A Guelph mom had a gut feeling her son was struggling and she was right: he had a video gaming addiction.
It’s been just over 10 years since the day Elaine Uskoski saw her son in the doorway of his dorm room at the University of Guelph in the midst of his addiction. She didn’t recognize him. At six foot two inches he only weighed 127 pounds, his hair was greasy, he had tremors, facial ticks and the way he smelled was distinct.
He was in the throes of a video gaming addiction. He’d be up 16 hours a night gaming and his studies went to the wayside.
Jake will be eight years sober from gaming in June and he credits his mom for helping him through it.
There were few specific resources around gaming and mental health when he needed support. He had a therapist who helped him work on his self-esteem and the core issues around his anxiety and depression.
Uskoski wants more funding for frontline healthcare workers so they have an understanding of what video game addiction is.
“I'm probably one of the few that only exclusively sees clients who are video game addicted, whereas most therapists will have an array of different things their clients are seeing them for,” said Uskoski.
She’s a clinical specialist for a gaming disorder training program, a family coach for Game Quitters (a program to help people control their gaming) and the author of Cyber Sober: A Caregiver’s Guide to Video Gaming Addiction.
Her years of work in video gaming addiction is being acknowledged after she was selected as a finalist for the 2025 Women Changing the World Awards. Women around the world are nominated for the awards that aim to recognize the work of women in business, sustainability, leadership, health, education, product development, innovation and technology.
She burst into tears when she found out she made the cut because she felt validated for her time spent bringing awareness to video gaming addiction.
The biggest misconception is video gaming addiction isn’t an addiction, Uskoski said. It’s different from substance use disorders. It is a behavioural addiction like a food or sex addiction.
People who struggle with it don’t give it up completely. “We build a life and activities outside of the gaming that become more meaningful then the gaming just becomes a backseat recreational activity,” said Uskoski.
Generally people with this addiction are men ages 18 to 25. Some of the symptoms are loss of interests, jeopardizing relationships, using video games to escape, deceiving family members or having meltdowns if they can’t play video games.
Her advice to families is to keep gaming in a supervised location and not allow gaming systems in bedrooms.
“Bedrooms are a place of rest and when you're on a game for hours in your bedroom and it's highly stimulating, that's not helping your body get ready for rest,” she said.
It’s important to pay attention to children’s emotional health because gaming can be used as a coping mechanism if they’re feeling anxious or being bullied at school.
When it comes to esports people think they have to game as much as they can to get good enough to compete. With sports like hockey, athletes don't have a 12 hour practice.
She spoke at the World Esports Summit a couple years ago where she talked about setting parameters to protect children’s physical and mental health. Now there are fitness breaks and time limits at esports tournaments.
Games pull gamers in with rewards to keep them playing. She wants video game developers to take more responsibility because the games they create are addictive. Less rewards and less in-game purchases to help players level-up is what she’d like to see. She wants more games with beginnings and endings to limit play time.
She remembers when her son was going through it she told him "you can hate me for the rest of your life but I'm not going to stop saving you from yourself. Hand me over the laptop."
He doesn't hate her. He graduated university, has a full-time job and speaks alongside his mom at mental health forums.