Guelph On. resident Elaine Uskoski’s journey to becoming an author, coach, and speaker on the issue of video game addiction got started on Halloween in 2014.
“ I got an SOS email from my son who was in his first semester of second year university,” Uskoski said.
“He had been backed into a corner where he hadn’t been attending classes for two months. Instead, he was up gaming for up to 16 hours a night until he would pass out and then sleep all day. He was barely eating.”
After talking on the phone, Uskoski went to pick her son up.
“When I opened the door, it was shocking, absolutely shocking sight. He’s six foot two, he dropped to 127 pounds, and he was shaking, his eyes were dilated. He had terrible facial ticks. He smelled horrific. His room smelled horrific. I think he’d been living in the same clothes already for weeks, and so it was very sad to see him in such a state.”
More than a decade later, Uskoski says her son has been able to turn things around.
“ He’s doing amazing now. He is a software engineer. He does not make games with this company – it’s a different kind of software company. And he is thriving in his career. He’s living on his own. He has not gamed, it will be eight years next month.”
Elaine Uskoski is an author, speaker, and coach who works with people experiencing video game addiction
Uskoski wrote a book about her experience as a parent with children transitioning into adulthood.
“ I found that transition really dicey, and I think a lot of parents do, and we don’t talk about it enough, just kind of asking yourself, well, who am I now? Am I parent? Am I friend? Am I advisor?” She said.
“Someone from the University of Toronto who was organizing their mental health forum that year, read the book and called and said, ‘you talk about video gaming addiction a lot in your book. No one’s really talking about this right now, and we need to someone to come and speak.'”
At the University of Toronto’s Mindfest, Uskoski made connections with people from organizations like the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. It’s led to her working as a coach helping people going through gaming addiction.
“ There are games that are more susceptible to addiction, but I think more importantly, it’s certain people are more susceptible to becoming addicted. And for me, it’s all about finding the core reason that they are driven to game in excess,” she said.
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