In the era of information technologies, modern life is unthinkable without the Internet. At the same time, one of the problems of modern society is Internet addiction. Using digital resources, people communicate, blog, play games, watch movies, listen to music, and work. Constant stay on the Internet leads to the inability to control one's own feelings. Children who gradually lose touch with reality and immerse themselves in the virtual world are especially vulnerable to such addiction. Experts on the "Child Psychologist" portal advise how to prevent Internet addiction and how to bring a child back to reality if he has immersed himself in the computer world.

 Addiction is a compulsive need to perform certain actions, regardless of the adverse consequences. That is, the child no longer controls himself. She has an object - a computer, the Internet or a game, and she obsessively needs to come into contact with it so that it becomes good or not so bad.

 Psychologists highlight the main consequences of Internet addiction:

 • The child gradually loses the ability to communicate with real people.

 • The child's brain gets used to receiving certain stimulation from the computer, it is difficult to find analogs in the real world.

 • The child loses contact with family members and everyone with whom relations were built before the computer.

 • Physiological disorders (deterioration of vision, curvature of the spine, dysfunction of the musculoskeletal system, etc.).

 • Performance in school and other educational institutions is deteriorating.

 • There is no behavioral repertoire, the child does not have the flexibility of behavior in real life, does not know how to react and act in this or that situation.

 • Lack of knowledge about one's desires, possibilities, limitations, about one's emotional world, etc.

 Causes of Internet addiction in children:

  • The child does not feel well in the real world, because of which he chooses one of the ways to help himself, to go to another world.

  • Each time, to occupy the child or to take a break from the noise it made, she was offered a gadget.

  • When a child approached with a problem, he was either ridiculed, or scolded, or ignored, or more often took someone else's side.

  • When the child showed negative emotions (angry, annoyed, offended), he was scolded or shamed.

  • The child was not taught to fill reality with various activities and interesting processes.

  • The child is rarely praised and very often shamed, scolded, ridiculed.

  • The child was not limited in time when using gadgets.

  • The child saw how adults spend all their free time with gadgets.

  • There is an unfavorable situation in the family, parents curse each other, brothers abuse each other, there is excessive alcohol consumption, etc.

     • They do not communicate heart to heart with the child, do not establish close relationships

  • The child has no friends and familiar children, he has no one to play with in the yard, or he is abused there and has no one to turn to for help

  • The child has few opportunities to express himself or lacks real achievements

  • Perhaps the child has a very sensitive psyche and conditions were not created for him in reality to feel comfortable, as a result of which the child chooses the virtual world

  • The child has a complex about his character or body that binds him, does not allow him to be himself, then he prefers to stay at home in the computer world

 How to understand: is my child addicted?

 To understand the child's addiction to the computer, it is worth simply observing him during the day, focusing on the following aspects:

 • The child sits at the gadget for more than 3/4 hours in a row, most often without a break.

 • The child rarely goes out for a walk.

 • Friends rarely visit the child, if they do, it is to play the computer together, without it they cannot find an activity.

• If you try to separate the child with a gadget, this is accompanied by tantrums, insults, threats, screams, etc.

 • The child often prefers to play on the computer rather than going for a walk with the family or to a city event.

 • If the child is not reminded, he may forget to eat, forget about personal hygiene or go to bed late.

 • When the child is not at the computer, he becomes bored, he cannot occupy himself with anything, he becomes irritable

What should parents do if their child is addicted to the Internet, computer, or games?

 The main way: to improve the reality of the child, to ensure his return from the world of dreams and make friends with the child, establish contact.

 1. Realize and accept the fact that the child is going through a crisis and needs help

 2. To return the child to the real world, changes should be made to this world, and this requires effort and especially time.

 3. IT IS NOT POSSIBLE: abruptly and completely remove the gadget from the child's life, shout at it, scold it, scare it with consequences, beat it, lock it up somewhere, forcibly take it somewhere, forcibly take it to a psychologist or let it watch a video talking about the harmfulness of computers computer habits, etc. All this will increase the main cause of addiction: (see the paragraph on the causes of Internet addiction)

 4. Try to find the strength, time and desire to help improve the child's reality so that he has the desire to return to it

 To eliminate the causes of addiction, psychologists recommend:

 • invent various activities for the child, both at home and outside the home. Take them to different circles, to different events, to different sections, etc. Attend marathons, festivals, competitions together. Invent entertainment at home (board games, competitions, intellectual quests, heart-to-heart conversations, about dreams). Reality should be diversified. All this is done in free time from the computer, and not instead of it, so that the transition is smooth and soft, so that the child himself decides to spend more time away from gadgets.

 • praise the child more often for real achievements;

 • introduce personal time for communication with the child, early in the morning or before bedtime. At this time, ask questions and listen, evaluate less, correct, condemn;

 • when a child comes with a problem, it is useful for parents to use the following tactics: listen silently, express the child's emotions and feelings, ask what kind of help he or she wants from you.

 All this helps to build an emotional connection with the child, to let his feelings open up. She begins to feel safe and accepted. Most likely, she will again be interested in relations with her parents because they will start to bring her more often.

 It is important to be patient with this process and give the child time to return to real life. In most cases, everything turns out well if the parents realize what they are trying to achieve.