EDITORIAL – A law against gaming addiction

Gamers beware.
A bill has been filed at the House of Representatives seeking to prohibit all computer shop owners from admitting minors into their establishments within school hours.
House Bill No. 4740, to be known as the “Internet Cafe Regulation Act,” will limit children’s access to computers and other gadgets to prevent addiction and untoward incidents on popular games, such as DOTA and Counter-Strike.
These internet games or high-stakes matches abet gambling among gamers, who are usually minors. This gambling activity tends to result in violence. Likewise, due to too much computer exposure, the risk of addiction to game and other unwanted sites among children increases.
Proponents of the bill say there is “a need to recognize that computers bring entertainment through games, and children have the tendency to be easily addicted to these games as they have impressionable minds that games could be easily influenced.”
While the bill may be commendable, it offers nothing new. There had been local regulations on regulated internet use involving minors and yet it is among the most easily abused laws. internet cafés abound around school campuses around the country and their number one customers are minor students.
For good measure, internet cafés thrive because they answer to the needs of the students for research or to print documents needed in class.  On the negative side, minors succumb to addiction to internet gaming and spend time inside internet cafés instead of going to school.
A person is considered to demonstrate IAD or internet addiction disorder when he has a compulsive need to spend a great deal of time on the internet, to the point where other areas of life (such as relationships, work, or health) suffer. The person becomes dependent on using the internet and needs to spend more and more time online to achieve the same “high.”
If the bill could be made to expand its coverage not only to minors under the precept of equal protection clause, it deserves a second look. internet addiction is not just a problem among minors but also among adults alike. In several government offices, employees trawl upon Facebook and other social media sites even during office hours. In a government laced with too much red tape, internet addiction among government employees is the last thing our patience can take.
Include too, heavier penalties for government officials guilty of playing internet games or doodling on social media during office hours and using government property.
That should make the proposed internet regulation law more relevant.