Gone are the days when kids played games where they needed to physically interact and socialize with each other. With the invention of video games and the increase in popularity of online gaming and video gaming, the children of today's generation spend more and more time in front of the computer than outdoors. Due to the easy accessibility of the Internet and the availability of gaming consoles in almost every household, video gaming has become more than a pastime – it is now a major part of their lives. The problem is that video games can be addicting and not just in the casual sense. Video game addiction is a serious condition wherein an individual fails to sleep, eat or indulge in normal, day-to-day activities to spend time in front of the computer screen.

As proof of the general population's addiction to video games, the sales of video game consoles, software and hardware in March of this year in the United States has reached $1.7 billion dollars. In the same vein, the gaming industry has grown to become a multi-billion dollar industry precisely because of the addicting nature of video games. Although almost 90% of the population in Canada is playing video games, about 5% to 15% are considered to have a video addiction problem. With these figures and with the easy accessibility of the Internet and video game consoles, it is quite easy for anybody to fall into an addictive pattern – so parents who allow their children to play video games freely should exert more effort into controlling their playing time before the habit falls into addictive patterns.