The Silent Pandemic: Online Gaming Addiction, Socio-Economic Vulnerabilities, and Educational Disruption Among Rural Adolescents in Post-COVID-19 Bangladesh

Prolonged closure of educational institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic forced more than 38 million school going children in Bangladesh to undergo domestic isolations. The Bangladesh government permitted distance learning, and the Ministry of Education directed the teachers to conduct online classes. With the mandatory directive of online classes, the government instantly transformed the rural schools into online schools. Parents, especially in the villages, had to purchase smart phones and mobile internet for the first time. Although this ICT intervention helped millions of children to access formal education, it also changed the rural education system for the worst. With new technologies, unregulated contents, and the negative effect of online classes, the school going children and adolescents got access to extremely hyper-addictive online mobile games such as PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) and Free Fire (Garena). This study investigates how online classes act as a catalyst for school-related gaming addiction, and the negative consequences on children and adolescents. Drawing upon sociological frameworks and surveys, the study investigates seven interconnected vectors of social breakdown, i.e. (a) loss of time, (b) loss of money, (c) online betting, (d) illegal payment systems, (e) domestic theft, (f) vicious gangs of children, and (g) mental health and psychosocial crisis, depression and suicidal ideation. Keywords: Online Gaming Addiction, COVID-19, PUBG Mobile, Free Fire, Rural School Dropouts, Juvenile Gangs, Digital Inequality, Bangladesh.