Time for conversation on gaming addiction
Time for conversation on gaming addiction - Dr Agyeman-Rawlings says
The Member of Parliament for Klottey Korle, Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings, has called for an honest national conversation about the dangers gaming and betting addiction are posing to the youth in Ghana.
She said if the nation failed to engage in such blunt conversation about gaming addiction, “it means that we are closing our eyes to the reality and the crisis that we are facing as a nation”.
“I know that the common thing that we are all hearing is the addiction to drugs, especially red, but the most subtle one is the one associated with behaviour that you do not recognise as addictive or drug abuse, and that is gaming addiction,” she said.
Addiction respects no person
Speaking at a sensitisation programme on gambling addiction and mental wellness at the Accra Technical University last Wednesday, Dr Agyeman-Rawlings said it was time the nation paid attention to how gaming addiction was destroying the life of young people and even adults addicted to gambling.
“There are people today, as we speak, who are even in very sensitive positions in the financial sector and are addicted to all sorts of things and what they ended up doing is misappropriating people funds.
They are stealing people’s money that they are supposed to look after to feed their addiction.
“They get fired from one job and they end up in another and they repeat the same behaviour.
So, this is not someone who started off as a student who could not afford to pay for his hostel or rent; this is someone who is employed in a job where they have everything they need.
Addiction does not respect you and it does not matter who you are and where you are from, how old you are, what your background is and how much money you have in your pocket,” the National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP said.
The event, which formed part of activities to mark the Mental Health Month celebration, was organised by the Gaming Commission of Ghana in partnership with the Mental Health Authority and Licensed Gaming Operators to raise students’ awareness about the harmful effects of irresponsible gaming.
Dr Agyeman-Rawlings said research had shown that the best target for gaming and betting as well as anything related to addiction was the youth who happened to be the nation’s builders.
She, therefore, called for a safety net to be put in place to protect them against betting addiction which was gradually ruining their life.
Exposing the students to how addiction developed, the medical doctor said the pathway for addiction was the same because there was something about the human brain that made it prone to addiction.
“That thing is the pleasure part of your brain that once it lobs into the fact that a particular behaviour generates a certain amount of pleasure, you keep doing it,” she explained.
Stop gambling
The NDC MP for Ayawaso West Wuogon and Deputy Minister of Food and Agriculture, John Dumelo, recounted how he personally became addicted to gambling some years ago at a time he got addicted to his mobile phone.
He, however, said at a point he realised that gaming was a process that was “eating into my time and money”.
“All in all, I think that betting addiction is something that we all need to deal with; yes, it is a quick way of making money, but it is also a quick way of ending or ruining your life,” Mr Dumelo said.
