Online Gaming Help for Teens From Oregon

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

Online Gaming Help for Oregon Teens

Oregon families seek our summer camp for video game addiction because of our unique ability to adapt to the academic curriculum for Oregon 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 issue. 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.

 

Who does Camp Pocono Trails help?

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

Resources

Online Gaming Help: The Basics of Safety


One important tip for video games or online digital media is to watch it or play together with your child.  Do not let your child keep their game system in their bedroom. Instead, keep your video game system in shared family spaces to stay familiar with how your children are using it. You can assist your student to make smart entertainment choices by discussing the game or media together.  One good way to start is to watch a Youtube œplaythrough video before you purchase a game.

Communicate. Make online activity a daily topic of conversation.  Ask your children questions about playing new games, meeting new people online, favorite websites and other interests. Encourage your child to ask questions, too.

Set guidelines. Determine what video gaming and online rules work best for your family, and work with your children to establish technology rules.  Examine if violence is part of the game your child wants to play. How often does violence appear? Is it rewarded in some way? It™s up to individual families to make the right choices for their child in regards to what they want their student exposed to.

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.

Camp Pocono Trails Helps Oregon Families From Cities Such As:

Some examples of cities from Oregon which may have families who could use Camp Pocono Trails: Portland Salem Eugene Gresham Hillsboro Beaverton Bend Medford Springfield Corvallis Albany Tigard