Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: What often appears as addiction to content online, including games, may be a quiet plea for connection, educators and doctors say, as institutions rethink how they respond to children spending excessive time on screens. Rather than treating gaming as a discipline problem, it is now being viewed as an early indicator of emotional stress, loneliness, or academic pressure.The renewed focus comes amid widespread concern after three sisters allegedly died by suicide in Ghaziabad. Their father alleged they were addicted to online gaming. The suicide note left behind by the three, however, indicates, they were obsessed by a world of Korean dramas, actors and K-pop. The three had not been attending school since Covid.Educators across the city say the obsessive consumption of content online can signal larger problems – from isolation and loniless to depression.“In our school, we don’t treat gaming as misconduct. We treat it as a signal,” said Ameeta Mohan, Principal of Amity International School, Pushp Vihar. She explained that the process usually begins in classrooms, where teachers notice subtle changes, like a once-engaged student becoming restless, exhausted, or withdrawn. “Homework isn’t the only thing that slips. Patience, peer interaction, and emotional tolerance also decline. These signs are shared early.”Schools now focus on replacement rather than removal. Instead of sudden bans, children are encouraged to rediscover confidence and belonging through sports, creative activities, leadership roles, and peer mentoring.Mental health professionals stress that warning signs usually appear gradually and are often missed. Dr Achal Bhagat, Senior Consultant Psychiatrist at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, said parents and schools should watch for a sharp increase in gaming hours, irritability or anger when asked to stop, declining academic performance, disturbed sleep, and withdrawal from family or friends. “When gaming becomes a child’s main source of happiness or self-worth, it is a strong signal that the behaviour may be turning harmful,” he said. He cautioned against sudden bans, which can heighten anger and distress, and advised calm, consistent intervention focused on understanding, setting predictable limits, and replacing gaming time with engaging alternatives.Explaining why some children are more vulnerable than others, psychiatrists pointed to emotional and social factors that often push children deeper into online worlds. Dr Prashant Goyal, Senior Consultant in Psychiatry at Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute, Delhi, said children who feel lonely, anxious, or lack strong emotional support are at higher risk of gaming addiction. “Games offer instant success, control and belonging, which can become far more attractive than real-world challenges,” he said.The Covid lockdown, experts said, significantly intensified this risk by sharply increasing screen time while cutting off physical and social interaction. “Many children turned to online games for connection and stress relief. For some, these habits became deeply ingrained and continued even after schools reopened” he said.School counsellors, meanwhile, report a steady rise in referrals linked to excessive consumption of online content, often accompanied by falling academic performance, disturbed sleep, irritability, and social withdrawal. “In many cases, it is a coping mechanism for stress or overwhelm, not addiction alone,” said Kadambari Katoch, a counselling psychologist working with middle-school students.She described group interventions where students learn to identify their “stress response” — the internal trigger. “We never label students as defiant or addicted. We move away from rules and restrictions and begin with safety, using structured circle time to focus on students’ internal states of stress… Through guided imagery, grounding exercises, and creative expression, many children were finally able to articulate what parents couldn’t see: gaming became the only space where their nervous systems felt regulated.“Parents, too, are being drawn into the process, though many admit their first instinct is to restrict screen time. “My daughter plays a lot of games. What I did is set a one-hour window during which she can access the gaming app, after which it locks automatically,” said Rohit Mathur, whose daughter is in Class IX.Another parent of a teenager, Amit Vijay, said he focuses on keeping his son engaged offline. “He attends regular football classes and goes swimming during summer. He also doesn’t have an independent phone yet. This routine leaves him with very little time to spend online,” he said.Educators say teacher training is equally critical in spotting early behavioural shifts and referring students for timely counselling. “We focus on balance, not restriction,” said Rooma Pathak, Principal of MM Public School, Pitampura, adding that life-skills education, digital awareness sessions, and structured offline engagement through arts and sports form the backbone of their strategy.Psychiatrists warn that extreme emotional dependence on online games and content can, in some cases, tip into self-harm when the virtual world is suddenly challenged or taken away.“We saw this kind of intensity earlier,” said Dr Yatan Pal Singh Balhara, Professor of Psychiatry at AIIMS New Delhi. Drawing parallels with incidents such as the Blue Whale online challenge, he said that when children and adolescents develop a pathological attachment to games or other digital content, self-harm or harm to others can be one of the consequences. While such extreme outcomes are uncommon, he added, aggression, violence and self-harm are more likely when parents attempt to abruptly restrict access.
