Gaming taking toll: principal
A Southland principal says the latenight internet gaming habits of students is affecting their schooling.
His concerns have been backed up by an internet safety expert, who says parents must keep devices out of their children’s bedrooms at night.
Menzies College principal Gerry Ward spoke at assembly about his concerns around students spending too much time late into the night engaged on screens.
Many students were ‘gaming’ or being socially connected with each other to about midnight or later; and research showed late night gaming took a toll on people’s health, energy and mental abilities, he says in the school newsletter.
He was not asking the students to stop gaming – which is the term used for playing electronic games.
However, he wanted the students to monitor the hours they spent on screens at nights ‘‘and consider trying to get more sleep during school nights in order to function better in class and with others around them’’.
Internet health and wellbeing expert John Parsons said a lack of sleep was a common issue he was seeing among students in Southland primary and secondary schools.
Parsons, who works with Southland schools, said: ‘‘I am seeing kids, by 11am, unable to concentrate because they are gaming until 2am to 3am in the morning.’’
Late night gaming also affected the kinds of foods the children ate, he said.
‘‘They go towards sugar-based foods because they want an energy spike.
‘‘I am seeing it in primary school and high schools and when they have less sleep they become irritable, disengaged and emotional.’’
Parsons said children aged between 11 and 12 needed 10-12 hours sleep a night. ‘‘Parents need to keep the technology out of the bedroom so the children can get into the right sleep patterns.’’
Ward, in his school newsletter, said studies showed young people who were gaming late into the night experienced a delay in getting to sleep by up to 40 minutes, and it disrupted their sleep and resulted in a poor quality of sleep.
Gaming stimulated the brain, he said.
‘‘You may as well have a can of Red Bull ... and then try to get to sleep.’’