around two million at risk for food, social media and video games – breaking latest news

Generation Z, the first generation of digital natives, is at risk for behavioral addictions. To prove it a study carried out by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità on a representative sample of children between 11 and 17 years old who photographed the Italian pre-teens and teenagers they turn out to be more and more alone e ready to fill the relational “voids” with food, social media and video games.
In reality it would be enough for young people «to lead a ‘normal’ life, a socially rewarding life, a life where the challenges are challenges compatible with social adaptation and not necessarily challenges of transgression. We must aim for this normality, which in adolescents means putting themselves to the test and leaving the nursery, which can be what saves them in their growth», explains Daniele Novara, pedagogist, counselor and founder of the Psychopedagogical Center for education and conflict management (CPP).

Food addiction

The most widespread addiction is that of food: it concerns over one million and 150 thousand young people (mostly high school female) and in 1 out of 10 is in a form considered serious. «Food-related addictions have to do with the pandemic, with having spent a very long period locked up at home. Eating has become a compensatory activity that we still struggle to leave behind», points out Novara who continues. “The preadolescent and adolescent brain is a compensatory brain, i.e. has a systematic need to “compensate” in the areas of pleasure. It is a brain that is constantly looking for gratification and which, by nature, is opportunistic in terms of social tasks and very sensitive in terms of compensation in the brain area of ​​pleasure. Here, however, it is a question of reflecting on what is dangerous and what is not dangerous. For example, sport is a classic compensation activity that is not dangerous, rather positive. It allows kids to experience age, with its characteristics, without putting them in danger.
Conversely, the typical lowering of the sense of danger, which concerns some young people, could lead them to face dangerous situations, but also the phenomenon of social isolation (known as Hikikomori
) puts kids at risk.

Video game addiction

In second place of addictive risk behaviors are video games.
The problem involves the 12% of students (with a prevalence in males of lower secondary schools for which the percentage reaches 18%), with effects linked to a greater incidence of depression, aggression and social anxiety.
“Here the problem is generated by the tendency of parents, and partly also teachers, to share with adolescents rather than to educate adolescents”, explains Novara. «Educational practices, made up of rules and limits, have been replaced by practices of simple care and sharing of time and/or interests and this leads to problems. Let’s think about the nocturnal use of digital devices, which is one of the most negative habits there is, for school results but also because it favors irritability and eating disorders. Instead of intervening, parents are often complacent, they wait for the boy to decide not to play video games at night anymore and this is impossible. Once the brain “hooks” on its pleasure areas, let’s think of a prolonged use of a device, it is no longer able to have reversible functions, i.e. to reverse. So the problem is once again in the adult world. We can’t just share time with teenagers and please them, we have an educational role,” says the expert.

Social addiction

On the other hand, addiction to social media affects one in 40 boys (with a prevalence in girls over 14) with consequences in terms of social anxiety and a greater incidence of impulsivity. «Covid has brought about a phenomenon whose effects we see: the extension of maternal care in adolescence.
In this phase of growth, in reality, it is a form of care typical of childhood but harmful for children who need to feel and experience the “challenge” of life », explains the pedagogist. «Children must be accompanied in their growth and guided, especially in adolescence. As far as social networks are concerned, it would be enough to respect the decree that prohibits their use under the age of 14. What sense does it make for kids to use smartphones as and how much they attend school (or even more)? It means that there is a derogation from families and parents which then produces a series of potentially dangerous situations», says Novara.

Difficulties in relationships

Boys between 11-13 years old with a risk of “social addiction” declare a difficulty communicating with their parents in 75.9%, those suffering from “video game addiction” in 58.6%, those with an “eating disorder ” serious in 68.5%. Percentage that reaches 77.7% in high school students who have a risky tendency to withdraw from society. «There is a communication difficulty in young people, it is the fear of finding resistance in the other. And it’s the typical theme of conflict management: what to do when others don’t do what you want them to do. They are young people who have had an excess of
mothering (maternal care). Kids need to face challenges, not to be replaced in all respects by parents who, on the other hand, should accept their estrangement and manage it as best as possible. If the kids want to go out, have experiences outside the family nucleus, it’s normal, if they consider the house as a “hotel” it’s right, there’s something to worry about if the opposite happens. The problem of relationships, however, does not only concern the relationship with parents but also that between peers. Young people must learn to relate, to manage frustrations and difficult communication with peers», explains Novara.

What should parents worry about

Parents should be alarmed if they see in their child a tendency to isolate themselves, to shirk their commitments. “Not wanting to go to school, for example, is a very negative sign,” says the expert. “Before wading into explicit addictions, one should look at whether the adolescent is challenging life or if she is shirking. If she backs away, sooner or later, she’s going to get into trouble. Isolation is the antechamber of addictions, for example from video games. Parents are usually worried about bad company but, in reality, the biggest problem is the lack of company. There are bad companies, but they are rare, the lack of company is linked to a depressive element that is becoming very common among today’s boys and girls. If a young person has no interests, he withdraws, ends up in a void that will sooner or later be filled by something, and often that something is harmful addictions »concludes Daniele Novara.