If there's one issue Dr. Ken Marek hears more about from parents, it's video games.

It becomes a bone of contention for them, he says, as tearing their child away from the screen becomes a power struggle.

"Parents always have concerns about that, and I have concerns about how much time is spent playing them," said Marek, a child psychologist in Barrie.

"You're essentially just sitting there, staring at the screen and other aspects of your brain aren't being exercised. A child could be great at these games, but can't handle doing fractions in math."

What worries Marek most about these games is how they warp a child or teen's sense of reality.

"The real danger of playing video games is when the child isn't able to differentiate reality from fantasy," he said. "They get trapped in mindset that what characters do is fun and OK so it must be the same for us in real life.

"Parents need to limit the amount of time their children spend playing video games and watching television," he added.

Video games fuelled an argument between 15-year-old Brandon Crisp and his parents last week.

When the Barrie teen's gaming privileges were suspended, he left home Oct. 13 and was reported missing the next morning.

His parents say Brandon is an avid gamer, and his favourite is Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.

The game is a first-person shooter video game published by Activision for the PlayStation 3, Windows and the Xbox 360 systems.

It's rated mature and can only be sold to people age 17 and older. It's centred around a fictional conflict involving the United States, the United Kingdom and Russia and features team and death match-based multiplayer modes and an online multiplayer mode.

Game designers spoke to United States Marines and veterans to make the game more realistic.

Enough to convince young players that war is all fun and games, and make violence seem common place, Marek said.

"Society still says it's OK for children to watch these kids of things," Marek said.

"But exposure heightens their tolerance to violence and they're being desensitized to seeing it."

Another concern of Marek's is the effect video games have on a young person's ability to function in the real world.

"There's always a risk of copycats who learn from TV or from games," he said.

Contact the writer at ncruickshank@thebarrieexaminer.com