Parents must keep eye on what kind of gaming their kids are into: Shrinks

Following the death of 12-year-old Nishant Salvi under mysterious circumstances, his friends pointed out that Nishant was extremely fond of computer gaming.

Experts say that the possibility of imitating a stunt from his favourite video game leading to the death cannot be ruled out. Children who are hooked to virtual games can be termed to be having an Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) wherein they absolutely cannot do without their gaming pieces of technology.

"Kids can turn out to be extremely aggressive due to extended play time spent on video and computer games. They tend to misinterpret reality and some who lack self-esteem dream of becoming kings or super heroes in their fantasy world," said clinical psychologist Seema Hingorrany. "It is extremely important in these times that the parents monitor what their children are playing on their X Boxes and play stations. It is not fair that parents turn a blind eye towards their child's activities."

Psychiatrists say that it has been common phenomena in the past that imitating stunts appearing in advertisements of soft drinks brands, movies such as Superman or Spiderman and fantasy TV serials like Shaktimaan has rung a death knell for kids. "Such incidents have been very common in the past. However, here the family of the kid has stated that he had high fever and accidentally fell off the balcony. It will be unfair to speculate if the deceased purposefully jumped off imitating a superhero unless the police find enough evidence to support the claim," said Dr Harish Shetty, a leading Mumbai-based psychiatrist.