Thank you to Rodale Books for this review copy! As soon as I saw this title on NetGalley, I knew it was something I needed to read. My daughter isn’t old enough for gaming to be an issue yet but technology use in her life is definitely something I worry about for the future. This was a great start into this topic for me!
About the Book
Title: How to Raise a Healthy Gamer
Author: Dr. Alok Kanojia
Genre: nonfiction
Pub Date: March 12, 2024
Add on Goodreads here.
Available to purchase on Amazon here.
Blurb
A former gamer and Harvard-trained psychiatrist offers a proven, tested plan to help parents define, set, and reinforce healthy boundaries around video games and help kids who have developed an addiction to gaming.
How much should I let them play? How do I get them to be interested in anything else?!
When it comes to family rules around video games, most parents are at a loss. After all, our technologically invasive world is something previous generations didn’t have to wrestle with, so we have no model for how to guide our families through the rapidly changing landscape, no blueprint for setting healthy gaming boundaries and keeping them in place.
A former Harvard Medical School instructor and one of the foremost experts on video game psychology, Dr. Alok Kanojia—known as “Dr. K” to his millions of followers—has firsthand knowledge of this modern issue: He needed professional help to break his own gaming habits in college, an experience that fueled his interest in learning how to help others. Drawing on Dr. K’s professional specialization in working with people of all ages and varying degrees of addiction, and the most recent research from neuroscience and psychology, How to Raise a Healthy Gamer teaches parents a new skill set for negotiating gaming culture and offers solutions rooted in the science of treating addiction, including:
• An eight-week, step-by-step road map for setting, enforcing, and troubleshooting healthy gaming boundaries.
• Advice on how to react when your child becomes irritable, rude, or seemingly directionless.
• Essential communication strategies for reaching kids who have developed a serious gaming problem.
• The neuroscientific and psychological reasons that children gravitate to video games and how to help them meet these needs in real life.
• Insights and advice on dealing with behavioral issues that often accompany game use: ADHD, spectrum disorders, and substance abuse.
Whether your goal is to prepare your child for a healthy relationship to technology or to curb unhealthy amounts of time spent gaming, How to Raise a Healthy Gamer will help you better understand, communicate with, and—ultimately—empower your gaming enthusiast to live their best life.
About the Author
Alok Kanojia, MD, MPH, also known as “Dr. K,” is a graduate of Tufts University School of Medicine and did his psychiatric residency at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and McLean Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts. A former Harvard Medical School instructor specializing in mental health for the gaming community, he is the president and cofounder of Healthy Gamer, a mental health platform that provides content, coaching, and community resources to help young people take control of their mental health and their lives. A highly sought-after speaker and media expert, he and his wife live in Texas with their two gamer daughters.
Review
I was really excited when I saw this title available for request on NetGalley. While my own child isn’t old enough for this to be a problem yet, I do have some anxiety when I think about the role technology will have in her life as she grows older. I don’t believe in total exclusion because it’s likely she will need some knowledge as an adult and not be able to control her use of it when I’m not with her either, but I also worry about the negative effects it can have on her life, especially as she grows into herself as a teenager. That’s why I want to read books about this issue here and there before she’ll be at an age where she’ll want to use it more. I’ve heard good things about Dr. K so this felt like a good place to start.
I have no significant previous knowledge about addiction, withdrawals, recovery, the effect of technology on the brain, personality, emotions, and other things addressed in this book so this is purely based on how I personally felt about the content. And that was really good. This was easy to understand, relate to, and felt very applicable to the average family. It wasn’t overly complicated in its instructions or explanations. I love that it’s based on building a relationship of trust between you and your child and that this path needs to be taken together to be healthy and productive.
This was a great first book to read on this topic and I want to get a print copy of it to save for later when my daughter is older because it also included tips on fostering a healthy relationship with technology. I’m eager to learn more and hope to find more books like this.
The Shaggy Shepherd 