themselves are powerless to prevent youth from acquiring online games addiction. Online games is a multi billions dollars industry. As a result, the online games companies are equipped with arsenal of direct and indirect marketing tools to launch multi faceted campaigns to attack the young minds of teenagers. If the teenagers are addicted to the games and suffered the consequences, the online companies through their biased interest agents will be quick to disclaim responsibilities, but point their fingers to blame the parents for not controlling and monitoring the teenagers activities.

I have yet to come across an online game company publishing health statement to warn the public of the potential risk of addiction. We have government agencies to review, monitor, and regulate movies and publications to protect public interests. But we have yet to see the same being applied to the online games industry.
For healthy embracement of Internet technologies, the government must adopt and roll out an Internet wellness program to regulate and control online games in a very discipline manner. I would like to suggest the government look into the following aspects seriously :

• Ensure All online games are reviewed and classified by appointed agencies ( such as Censorship board ) prior to its release to the general public.
• Ensure online games companies labeled the games according to the classifications and release it with attached warning messages.
• Make it illegal for online games companies to sell the games or subscription to those under the age of 21 years old.
• Blocked all online game ports at the ISP from 10:00 midnight to next morning 10:00AM to ensure that teenagers can not access the game and have proper sleep and rest.
• Ensure online games companies contribute a percentage of their revenue to fund an independent Internet wellness program to care for online games addicts, and to conduct educational program to assist the public on the balance use of Internet
• Conduct talks and public awareness campaign to warn teenagers and parents on how to identify unsuitable online games, and the dangers of online games addictions.

Online games is a multi billions dollars industry. The online games companies must have the social responsibilities to conduct self regulation to develop the industry as an healthy entertainment industry. It is also the responsibility of online games companies to ensure addictive games are removed from the shelves. The authorities must also initiate steps now to introduce legislations to regulate the online games industry. This is basic human rights.

One less teenager addicted to online game is one more soul saved !