NEW DELHI: An advisory by the education ministry has listed the ‘dos and don’ts’ for parents and teachers for safe online gaming by children, including installation of internet gateway at home with features like monitoring, logging and control of content that can be accessed.
The other steps include not allowing purchases without parental consent, avoiding credit or debit cards registration on apps for subscriptions and getting them to use a screen name (avatar) that does not reveal the real name.
Noting that prolonged closure of schools due to the pandemic has increased use of mobile and internet by children and also led to online gaming addiction, the advisory seeks to enable parents and teachers to educate them for necessary action to prevent stress.
“Playing online games leads to a serious gaming addiction which has been considered as a gaming disorder. The game is designed in a way that each level is more complicated and complex than the previous one. This causes a player to push themselves to the limit in order to progress in the game. Therefore, playing online games with no restrictions and self-limits leads many players to become addicted and are eventually diagnosed with gaming disorder. The gaming companies also emotionally compel the child to buy more levels,” the advisory noted.
“Children should be advised not to download software and games from unknown websites. They should be told to beware of clicking links, images and pop-ups in the websites as they may contain a virus and harm the computer, and may contain age-inappropriate content,” the advisory said. “Children should be counselled to not give personal information over the Internet ,” it said.