The pandemic, which pushed people indoors for months, gave the thriving online gaming culture an even bigger boost. With teens at risk of getting addicted, we asked experts to outline how parents can get involved and help children have a healthy relationship with games
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The hours spent on gaming reached new heights in the pandemic, as teenagers remained indoors and grew restless. “The very lack of anything else to do for our teenagers left us as parents with no other choice but to give in to these unhealthy demands,” says Ranita Bafna, mother of Zahan who is studying in grade 11 and Reyaan, a grade 8 student. “I felt extreme frustration at the amount of screen time my sons had in the initial stages of the lockdown but I took solace in the fact that I wasn’t alone in this battle and almost every other family was struggling with these exact same issues.”
