I'm absolutely terrified at the moment when my 3 year old son will get his hands on video games. So far we encourage outdoor play, playing with physical toys and very little screen time, etc. At some point some clash emerge (my son has a stubborn facet), a parent can guide only so much, kids do have to gain little autonomy at some point or at least prove it to themselves they do take some decisions. The problem is that lots of new games enforce really bad habits and any child can become a causality to dynamic. I will try to postpone that moment as much as possible and curate the content as to mitigate the problem. I remember when I got my first computer I was so fascinated by it that nothing my parents would say would stick but I got lucky, I got bored of games rather quickly and became interested in making them myself and that opened the gate to programming. The computer community seemed to be a lot more benevolent back then, now..

Also, way more kids got devices for playing games today than before, and them carrying it at all times is new. Being connected to the internet 24/7 is new too.

Yes, this speaks to why I am rejecting the idea that the kids addicted to gaming just happen to be broken in a neurochemical way.

Something else is going on. There is a positive feedback loop of some kind, and it seems apparent if you follow the money.