Five hours is the time that Billal Kaara spent in front of the screens every day playing video games. Today, he becomes more aware of this abuse and uses it to alert the youngest.
It started after the divorce of his parents and it ends years later when he realized that he has missed his youth: “I played at least two hours before going to school, and as soon as I got home, I spent about three or four hours after.
Today, it’s hard to imagine that he was once a child: him, the little bruised boy who saw his parents torn up too early, the reclusive teenager who found refuge in the privacy of his room: “I was playing video games to avoid thinking about that”.
His studies were not easy, his schooling either. Locked up at home, he was gaining weight, which is why he has to shut himself up even more. In college, he was often alone, he felt misunderstood: “I had no real friends, just acquaintances.” The faint smile he evoked at the mention of this period contrasts with the deeper discomfort that follows. The young man was called “Dirty geek” in the playground. It was stuck to his skin, so much so that he ended up delighting: “The more people told me about it, the more I locked myself in. I did not want to go to others. Even at home, Billal feels out of place: “There was only my mother to defend me. My uncle, my brother, did nothing. ”
A turning point
It was a phone call that rocked his life. “I do not know what to do to save him” he surprised his mother confides to his longtime friend. “Save”, the word is so strong. He hears it resonate in his skull as if forever, this simple sentence had sealed his fate. He wanted to change. Joysticks and console carefully stored in the wardrobe, he bought his first pair of crampons. “I lost weight, I expanded my circle of friends.” he rejoices. But he strangely discovered his weird passion at school. ” The college organized a year-end concert when I was in the last year of my college, that’s when I discovered the real music and fell in love with the guitar ». An event that marked his passage to adulthood as he has passed his baccalaureate in a double musical course.
A radical change of life
It took time to do without screens but especially to build a new life. “It was pretty hard at the beginning, I started by reducing my playing time and then gradually, I finally stopped,” he says. During his stay at Quantum NJ outpatient rehab to get rid of his addiction that lasted several months and from which emerged a new man, open to meetings, life, and love. It is at this moment that he has met his girlfriend, through music. His experience as an ex-addict helps him hone his teaching skills. Billal, a student in communication, had an internship that made him joined the association G-Addiction. The young man multiplies the awareness-raising interventions with teenagers and warns them about the different addictions: video games, tobacco or alcohol. He decided to invest himself in this organization in which he can recognize himself. In a calm voice, he explains why he is so passionate about helping others: “When I intervene in school, I tell about what I lived and it’s easier for me to understand. I know how to talk to young people who are addicted because I know what it’s like to live with such an addiction”. His weakness in the past is his strength today. Shyness, fear of others, over-use of screens: he knows all the vices. For him, creating a bond between the two parties is already solving a part of the problem: “I try to be kind to them if I can help them to not reproduce the same mistakes as me. ”
Redefining the future
In the future, he wants to change attitudes and prevent the youth from falling into addiction. This is also what decided his career plan. The event or, according to him, the means of reconciling generation with the outside world. As for video games, his former demons, he tries to alarm about their misuse: “Up to two hours of play, the risk of addiction is low, but the barrier is easy to cross. The young man explains that despite problems they engender, video games still have some benefits: “It allowed me to work my imagination at least,” he taunts.
