Digital addiction affected their studies and family relationships

Mohamed Zinedine Emad became aware of the negative impact excessive gaming and digital use had on his studies and relationship with his parents through counselling in an intervention programme.

- Syarafana Shafeeq

Mohamed Zinedine Emad started making friends in virtual reality at the young age of 11.

After getting his first phone in Primary 4, he was excited at the thought of constantly staying in touch with people online through apps like Discord. Faceless people on the app soon turned into friends he would text-chat with daily.

These friends would invite him to join them in playing online games. "I figured it was no harm to try, so I just joined them. I didn't think it would actually get me more hooked on the device," said Zinedine.

His daily screen time went from four to five hours in Primary 4, to between nine and 10 hours when he was in Primary 5 and 6.

As his screen time increased, he found himself neglecting his studies, no longer having time for them.

Before his screen addiction, he would consistently score between 60 and 80 marks per subject. After getting sucked into the virtual world, he barely passed. He also had to drop higher mother tongue in Primary 5 as his poor grades disqualified him from the subject.

In Primary 6, his PSLE year, his addiction got worse.

There were times when he would be on social media or online games for two days straight and avoid contact with his family. His parents are working professionals, and he has two siblings.

"I started avoiding my family just to play games and talk to my friends. I was getting more hooked every single day," he said.

"My family noticed, of course, and they tried to talk to me. I felt that maybe they were just overreacting like usual.

"I knew I had a bit of a problem but I thought it was something I could still manage well."

Zinedine would go to bed at 2am on most nights, and wake up at 6am for school. Before his addiction, he would go to bed by 9pm or 10pm.

The addiction also affected his mood. "The only times I would get angry were when my phone got taken away by my parents," he said.