Many parents worry about the addictiveness of computer games, but are their fears justified?

Last month, 400 parents registered for a "problem gaming" information night at Sydney's Knox Grammar School.

The school plans to follow up that session with classes for students.

Research shows that young people are spending slightly more time online than they were five years ago.

"In 2008 young people spent 1.9 hours online and that has now shifted to 2.5 hours online per day on average," said Professor Jane Burns, the chief executive officer of the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre.

"So it is not as though we have a 24/7 connected community and young people are online all of the time.

"That said there will be a small proportion for who it is a problem and that they are online for longer than they should be. It comes back to that question of balance and what should it look like."

Military-style detox centres combat internet addiction in Asia

Increasing concern about the overuse of technology in Asia has seen parents send their teenagers to rehabilitation centres to detox.

A new documentary called Web Junkies looks at a military-style treatment centre in Beijing designed to wean teenage boys off their compulsive online behaviour.

China is one of the first countries in the world to label internet addiction a clinical disorder.

Dr Daniel Johnson, who leads the Games Research and Interaction Design Lab at the Queensland University of Technology, says there may be other reasons why young people become hooked on gaming.

"In some cases when people have problems in other areas of their life they are turning to video games in a dysfunctional way. But I think in that case, the real cause is the problems that exist in the rest of their lives and video games are more a symptom," he said.

Professor Burns agrees.

"It is highly likely that if you're experiencing depression or if you are experiencing challenges within the family that the place you might turn to is the internet," she said.

Pathological gaming is an area of concern. Video games are often blamed for violent crimes.

Research shows excessive video gaming is associated with anxiety, depression and aggression. But evidence is building that gaming might be good for people too.

Gaming can reduce stress and improve mood

Dr Johnson says there is an association between gaming and stress reduction and improved mood.

"Video games create important feelings of competence and autonomy. In some cases resilience and also relatedness. There is a lot of support for the idea that when we play with others we connect in a really meaningful way," he said.

"What you play is not that important; how much you play is less the point than who you are playing with and what you are experiencing while playing.

"So if you are playing in a really obsessive manner then it might become a problem much sooner than if you are playing in a harmonious manner."

Professor Burns says 1 to 3 per cent of young people could be defined as being addicted to the internet and most people play in an appropriate way most of the time.

"I think for any new technologies people start to ask questions about is this good, is this bad, is this going to destroy society. It is here to stay. It is parents having a conversation about getting the balance right," she said.

Dr Johnson believes parents are overly worried about how much time children spend gaming.

"I definitely think there is hysteria and a lot of the time when we talk to parents, most parents are relieved to hear that gaming can be a positive thing in their child's life," he said.

"If you are a worried parent, talk to your kids. Find out what they are playing, what their experience of playing is like, who are they playing with and how does it make them feel."

Dr Johnson says playing video games for "up to eight hours a week seems to have no problems associated with it, a little bit more seems to be OK too".

Games no more violent than other media: gamer

Dan Buckmaster, 23, is in his final year of an engineering and computer science degree at the University of Sydney.

He says he plays first-person shooter games for hours at a time.

"They are the games where you see through the eyes of a shooter and often involve shooting people," he said.

"A good session for me is maybe four or five hours. I might get to that on a weekend. These days less and less often with uni.

"Throughout high school and early uni, I was putting in up to 10 hours a week probably."

He says he is aware of the bad publicity video games get, as well as the reaction to the types of violent games he enjoys playing.

"It does not feel good to have people look at me and think: 'He is probably a bit dodgy'," he said.

Mr Buckmaster says it is unfair to generalise all games as having negative impacts.

"For a lot of people it's no problem at all," he said.

"There is plenty of violent media that exists out there and I certainly do not see video games as any more dangerous."

He says playing games has its upsides and suggests that parents talk to their children about the games they are playing.

"My mum always says I have got great hand-eye coordination," he said.

"It is not mindless. Just figure out what they are getting out of it and maybe if it is so much time they are spending on these things, why that is.

"If you are spending a lot of time online, is it making up for interactions you do not have in your actual life?"