Danger when a computer becomes your best friend

(0___ H) Many of Britain’s children are becoming computer addicts, according to leading education specialists. Such children then lose interest in anything else and become withdrawn and introverted.

(1____) Up to one in ten youngsters – over half a million – are affected. The problem usually starts between the ages of nine and eleven and most often affects boys, who tend to get more involved with machines than girls. They spend up to 40 hours a week tapping away.

(2____) “These children are unable to relate to friends and family or express their feeling, ” says Mrs. Noel Janis-Norton, a specialist at treating problem children and adults. They behave badly at school and at home – and when desperate parents forbid them to use computers, they find ways to use the computers in secret and deceive their parents. The result is that they often fail school tests and lose friends. But they do not care. The computer has become their best – and sometimes their only – friend.

(3____) Mrs. Janis-Norton says children who have difficulty communicating are hit by this problem. “A child who is energetic and outgoing is unlikely to become a computer addict, although any kind of child can enjoy the computer, ” she says. “There’s a very big difference between use and abuse. Often the problem continues into the late teens and sometimes into adult life, where the addict becomes increasingly shut off from reality.”

(4____) Mrs. Janis-Norton adds: “The situation changes when they have less to be anxious about. Many grow out of it when they leave home. Like any other nervous condition, such as asthma, it hardly exists in the summer holidays.”

(5____) Most children who have this kind of nervous complaint are not doing as well at school as they could. Now teachers are being asked to look for the more obvious patterns of behaviour. The National Union of Teachers has already warned its staff to identify pupils who become restless and agitated.

(6____) Tony Miller, one of the teachers’ union spokesmen, says parents should limit the amount of time their children spend at the machines. He adds, “Very young children take to computers like fish to water. It seems to be like the problem of obsessive TV-watching.” One parent was woken at 5 a.m. by a strange bleeping noise. She later discovered it was her addict son at his computer.

(7____) Mrs. Janis-Norton claims a high success rate with her unique system which involves teaching the parents as well as the child. It is a similar problem to gambling or drug addiction. She says: “With the parents, we examine all the issues which come up in a child’s day – food, bedtime, co-operation, homework, the tone of voice children use when talking to their parents, and sweets. We teach parents how to be in charge of the situation, how to be positive, firm and consistent. We give the child extra lessons in whatever subjects they’re weak in. By slowly getting the children off the machines, and replacing computers with other activities and more confidence, the habit is broken.”