5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Parental gold. A MUST READ!
“Game designers have figured out how to control our dopamine switch, offering us all that pleasure, reinforcement, and anticipation, but without contributing a survival benefit.”
🎓 Schools should give this to parents of rising kindergartners.
🍼 Parents-to-be should get this as a baby shower gift.
🎅🏼 This should be in every stocking for parents that have mentioned struggling with their children focusing or wanting to do anything other than YouTube/Gaming, etc. (me 🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️)
Even if your child isn’t (yet) obsessed with gaming, the psychology is worth knowing to help prevent it.
📖 I was already impressed with this book within the first chapter - What Makes Gaming So Addictive (the Neurochemistry). Seriously, the psychology behind this really proves the addictive qualities and how it shapes our youth.
😱 So much helpful insight, like studies showing that having a game in a child’s room increases usage of up to 50 percent.
This book helps parents to come from a place of understanding, both for the psychology of it and your child’s drive for it, get on the same team as your child, and create a better environment with boundaries, structure and healthy habits.
"Games are addictive not just because they feel good, but also because they diminish bad feelings. All addictive substances share two properties - they not only give pleasure, but they also take away pain."
🩺 It even covers topics like ADHD, Autism and Marijuana as it pertains to gaming addiction.
❌ What this book does NOT do, is tell you to take away gaming completely. That’s not what this is about, and it even discourages that.
😳 There were some extremely eye opening parts, including how much we enable kids to be less responsible, without realizing what we are doing. There is also a really great cheat sheet in the appendix to refer back to as a reference guide.
Thanks to NetGalley, Rosalie, Inc., and Alok Kanojia MD MPH for providing me with a complimentary ARC to review!
🛒 Buy the book on Amazon.
🔗 Connect with me on Goodreads.
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