Teenage boys are now spending more time playing video games than they are at school, according to UK research from gambling addiction charity Ygam.

They found boys aged 15 to 17 play 34 hours a week, which is roughly five hours a day.

Psychotherapist and author Stella O’Malley said while the figures are staggering, she doesn’t find them surprising.

“I think a lot of us are aware it's happening, but when it's written down in black and white, it can feel very stark,” she told Newstalk Breakfast.

"I have a teenage boy myself and I understand the way it is insofar as they're quiet, they're upstairs, usually in their rooms, and out of harm's way, is what many parents think.

“The general formula people take is, they're home, they're safe – but life has changed.

“Actually, it's more difficult and challenging and dangerous for a child to be on their own online then it is if they were going outside.”

Boy playing video games. Image: Godong / Alamy. 10 October 2015

Ms O’Malley said that while boys may be playing games with their friends, it’s not the same as socialising in person.

“You know the difference between being on a phone call with your friends or on a Zoom or talking online compared to actually in real life,” she said.

"While they are developing some social skills, there's no doubt about it, they're definitely not developing others.

“When you meet these teenage boys, they don't have the deep friendships, they don't have the nuance and the complexities that other children their age would have had.

"Because they spent too much time online.”

'Underdeveloped'

According to Ms O’Malley, many of these boys have “underdeveloped abilities to manage complex emotional states”.

“If they were online a little bit, fine, I get it,” she said.

“I know how compelling it is; [but] it's the sheer volume, the quantity of how much they're online and how little they're meeting in real life.

“Their abilities to kind of meet people's eyes is reduced, their ability to socialize physically in real life is massively reduced.”

Main image: A young man plays in front of the television with the Playstation game console. Photo: Britta Pedersen/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa