Online Gaming Help for Teens From North Carolina

Teens from North Carolina 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 North Carolina campers who come to Camp Pocono Trails get the opportunity to learn and practice new ways of interacting and making friends.

Looking for Online Gaming Help in North Carolina?

Our program is located in the Pocono Mountains in Pennsylvania and serves teens from North Carolina, in addition to teens from across the US.  Campers typically attend our Residential Treatment Center for video game addiction for a school semester or longer. 

Our focus is to help young people learn how to live in tandem with video games, cell phones (smartphones), and other digital devices so that they can be successful with life beyond high school.  At our summer camp for video game addiction, we start out by providing a technology-free environment and slowly reintroduce campers to smartphones and the internet.  We work on social skills, academic skills, anger management, and developing structure before the technology is reintroduced.

We also provide a family component to set the child up for success.  Parents participate in family therapy sessions with your child’s assigned counselor while at Camp Pocono Trails.  We also teach parents how to best support their child at home.

Our professional staff includes therapists, teachers, and program specialists.  Based in a home-like setting, we help teenagers develop the motivation and drive to reinvent their lives and set goals for life after high school.

While not the primary focus of the program, we can teach parents how to set controls to limit game time.  Parents need to be careful to avoid a limiting-only approach. Limiting game time needs to be done in conjunction with developing the motivation to pursue other activities as well.

At our summer camps for video game addiction, we help North Carolina families prepare the home for the student’s transition back.  Ensuring your child’s success back at home and for life after their teen years is our top priority.

Who does Camp Pocono Trails help?

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

Resources

Video Game Addiction: First Steps

Many gamers that come to Camp Pocono Trails use a Steam account to manage their game settings.  Here is a comprehensive guide for parents to manage your child’s Steam account.

Steam: Setting up Family View


We encourage you to create a Steam account with your child. If there are features of Steam that you would like to exclude from the experience, you can restrict access using Family View. You may also choose to enable Family View on your own Steam account if you would rather they share your Steam Account.

https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=5149-EOPC-9918


To enable Family View:

  • Log into the Steam account your child will use.
  • Click the Steam menu in the top menu bar.
  • Open the Settings option.
  • Go to the “Family” tab on the left side of the window that opens.
  • Click œFamily View to start the Family View wizard.
  • Step through the wizard to select the content and features you™d like to be accessible while in PIN-protected Family View.
  • Select and confirm your new PIN.

With any gaming company, we recommend you check game ratings and actually have your child demonstrate the game before allowing any unsupervised play.  You can also go on Youtube to watch a game œwalk through to see how violence and adult themes are portrayed.

Online Gaming Help: Microsoft Support

Think about it- if you just limit your child’s use of technology at home, how likely will they be able to manage their use independently when they go off to college, or when they move out of the house and start their first job?  Below is a resource to help your child develop structure, but without the intrinsic motivation to change, you setting up limits alone may only go so far.

Microsoft Family: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12413/microsoft-account-what-is-family

Microsoft family is just one of the many benefits of having a Microsoft account. It™s a free service that helps families stay connected, and keep kids safer on Windows 10 and Xbox One devices, along with Android devices running Microsoft Launcher. You™ll find settings like activity reporting, screen time limits, location sharing, and content restrictions on account.microsoft.com/family, where you can also track kids™ spending and add money to their Microsoft accounts.

 

Camp Pocono Trails Helps North Carolina Families From Cities Such As:

Some examples of cities from North Carolina which may have families who could use Camp Pocono Trails: Charlotte Raleigh Greensboro Durham Winston-Salem Fayetteville Cary town Wilmington High Point Greenville Asheville Concord Gastonia Jacksonville Chapel Hill town Rocky Mount Burlington Huntersville town