Online Gaming Help for Teens From Indiana

Online Gaming Help for Indiana Teens

Indiana families seek our summer camp for video game addiction because of our unique ability to adapt to the academic curriculum for Indiana campers.  Our residential video game addiction help center helps campers develop the internal drive and motivation to focus on academics- not the latest video game. 

At the core of our summer camp is the belief that help should not be punitive.  We take a natural approach, reconnecting teens with nature, friends, and themselves over time. Video game addiction help is not a simple as taking away the student’s video game system.  Screens are everywhere, and teens have become very sophisticated at bypassing

One thing we hear a lot at Camp Pocono Trails is a child’s belief that, “All my friends are online, so if you take this away from me, I would be all alone.”  Video game addiction help is not an all-or-nothing ssue. At Camp Pocono Trails, we take a harm reduction approach. This means educating the student on the harmful effects of certain online activities including:

  • Online pornography
  • Video game violence
  • How violence is portrayed in certain games
  • How gender roles are portrayed in certain games
  • How playing games without set boundaries can interfere with academics, social practice, or achieving your life goals

Using a harm reduction approach, Camp Pocono Trails campers become enlightened as to the habit-forming qualities of video games and social media, in addition to how exposure to different types of online media can change your perceptions of violence or gender roles.

Components of Online Gaming Help

Teens at Camp Pocono Trails receive individual and group therapy for video game addiction and internet overuse habits. We have licensed therapists helping teens develop insight and commit to new routines in life.

We also have family therapy sessions where we help parents best support their teen upon their transition home from Camp Pocono Trails.  We discuss in family sessions how parents can reinforce positive feelings when a child sticks to their behavioral contract and we also encourage parents to reinforce negative feelings when the child fails to live up to behavioral expectations.

At Camp Pocono Trails, we focus on meeting each student’s individual needs. We use Maslow™s Hierarchy of Needs as a phase progression model. According to Maslow, humans need to feel a sense of belonging and acceptance among social groups, regardless of whether these groups are large or small. For example, some large social groups may include clubs, co-workers, religious groups, professional organizations, sports teams, gangs, and online communities. Some examples of small social connections include family members, intimate partners, mentors, colleagues, and confidants.

Humans need to love and be loved by others.  Many people become susceptible to loneliness, social anxiety, and clinical depression in the absence of this love or belonging element. This need for belonging may overcome the physiological and security needs, depending on the strength of the peer pressure.

By creating a positive peer environment, your teen to connect with others in a face-to-face setting- without the use of screens.

 

Teens from Indiana Have Been Found to Suffer Depression Due to Screen Addiction

Residential help centers for video game addiction have to address underlying issues as well.  At our Pennsylvania based facility, we focus on helping teens reinvent themselves and find positive goals.  Issues such as peer pressure, academic expectations and changing bodies can bring a lot of ups and downs for teens. But for some teens, the lows are harder to pull out of. 

Teen depression can have serious consequences. For most teens, depression symptoms ease with help such as medication and psychological counseling. Research has consistently shown that all screen activities are linked to less happiness, and all non-screen activities are linked to more happiness. Eighth-graders who spend 10 or more hours a week on social media are 56 percent more likely to say they’re unhappy than those who devote less time to social media. Campers who spend six to nine hours a week on social media are still 47 percent more likely to say they are unhappy than those who use social media even less.

The opposite is true of in-person interactions. Those who spend an above-average amount of time with their friends in person are 20 percent less likely to say they’re unhappy than those who hang out for a below-average amount of time.  The number of teens who get together with their friends nearly every day dropped by more than 40 percent from 2000 to 2015; the decline has been especially steep recently.

Our summer camp for video game addiction will help your teen learn healthy new routines- and we will help them transfer these skills back home by preparing them for success.  Socialization practice and time management are key components of the program. All Indiana campers who come to Camp Pocono Trails get the opportunity to learn and practice new ways of interacting and making friends.

Who does Camp Pocono Trails help?

Camp Pocono Trails helps teens struggling with issues similar to those below:
– Poor Communication Skills
– Video game addiction
– Low Self Esteem
– Social isolation
– ADHD
– Social Anxiety Disorder
– School Refusal
– Social Issues
– Addictive Behaviors
– Family Conflict
– Trauma
– Impulse Control
– Anxiety
– Autism Spectrum
– Technology Addiction
– Depression

Resources

Smartphone and Tablet Resources for Video Game Addiction

Kids are becoming increasingly tech savvy these days.  It™s hard for us as parents to keep up. At Camp Pocono Trails we’ve hear it all – campers bypassing routers, logging on to friend™s routers next door, creating proxies, you name it and we’ve heard it!

Here are some resources specifically for smartphones and tablets.  These devices are especially problematic for parents because they are portable and you can™t just block them through your router if your child is connecting at school or a friend™s house:


Android Devices: https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/how-to/google-android/android-parental-controls-3461359/


Apple Products: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201304


Google Play Store: https://support.google.com/googleplay/answer/1075738?hl=en

Online Gaming Help: Know Your ESBR Ratings

http://www.esrb.org/

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is the non-profit, self-regulatory body that assigns ratings for video games and apps so parents can make informed choices. The ESRB rating system encompasses guidance about age-appropriateness, content, and interactive elements.

As part of its self-regulatory role for the video game industry, the ESRB also enforces industry-adopted advertising guidelines and helps ensure responsible web and mobile privacy practices under its Privacy Certified program. ESRB was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA).

Camp Pocono Trails helps families from Indiana

Camp Pocono Trails helps Indiana families from cities and towns like Meridian Hills Long Beach Zionsville Carmel Ogden Dunes Saint John Floyds Knobs Munster Fishers Granger