After PUBG addiction claimed a teenager's life in India, psychiatrists have something to say

An 18-year-old teenr in Mumbai recently committed suicide when his parents refused to buy him a new mobile phone to play one of most popular online game, PUBG. This is extent to which diction to game has reached, especially in India where parents have often been seen concerned about ir children's diction to mobile gaming.

Of late, voices calling a ban on PUBG in India are getting louder. Recently, an 11-year-old boy filed a PIL in Bombay High Court seeking a ban on PUBG after PM Modi's 'Pariksha Pe Charcha 2.0' where a concerned parent turned up seeking guidance on how she could keep her son, a Class IX student, away from online gaming. While popularity of game is increasing by day so is diction to game, so much so that it has w led a young boy to take his life.

We have spoken to psychiatrists who specialise in children's mental health problems and disorders. Psychiatrists have ticed a significant increase in number of patients and concerned parents turning up to treat PUBG diction.

PUBG's rise and popularity in India

A survey done by Quartz India found 62 per cent respondents in India prefer PUBG over any or games including Fortnight, Free Fire, Rules of Survival etc. and over 70 per cent of m play PUBG on a mobile phone. w, PUBG boasts of more number of players on mobile version than PC. Its popularity across Asian countries has helped PUBG increase its reach to over 200 million devices and 30 million daily active players.

One report goes on to mention total percent of PUBG players on PC and consoles hardly reaches 10 per cent mark in India. Hence re may be a pattern to it as most of users in India rely on a mobile phone to play PUBG and as we have observed, PUBG's unmatched popularity in India saw a sudden boost after it became available for mobile users. And since game became available on mobile, given popularity of game, many kids wanted to get ir hands on a gaming compatible device.

ALSO RE | SHOCKING: Mumbai teenr commits suicide after being denied new phone to play PUBG

"If your child wants a phone worth Rs 37,000, it's important to dress why it matters to him so much. Is it peer pressure? Is it just impulsivity? Did you promise your child a phone worth Rs 37,000 and w he/she is amant on it? It's important to dress why your child is stuck up on one particular thing. Once parents dress that, y can find a better way to deal with problem," says Dr Nahid Dave, Psychiatrist.

Experts' vise for parents 

1. Motivate your children

Dr Dave explains concept of instant gratification that les to impulsive behaviour among teenrs.

"Children in current generation run on principle of instant gratification. Hence it becomes tough for children to control ir impulse if y don't get what y desire. So re's a clear-cut lack of consequential thinking among teenrs."

Parents can't be disciplinary directly. y should inste motivate ir child to earn something y want, which will furr result in delayed gratification.

"Parents should teach ir child how to harness delayed gratification as children are usually unaware of how y should deal with problem."

2. Observe your children

Psychiatrist Dr Rahul Bhatambre vises parents to provide ir children with free time (game time) to play games.

"Parents should allocate a fixed game time, let's say from half an hour to one hour should be sufficient. This way, parents can sensitively deal with situation and children won't keep playing games continuously for rest of day."

ALSO RE | PUBG diction among children is becoming a heache for parents

3. Basic emotion control

According to Dr Dave, Modelling could be a major flaw in parenting among young generation of working parents who are often impulsive. Parents must have basic emotion control if y want ir child to have it too. If y are reckless quite often in front of ir children, children tend to get more impulsive.

"When y (parents) come home and things don't go ir way, y act out impulsively, which affects children. If parents want ir child to behave differently, y mselves first have to behave differently."

4. Avoid comparing your children with ors

Comparing children with ors often make a child feel threatened (or challenged) and eventually make him or her fall prey to peer pressure. Which in turn makes m want what ors have and it also inspires children to compare ir parents with or parents.

Technical restrictions of PUBG

Let's try to join dots between what psychiatrists say about "peer pressure" and what data says about growing popularity of PUBG on a "mobile phone." PUBG lacks cross-platform compatibility. Hence if all your friends play PUBG on a mobile phone, you must also have a mobile phone to participate in game toger. This isn't case with or games such as Fortnite, which is also why many still prefer Fortnite over PUBG. Even if you play PUBG Mobile using PC emulators, you can't play with your friends unless y also opt for PC emulators. This coupled with massive popularity of game could potentially be causing excessive peer pressure among PUBG players, mainly teenrs.