The reason I decided to disseminate this booklet was something I noticed when I looked at the school scene. Online gambling problems were bothering themjust like many other teenagers. Thus the idea was born to engage, investigate and open dialogue about this reality in the classroom and at home. That was the background for starting this campaign. Marist College and Community Center Network; When Gambling Stops Being a Game is a booklet that encourages you to ask questions about the causes, consequences, impact and impact of gambling on children and young people.
This is an initiative of the Marist School Network, which has 26 institutions across the country and neighboring countries, and has launched community-wide educational materials that are available in both digital and print formats and can be requested free of charge by any school in the network.
“The specific situations we encountered in our communities and had to intervene, as well as our conversations with other educational institutions, showed us that this is a problem that we first need to know about and investigate if we want to address it,” summarizes Marcelo de Brito, Director of the Marist School Network. “We found situations in which very young children were trapped in the entire underworld of the digital gambling environment, drowning in debt and going days without food or sleep. We also found situations in which very young children were physically approached by other people they knew on the platform and began to coerce them into sending intimate photos in exchange for gambling credits or as a mechanism to settle supposedly contracted debts,” de Brito said.
From there, they decided they needed to start researching to make a proposal. deep discussion The idea is to talk about this topic from the adult world, but with the participation of children, so that they can create a safe and protected environment in the digital realm.
The first step, De Brito said, was to listen to the children’s stories. For several months, they had meetings with high school and final year primary school students, where a group of teachers tackled the topic, got to know the children’s own perspectives, and began to understand how the platform works, the logic behind it, and how it becomes a web that is easy to get into and difficult to get out of.
“There’s a logic of immediacy, a social pressure to be in a certain area, a social anxiety about not being there, and that comes from the logic of video games and that transfers into our children’s digital world. When I was a kid, when my mom called for dinner, I would pause the video game and continue. The game now doesn’t allow that. There’s no pausing, you play in teams, so the social pressure from your friends is so strong that if you pause, they kill you and the whole team loses. That kind of thing. dopamine and adrenaline Constants make the system work. When children are in a digital environment, they are playing in ways that adults are not aware of, which affects their social identity. We have to stop ignoring what’s going on there. Because that’s the first way to leave them vulnerable,” says de Brito.
Pupils from Marist School took part during the presentation of a guide on gambling addiction. streamingauthorities presented their findings and this addiction expert was also present.
“Online gambling among young people is growing day by day through the use of devices. The availability of gambling sites and the number of advertisements promoting them create exposure and easy access, and all these factors give rise to what is known as gambling addiction, or addiction characterized by the inability to resist the urge to bet. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers gambling addiction or gambling addiction to be a disease and includes “digital games” or “video games” in this matter. More and more people are gambling online. In general, this has been done discreetly and almost unnoticed, and as families, adult leaders and educators, we have no manual to know how to respond to the world of online gambling, and have approached this material presented as an approach to understanding what has since been published. Almost a year of research.
A survey of 500 children referring to this booklet and distributed by UNICEF revealed that: 8 in 10 adolescents and young adults aged 13 to 24 have gambled online in the last year. Additionally, half of those who said they had bet said they had done so to make money. And finally, 7 out of 10 people indicated that it was difficult to break the habit. According to a survey conducted by Opina Argentina this year, 16% of young people between the ages of 16 and 29 said they “regularly place bets online.” Meanwhile, 12.5% of young people aged 18 to 24 have gambled online at some point in their lives, according to a report by the Buenos Aires Ombudsman Office’s Addiction and Problematic Consumption Observatory.
“Many children who bet start betting at the age of 12, but the majority at that age already have a mobile phone with easy access to casinos and online betting venues. This beginning is associated with financial independence and the use of virtual wallets. The entry point into this activity is usually sports betting, It is very popular due to the fact that gambling houses promote soccer teams and other popular sports. nice And it’s a quick, easy, and fun way to get rich without working. “In some countries, such as Spain, advertising was regulated and restricted due to its impact on young people,” the document states.
Among other topics, the booklet also addresses the disconnect and lack of knowledge that exists in the adult world about the values at stake for children in a digital environment, as well as the crisis of fun in the new generation, the culture of immediacy, and the overvaluation of effortless money. It also discusses how adults, whether parents or teachers, can work to create a safe environment for children. Remaining outside of the children’s world is the worst option.
“What we often hear among families is the concept of raising within a tribe, or raising within a network. A group of fathers and mothers who agree with others using similar parenting guidelines so they can’t say to their children that I’m not the only one allowed to do this. These are effective and increasingly common strategies,” de Brito contributes.
This booklet teaches teenagers how to manage their personal money from an early age, guides them to ask themselves about the benefits behind the platforms, and recommends them to carry out some practical activities until they become careful and conscious about managing their digital wallets.
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