I see this inability to engage after playing electronics often for particular students, usually boys. Watching or playing electronics (video games/ computer games/ TV ) can be very problematic for some children. It can zap the energy to engage in anything but the electronics right out of the brain. Particularly for some children, electronics early in the day seems to set them up for failure. If your child engages in 'too much gaming' please trust your gut feeling on this. If that's the case, I recommend leaving ALL electronics off until late in the day, until all other responsibilities have been completed. For some children, this modification alone can make an immense difference in their ability to comply.
These are clues that suggest to me that a child should avoid or extremely limit electronics
1. The child will choose the electronics first, maybe even exclusively, as a free choice activity.
2. Getting the child to leave the activity is very difficult.
3. The child becomes more insistent, angry or even hateful over not getting the electronics.
Here are some links on the subject.
This research documented that video games cause a lack of frontal brain use, which alters your mood.
Brain waves have been shown to be negatively affected by video games, particularly alpha and beta waves.
