In recent years, social media influencers and internet celebrities have created a popular niche in pop culture. Some content creators possess a level of fame among their young fans which rivals that of traditional A-list celebrities. In the past, these A-list stars were only accessible to the public through the big screen or tabloid articles. Today’s internet celebrities are virtually accessible to fans 24/7 through social media. A new group of wildly popular content creators on the platform TikTok have pushed the boundaries of celebrity accessibility a step further towards toxicity by creating what they have coined “The Hype House.” If you are worried that your kids are living to watch a hype house instead of living their best lives within their own house, you can benefit from our Screen Safety Essentials Course. It has all the resources you need to best manage screen time while getting closer as a family.
TikTok and the Hype House Explained
TikTok is a social media and video-sharing platform/app that is primarily marketed to kids and teens. Since its launch in 2016, it has become one of the most popular social media sites attracting over 1 billion monthly users.
As you might have learned from Netflix’s recent show, the Hype House is a collective of young TikTok celebrities who live and work together in a large luxury house in Los Angeles, CA. Due to their popularity, the residents of the house get paid to create millions of dollars worth of sponsored content on TikTok. The more popular a content creator is, the more money they earn through ad revenue and branded merchandise.
Typical content created by Hype House residents feature videos of them hanging out, pulling pranks, partying, and (most often) dancing. Each of the Hype House members has a follower count in the hundreds of thousands to millions which illustrates their immense star power. However, there is a flip side. As avid fans discovered the address of the collective, Hype House residents were swarmed with groups of people stationed outside the home hoping to interact with their favorite TikTokers.
Blurred Boundaries
Fans traveled from all over and waited outside the house for hours just to catch a glimpse of the Hype House members. As soon as someone was spotted, a frenzy of excited screams would ensue. Perhaps it’s not surprising that some teens would go to such lengths to be in close proximity to their favorite celebrities and score pics for their own social media pages. What is surprising, however, is that many of the fans who would gather outside the collective were elementary school-aged children with parents.
Oddly enough, many of the parents seemed to be just as swept up in the frenzy as their kids. One video features a mother bragging that her daughter handed a box of donuts to someone affiliated with the house and that “now her donuts are inside the hype house.” A second video features a woman telling a mob of children “remember, you guys made them famous, you guys give them paychecks…” in response to the children being asked to leave the front doorstep they were trespassing on.
On one occasion, in a bid to gain followers, a 13-year-old TikToker allegedly broke into the Hype House along with her mother and a few friends while the residents weren’t home. The group filmed themselves going through the house and even wearing and stealing the famous housemates’ clothes. The 13-year-old’s mother even uploaded a video to TikTok saying, “We are currently in the Hype House. We’re gonna have amazing content.”
Despite some extreme (and illegal) instances like this, the residents of the Hype House typically accept the mobs of fans and do their best to have positive interactions with them because the fans’ support ultimately translates to more money in the bank. Unfortunately, access to the Hype House has led to the victimization of some young fans rather than the house members themselves.
Appeal to Emotion and the Illusion of Intimacy
The hordes of fans who habitually gathered in front of the Hype House weren’t actually all that bad for the famous TikTokers who lived there. In fact, this situation went on uninhibited by security enforcement or calls to the police for a long time. This is because it was a reciprocal interaction between the famous TikTokers and their fans. The fans got to interact with their idols, take photographs, and hear a celebrity say “I love you” to them in real life. In return, Hype House members gain increased loyalty, views, and support which ensures the longevity of their success as TikTok stars.
When kids and teens feel acknowledged by a person they look up to, it can have a powerful effect. An interaction where a celebrity appeals to the emotions of a fan creates an illusion of intimacy. This makes the relationship feel real and can lead to personal exploitation.
Hype House Star Tony Lopez: Sexual Misconduct
TikTok has a feature called Duet that allows users to build on another user’s video by recording and then placing their own videos next to the original to create a sort of split-screen duet. The troublesome aspect of this feature is that, despite the minimum age of use for TikTok being 12 years old, the music and dance moves in popular videos are often sexually suggestive and explicit. Duet videos are wildly popular on the app.
Tony Lopez is a 21-year-old TikTok celebrity and an original member of the Hype House who is known to post sexually explicit videos. He’s been accused of committing multiple acts of sexual misconduct by several young girls. Lopez, who has over 22 million followers on TikTok alone, is alleged to have used his status as an internet celebrity to coerce underaged female fans into engaging in sexually inappropriate exchanges with him. According to these young fans, Tony Lopez employed various forms of emotional manipulation, preying upon their admiration of him as well as their desire to feel a unique and personal connection with him.
The Graphic Video
In 2020, a video of Tony Lopez surfaced on various social media platforms showing him standing nude in front of a mirror while gyrating the lower half of his body. The video was apparently leaked by Twitter users via direct message. After going viral, TikTok parody videos were posted by clothed minors. In response, Tony posted videos laughing along with the caption, “Oops. Lol.”
Solicitation of Child Pornography
During the same year, several underage girls came forward stating that Tony Lopez had either requested or received nude photographs from them or sent them nude photographs of himself. Tony Lopez would use his private Snapchat account to add young female fans and interact with them in an exclusive forum.
Lopez would use the promise of access to his private account by telling girls that he would only add them if they sent him “sexy pics.” A series of screenshots featuring conversations between Tony and the victims on his private Snapchat were posted online by some of the girls themselves. The screenshots show crude attempts by Tony to solicit nude photos as well as his reactions when they refused. When a young fan turned down Tony’s request for nude photos, he blocked her from his private account as punishment. After these allegations came out, Tony Lopez officially separated from the Hype House brand.
Sexual Battery
In January 2021, Tony Lopez was served with a civil lawsuit on behalf of two minors accusing Lopez of sexual battery and emotional distress. Both girls claim that Tony used his fame to groom and coerce them into engaging in sexual acts with him and to solicit nude photographs of them despite being aware that they were underaged. According to the victims, Tony, who was 20 years old at the time, emotionally manipulated the two via text and direct messaging by saying things like, “I’m tryna marry you.” He would ask the girls to sneak out of their homes at night to meet up with him.
One of the girls originally met Lopez when she was invited to the Hype House by founding member Thomas Petrou, who is also named in the lawsuit for negligent hiring of Lopez. After coming forward, Tony’s accusers were cyberstalked, harassed, and threatened with violence by Tony’s avid fans. Tony has publicly denied these allegations stating that the victims’ motivations are to make money.
Why are fans so easily victimized?
The fascination with celebrities that sees young fans either trespassing onto private property or becoming victimized themselves can be explained by a psychological phenomenon referred to as parasocial relationships. A parasocial relationship is characterized as a one-sided emotional attachment to a media persona that can lead to strong feelings of familiarity, intimacy, friendship, and romance.
For the most part, fans realize that the relationship does not actually exist. Yet the intensity of their feelings causes them to react as if it does. This is manifested as investments of time, energy, and emotion just as in real-world relationships. Except, with parasocial relationships, none of these things are reciprocated by the celebrity.
How Parents Can Help
While understanding this phenomenon can help to keep you aware of some of social media’s pitfalls, Dr. Bennett has also created and compiled a series of valuable tools and guidelines to help you equip your family with the knowledge and strategies needed to safely navigate today’s technological world.
To avoid the kinds of negative outcomes addressed in this article, check out Dr. B’s tried and true GKIS Social Media Readiness Course. Our course is a valuable tool that teaches tweens and teens about the inherent risks of social media and ways to be prepared when encountering them. Additionally, parent-child communication and parental oversight are key. Dr. B offers essential tips for fostering this kind of communication in her GKIS Connected Family Course. With this online course, you will learn how to create a safer screen home environment through fun parenting techniques designed to guide sensible screen management.
Thanks to CSUCI intern, Mackenzie Morrow for researching accusations of inappropriate behavior concerning Hype House influencers and co-authoring this article.
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.
Kids and teens love their online influencers. Seventy percent of teens say they trust influencers more than celebrities, and 49% depend on influencer recommendations.[1] Influencers count on their followers to help build their numbers and market their products with testimonials and shares. If your child loves to follow online celebrities or influencers, teach them what they need to know for safety and earn online accountability with our GKIS Social Media Readiness Training. Our course covers the red flags of digital injury and tools for psychological wellness with 10 self-paced lessons and mastery quizzes. Help your kids avoid screen risks like viewing pornography, interacting with online predators and cyberbullies, distraction, social media drama, and compare and despair with our GKIS Social Media Readiness Course for tweens and teens.
A Good and Bad Influence(er)
Online influencers promote their personalities, content, areas of interest, and expertise on online platforms to gain recognition and build their brand. Gaining followers requires confidence and showmanship. To best compete, some influencers use editing tricks to appear more attractive, healthier, more competent, and extra qualified. Because editing tricks are hard to spot, kids often emulate influencers with the impression that they really are that perfect.
Positive Impacts of Social Media Influencers
The most popular categories that social media influencers focus on are lifestyle, health, fitness, travel, art, work, fashion, luxury, photography, beauty, pets and animals, and parenting.[2]
The positive impacts influencers offer include:
information for education and awareness,
an engaging and supportive community of like-minded people, and
creativity and entertainment.
Negative Impacts of Social Media Influencers
Some influencers are less interested in quality content and more focused on entertainment that will boost their numbers. To that end, they will use more filters and online trickery and promote harmful content like unrealistic body types, lifestyles, diets, fashion, gossip, rumors, and drama. Harmful content can cause problems with kids and teens, including decreased appearance satisfaction, low self-evaluations, higher negative mood, and insecurity.[3] Over time, these problems can escalate to mental health issues like anxiety, depression, body dysmorphia, and eating disorders.
Body Positive Movement
According to a social media report from a Norwegian influencer marketing platform, 47% of surveyed influencers revealed that they felt their job harmed their mental health, and 32% believed the platform hurt body image.[4] One way to express and promote unconditional self-love is by supporting the body positivity movement. This worldwide movement focuses on acceptance and equality for all body types and sizes.
One of the movement’s goals is to challenge how our society, particularly all forms of media, presents and views the human body.[5]With body positivity modeled by influencers (without the use of filters and digital manipulation), fans feel more confident and comfortable in their bodies.
Instagram vs. Reality
Another popular movement in the media that spreads awareness about the harmful nature of social media is called Instagram vs. Reality. This movement offers a side-by-side comparison of two of the same photos; one photo edited and the other not.
The purpose of this trend is to bring attention to the differences between natural and filtered images. This trend inspires people to embrace themselves naturally without enhancements. Instagram vs. Reality reminds us that online content is not always accurate. Our Screen Safety Essentials Coursefor parents and families offers helpful strategies for social media behavior while reinforcing mindful habits to prevent feelings of self-consciousness and anxiety.
Seeking Self-Acceptance and Fleeing from Filters
Before friending or following someone in real life or online, consider if they reinforce positive, authentic, and empowering morals. Social media influencers that we like appear to serve from the depths of their experienced and passionate hearts.
Positive and Qualified Influencers to Follow
Huda Kattan- Beauty Blogger and Makeup Artist
Zach King- Digital influencer, Writer, Comedian
Michelle Lewin- Fitness Influencer
Jamie Oliver- Chef
Joanna Gaines- Lifestyle Blogger and Writer
Jack Morris- Travel Influencer
Savannah LaBrant- Parenting Influencer
Beth Evans- Mental Health Influencer
PewdiePie- Gaming Influencer
Amanda Gorman- Activist, Poet, Influencer
What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids
Parental oversight of child exposure to online content is critical for safety and developing a positive self-image. One way to do this is by monitoring your child’s online activity, such as the sites they visit, the content they watch, who they follow, and how much time they spend online.
GKIS has a variety of valuable courses designed to help families navigate the various pitfalls of internet exposure and prevent digital injury.
The GKIS Social Media Readiness Training is a valuable tool that teaches teens about the inherent risks of social media and ways to make healthy decisions when encountering them.
The Screen Safety Toolkit is a family-tested, outcome-based resource guide with our best recommendations, how-to information, and links to our favorite easy-to-onboard parental control systems.
The GKIS Connected Family Course will provide parents of school-age families with tips for creating a safe screen home environment through fun parenting techniques that are designed to guide sensible screen management.
Finally, our most comprehensive program is our Screen Safety Essentials Course. Our comprehensive Essentials Course provides parenting and family coaching information, support, and other valuable information and activities to get you dialed in for screen safety and healthier family relationships.
Thanks to CSUCI intern Haley Begun for researching and co-authoring this article!
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.
Is it possible that your child is being encouraged to fake a mental health illness because of YouTube celebrities? It is no secret that today’s children and teens practically live their lives through the internet. Social media platforms and entertainment sites like YouTube are where our kids go to seek out information, make friends, and build their budding identities. One aspect that makes these sites so attractive is that they provide a space for kids and teens to experiment with their identities by trying on different personas in accordance with what is trending online. This phenomenon gives the content creators of platforms like YouTube enormous influence over what our kids see as socially desirable traits and behaviors. The reality is that these content creators are some of our kids’ biggest role models and some of the biggest content creators on YouTube are featuring videos about their mental health disorders. To help ensure your family has the tools to safely navigate the online world, check out our Screen Safety Essentials Course.
So, what is trending online?
Mental health issues and disorders are far less stigmatizing among today’s children and teens than they were in previous generations. This is due to increased awareness, social progressiveness, and a cultural shift that embraces individualism. In other words, being different is now something to be celebrated rather than something to be avoided at all costs.
As a result, popularity today looks a lot different than it used to. Cheerleaders and football jocks are no longer the end-all-be-all of popularity and coolness. For our kids, to be seen as fundamentally different from everyone else or misunderstood by their peers is to be seen as unique and uniqueness is the ultimate attention attracter. Oddly enough, teens today must stand out to fit in. This trend can be seen online by the enormous popularity of YouTube channels that feature content related to mental health disorders.
YouTubers Are Sensationalizing Mental Illness for Views
It is inappropriate for an unqualified person to make judgment calls regarding the validity of someone’s mental health diagnosis. Exercising informed and critical thinking when evaluating claims made by people online is important. Especially, when it is your child who is being exposed to these claims.
Content creators on YouTube get paid to make videos that attract attention from viewers. One way these content creators ensure that their videos are viewed out of thousands of others is to make them as sensational as possible. Frequently, truth is secondary to entertainment which is incredibly dangerous in this context because the implications of serious mental health disorders are far too significant to be trivialized.[1] Currently, content creators who purport to have multiple personality disorders (also referred to as dissociative identity disorder or DID) are skyrocketing as YouTube channel celebrities.
What Is multiple personality disorder?
Multiple personality disorder is a type of dissociative disorder characterized by the presence of multiple personalities or identities that coexist within one person’s mind. The personalities are distinct, completely separate from, and unaware of one another. Each personality has its own identity, complete life history, personal traits, preferences, attitudes, etc., and exerts control over the individual at different times.
The cause of this disorder is usually related to severe trauma and can be seen as a coping mechanism that protects a person from facing painful memories. The original personality is called the host and is often the most dominant identity. Additional identities are called alters. People with DID switch between personalities, with the current personality taking control over the body (referred to as “fronting”) and thus shielding the person from distressful or alarming situations.[2]
Multiple personality disorder is an incredibly rare diagnosis affecting only .01 to 1% of the population.[3] Additionally, there is considerable debate among psychologists as to whether or not the disorder truly exists.[4] Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation about the disorder being broadcast by YouTubers who claim to have it.
Who Are These DID Content Creators?
Some of the most popular YouTube channels whose creators purport to have multiple personality disorder include MultiplicityAndMe, The Entropy system, Fragmented Psyche, Trisha Paytas, and DissociaDID. Each of these channels is enormously popular with DissociaDID having over 1.9 million subscribers.
These content creators capitalize on the mystery surrounding the disorder and typically play the role of educating their viewers. Each of these channels has videos with clickbait-worthy titles such as “Switching Caught on Camera” and “Meet the Alters.” These content creators have branded themselves as leaders of the DID community and have created a culture of exclusivity.
Us Vs. Them
For kids who may have difficulties making friends, belonging to this kind of exclusive community is very attractive. As I mentioned earlier, kids today have to stand out to fit in. Belonging to such an exclusive group allows them to feel unique while also being accepted by others. The comments sections under these videos are filled with DID-related memes, inside jokes, and special insight-fueled communication that fosters an “us versus them” mentality.
The Dangers of The Mental Illness Trend on YouTube
While having a mental disorder is nothing to be ashamed of, the act of faking a mental illness or claiming to have one when one doesn’t is dangerous. First and foremost, living with a dissociative disorder such as DID is not as glamorous as it is portrayed to be by these YouTube content creators. It is distressing, impairing, and often overwhelming with far-reaching implications across a variety of aspects of a person’s life. Here are some dangers:
Kids who claim to have the disorder as a means of making friends online can ultimately end up isolating themselves from others in real life even further.
People who fake a mental disorder can become convinced that they genuinely do have the disorder.[5]
People who claim to have a mental health disorder that they really do not have may end up taking away valuable resources that people with true diagnoses desperately need.
What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids
Parental oversight regarding their kids’ exposure to content online is the most important thing. One way to do this is by monitoring your kid’s online activity such as the sites they visit, the content they feature, and how much time they spend online. Thankfully, Dr. B has a variety of useful strategies designed to help families navigate the various pitfalls of internet exposure and prevent digital injury.
The GKIS Social Media Readiness Training is a valuable tool that teaches teens about the inherent risks of social media and ways to be prepared when encountering them.
The Screen Safety Toolkit is a family-tested, outcome-based resource guide with our best recommendations, how-to information, and links to our favorite easy-to-onboard parental control systems.
The GKIS Connected Family Course will provide parents and families with tips for creating a safe screen home environment through fun parenting techniques that are designed to guide sensible screen management.
The Screen Safety Essentials Course provides weekly parenting and family coaching videos, engaging family activities, and other valuable information such as selected readings from our GKIS blog articles and Dr. Bennett’s expert book, Screen Time in the Mean Time.
Thanks to CSUCI intern, Mackenzie Morrow for researching the risk of digital injury to kids who are exposed to sensationalized mental health content on YouTube and co-authoring this article.
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.
[1] Mayo Clinic. (2019). Factitious disorder. Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/factitious-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20356028
[2] Waugaman, R. M., & Korn, M. (2012). Review of Understanding and treating dissociative identity disorder: A relational approach. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 60(3), 626–631. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csuci.edu/10.1177/0003065112447105
[3] Brand, B. L., Sar, V., Stavropoulos, P., Krüger, C., Korzekwa, M., Martínez-Taboas, A., & Middleton, W. (2016). Separating fact from fiction: An empirical examination of six myths about Dissociative Identity Disorder. Harvard review of psychiatry, 24(4), 257–270. https://doi.org/10.1097/HRP.0000000000000100
[4] Dorahy, M. J., Brand, B. L., Sar, V., Krüger, C., Stavropoulos, P., Martínez-Taboas, A., Lewis-Fernández, R., & Middleton, W. (2014). Dissociative identity disorder: An empirical overview. The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry, 48(5), 402–417. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004867414527523
[5] Merckelbach, H., Jelicic, M., & Pieters, M. (2011). The residual effect of feigning: how intentional faking may evolve into a less conscious form of symptom reporting. Journal of clinical and experimental neuropsychology, 33(1), 131–139
As many as 97% of teens actively use at least one form of social media.[1] If your tween or teen has social media, help them become informed, safer consumers with our Social Media Readiness Course. Our online course includes mastery quizzes after each lesson and can be done at your own pace. We think it’s the best way to help kids avoid the many sources of digital injury and help them integrate critical psychological wellness tools. Today’s article is all about social media and psychological wellness. Is social media use contributing to your child’s social anxiety disorder?
Social Anxiety Disorder
Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is a debilitating disorder that impacts children and adults and is characterized by an intense fear of being judged by others in social settings.[2] Since the stay-at-home orders from COVID19, Dr. Bennett says that many kids, teens, and adults have developed social anxiety due to the stress and loss of practice due to isolation. People who suffer from SAD avoid social situations that require peer conversations, giving speeches, and being among unfamiliar people.
What are the signs of SAD?
Although we all may go through bouts of shyness or anxiety when doing social things like making speeches, SAD is a heightened and debilitating version of these same fears. Studies have shown that children with SAD often struggle with peer friendships, academics, and even family life.[3]
Here are typical characteristics of SAD:
Excessive fear regarding social situations
Agitation
Low self-esteem
Avoidance of social engagements
Excessive worry
Poor eye contact
These are things you can be on the lookout for when observing your children. Are they struggling to keep up academically? Are they complaining that they don’t have friends? Do you notice that they lack the confidence to initiate conversations or speak up for themselves?
If you feel concerned, reach out for professional assistance from a therapist or licensed psychologist. The sooner a child gets assistance with SAD, the sooner they can start working on it and find resolutions to their fears. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is particularly effective with SAD.
CBT is a form of therapy that offers strategies to help subjects change maladaptive thinking patterns and gain insight into things that reward anxiety. Unique treatment plans can be altered for each patient. One of the things that make CBT unique is the emphasis on teaching the patient about the disorder and allowing them to create their coping skills and ultimately be their own therapist.[4]
Social Media’s Impact on SAD
Studies have shown that children with SAD tend to have lower interpersonal trust and are more prone to hurt feelings. For some kids who have a hard time building peer relationships in person, using social media can help them make friends and feel included. Talking to peers on social media allows children to think before they send a message which may lessen their fear of judgment. Also, online conversations take out the tough-to-interpret facial expressions that sometimes cause people with SAD to overthink and freeze up.
A great example of where this could come in handy is during a lunch break. Children with SAD may have a hard time interacting during lunch and stay quiet due to fear of being judged. This same child can go home and message their friends on social media about something that was discussed during lunch without having to worry about others watching them. By messaging their thoughts to their friends, they can compose their words and it lets them be involved and part of the conversations.
On the other hand, studies have shown that children with SAD worry more about being judged on what they post than others do.[5] Since a child with SAD is already more prone to hurt feelings, they may get more upset by comments and feelings of exclusion. They may also overthink about posted content wanting to make sure others enjoy it. A balance between offline practice and online practice is key to psychological wellness and social skills mastery.
Things You Can Do to Help Your Child Avoid SAD
Enjoy the support of weekly coaching.
The most important thing that parents can do is be aware of the potential risks and promote an environment of open communication with your children. Dr. B offers a comprehensive family program for fostering this kind of communication in her Screen Safety Essentials Course. With this course, your family will learn tons of information about how to create a safer screen home environment while also connecting and having fun as a family. Armed with the right tools, you and your family can learn how to better thrive in today’s digital era.
Set screen time limits.
Most phones have parental control options to limit the amount of time spent on social media apps. The Screen Safety Toolkit explains the amount of screen time recommended for your children and gives you the tools you need to set up the controls, track usage, and filter unwanted content for safe browsing.
Offer opportunities to practice social engagement.
Sometimes kids need extra support when they are feeling socially anxious. If your child opts out of social interactions, provide a series of opportunities to practice social engagement with your help. Start by encouraging your child to order on their own in restaurants. Continue the same tasks until the child feels comfortable doing them. Once they’re comfortable with the first task, move on to slightly more challenging tasks like small talk when purchasing groceries or waiting in line. Mastering increasingly challenging social tasks can help your child learn social skills and build self-confidence.
Consider CBT Therapy.
If your child’s symptoms are getting in the way of school, friendships, or overall happiness, CBT therapy treatment can help them learn coping skills and face their fears head-on.
Thanks to CSUCI intern Tara Meizel for researching social media and its effects on children with Social Anxiety disorder and co-authoring this article.
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.
[1] Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2019, December 21). Teens and social media use: What’s the impact? Mayo Clinic. Retrieved October 7, 2021, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/tween-and-teen-health/in-depth/teens-and-social-media-use/art-20474437.
[2] Seedat, S. (2013). Social anxiety disorder (social phobia). South African Journal of Psychiatry, 19(3), 192+. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A343258868/AONE?u=csuci&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=5e09250d
[3] Khalid-Khan, S., Santibanez, M.-P., McMicken, C., & Rynn, M. A. (2012, August 22). Social anxiety disorder in children and adolescents. Pediatric Drugs. Retrieved October 7, 2021, from https://link.springer.com/article/10.2165/00148581-200709040-00004#citeas.
[4] What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy? (2017, July). Apa.org. https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/patients-and-families/cognitive-behavioral#:~:text=What%20Is%20Cognitive%20Behavioral%20Therapy%3F%20Cognitive%20behavioral%20therapy
[5] Shabahang, R., Arguete, M. S., & Shim, H. (2021). Social media posting anxiety: Interpsonal trust, fear or negative evaluation, and hurt feeling proneness as predictors. Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods and Applications. https://doi.org/10.1027/1864-1105/a000300
Video game addiction is a growing concern among professionals, parents, and gamers themselves. As technology becomes more advanced and the games become more lifelike, the potential for children to become addicted and use video games to escape from the real world increases dramatically. In today’s GKIS article, we cover how gamers are offering a solution that is being blocked from public use. You won’t want to miss this one. If you’re concerned about the effects video games are having on your child, Dr. Bennett’s Social Media Readiness Online Course will give you the answers you are looking for!
What is Skyrim?
Skyrim is the fifth installment of the Elder Scrolls series of games. This game is considered an “Action RPG,” which is a fancy way of saying that participants spend a really long time creating and building a character who maneuvers through an almost never-ending adventure in an extremely large, detailed virtual world. The creator of Skyrim, Bethesda Game Studios, has recently been purchased by Microsoft.
Bethesda has reportedly sold over 30 million copies of Skyrim in 2021, making it one of the most successful games ever created.[1] Skyrim has a rating of “mature” and is not recommended for younger children due to the blood and gore, sexual themes, use of alcohol, and intense violence.[2] Skyrim is so captivating for some gamers that they are falling into the trap of gaming addiction.
The Negative Consequences of Gaming Addiction
Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is a mental illness that affects and alters our natural endorphins (our feel-good hormones). Endorphins are released when we do something exciting like exercise, gaming, or using addictive drugs. Also, when we get hooked on endorphins we often skip behaviors we need for healthy functioning like nutrition and rejuvenating sleep. In Dr. B’s Connected Family Online Course, she explains the huge role that sleep plays in staying healthy and happy and offers solutions. Without rejuvenating sleep, it is difficult to maintain balance and can lead to other problems.
Other negative consequences to gaming include clinically impairing:
Not only are there behavioral and psychological consequences to IGD, neuroimaging studies have found evidence of distinct neurobiological changes similar to those seen in subjects with substance addictions.[11, 12] More specifically, IGD subjects show gray and white matter atrophy (loss of tissue volume) and reduced cortical thickness in various areas of the brain as well as changes to the brain’s pleasure center – like excessive dopamine release and less dopamine receptor availability.[13, 14, 15] The patterns of brain activity while playing reflects how heavy-use players process rewards and losses differently than nonplayers, which may lead to riskier or more cautious decision-making overall.[16]
A Cool New Gamer-Created Solution to Addiction
As games get more and more addictive, gamers are starting to share their experiences and crowdsource for solutions.
Recently, gamer ThatLittleCommie created a solution to help addicted players quit Skyrim using a mod. Mods are game modifications that are created by players and offered on gaming sites for free download. Usually, mods extend the player’s experience. But NoSkyrim (the name of ThatLittleCommie’s mod) does the opposite. It makes the game unplayable so that addicted players can cut off their supply at the source. With the help of NoSkyrim, addicted players can force themselves to quit cold turkey.
Nexus Mods Banned NoSkyrim
Here’s the problem for NoSkyrim. If people stop playing addictive games, then they stop visiting mod websites. Therefore, by helping people to cure their addiction, the NoSkyrim mod is potentially affecting the website’s profit. We suspect that loss of profit is the reason that Nexus Mods, the website where players go to download mods, banned NoSkyrim.
This has not been a popular move for Nexus Mods customers. In the eyes of gamers, the website was putting money ahead of the health of their fellow gamers. This led to several petitions and Reddit forums set up to spread awareness of the dangers of video game addiction. Smaller websites have begun to make NoSkyrim available to players, but the larger websites like Nexus Mods refuse to budge.
How to Protect Your Children from Online Addiction
Leaving kids to regulate on their own is not an effective strategy in most families. Big tech’s manipulative design for devices and games makes management challenging. Here are some ways you can support your kids for healthier gaming:
Provide your kids with real-world activities to maintain an offline/online balance.
Spend more time as a family on- and offline.
Research games and online activities that your child is interested in before you allow a probationary period.
Dr. B is in a unique position to help you to learn more about the dangers that children face when engaging in online activities and to help you to navigate safely throughout your journey as a practicing psychologist, university professor, and mother. In Dr. B’s book, Screen Time in the Mean Time, she discusses and attacks the issue of video game and online addiction and gives advice on how to protect your children from all things screen-related in a productive manner. Also, you can download the free GKIS Connected Family Agreement and get weekly blog articles simply by making a GKIS account on our website home page.
Thanks to CSUCI intern, Michael Watson for researching video game addiction and the ways in which gamers are solving the problem themselves.
I’m the mom psychologist who will help you GetKidsInternetSafe.
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[2] Entertainment Software Association. (2021). Elder Scroll V: Skyrim. ESRB. https://www.esrb.org/ratings/31575/The+Elder+Scrolls+V%3A+Skyrim/
[3] Black, D., Belsare, G., & Schlosser, S. (1999). Clinical features, psychiatric comorbidity, & health-related quality of life in persons reporting compulsive computer use behavior. J Clin Psychiatry 60(12):839–844.
[4] Ha, J., Yoo, H., Cho, I., Chin, B., Shin, D., & Kim, J. (2006). Psychiatric comorbidity assessed in Korean children & adolescents who screen positive for Internet addiction. J Clin Psychiatry 67(5):821–826.
[5] Kaess, M., Durkee, T., Brunner, R., Carli, V., Parzer, P., & Wasserman, C. (2014). Pathological Internet use among European adolescents: psychopathology & self-destructive behaviours. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 23(11):1093–1102.
[6] Ko, C., Yen, J., Chen, C., Yeh, Y., & Yen, C. (2009). Predictive values of psychiatric symptoms for internet addiction in adolescents: a 2-year prospective study. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med 163(10): 937–943.
[7] Lin, I., Ko, C., Chang, Y., Liu, T., Wang, P., & Lin, H. (2014). The association between suicidality & Internet addiction & activities in Taiwanese adolescents. Compr Psychiatry 55(3): 504–510.
[8] Liu, M., Ming, Q., Yi, J., Wang, X., Yao, S. (2016). Screen time on school days & risks for psychiatric symptoms & self-harm in mainland Chinese adolescents. Frontiers In Psychology [serial online]. April 25, 2016;7Available from: PsycINFO, Ipswich, MA. Accessed June 11, 2017.
[9] Mehroof, M. & Griffiths, M.D. (2010). Online gaming addiction: the role of sensation seeking, self-control, neuroticism, aggression, state anxiety, & trait anxiety. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw 13(3): 313–316.
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[11] Fauth-Buhler, M., & Mann, K. (2017). Neurobiological Correlates of Internet Gaming Disorder: Similarities to Pathological Gambling. Addictive Behaviors, vol. 64, 349–356.
[12] Yuan, K., Qin, W., Wang, G., Zeng, F., Zhao, L., & Yang, X. (2011). Microstructure Abnormalities in Adolescents with Internet Addiction Disorder. PLoS ONE 6(6): e20708.
[13] Kim, S., Baik, S., Park, C., Kim, S., Choi, S. & Kim, S. (2011). Reduced Striatal Dopamine D2 Receptors in People with Internet Addiction. NeuroReport 22.8: 407-11. Web.
[14] Koepp, M., Gunn, R., Lawrence, A., Cunningham, V., Dagher, A., Jones, T., Brooks, D., Bench, C., & Grasby, P. (1998). Evidence for striatal dopamine release during a video game. Nature 393: 266-268.
[15] Kühn, S., Romanowski, A., Schilling, C., Lorenz, R., Mörsen, C., Seiferth, N., & Banaschewski, T. (2011). The Neural Basis of Video Gaming. Translational Psychiatry 1: e53.
[16] Dong, G. Hu, Y., & Lin, X. (2013). Reward/punishment sensitivities among internet addicts: Implications for their addictive behaviors. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry, 46, 139–145.
In a time of online learning your child’s safety is vital, and GKIS is needed more than ever. Enjoy a highlight of Dr. B’s News Reels! With over 25 years in private practice, Dr. Bennett is seeing more families in crisis due to internet safety problems. To prevent digital injury, she developed GetKidsInternetSafe.com! When it’s your kids ON-the-LINE GetKidsInternetSafe.com
A Good and Bad Influence(er)
Negative Impacts of Social Media Influencers
