Video Gaming - Is it an Addiction?
I read an article this morning in a local paper that was pretty interesting. Apparently a council of the American Medical Association wants to classify our “addiction” to video games as a psychiatric disorder. In their annual policy meeting being held in Chicago soon, some members of this association intend to show that being addicted to games is indeed a behavior that needs serious attention and therapy. They’re lobbying for it to be included in a manual published by the American Psychiatric Association.
I’m sure there are many developers and publishers who say this is ridiculous but is it really that bad for some people out there? There are numerous reports about violence and video games as well as some people’s academic performance suffering due to video games. Some teens have been sent to therapy after being “addicted” to internet games such as the ever-so-popular World of Warcraft. We all should remember the person who supposedly died while playing a video game.
It can’t be that serious for some of you out there can it? I love playing games but not to the point that I’d disregard my daughter, going outside or life in general. This is what some doctors say though…that for some kids video game addiction can be as detrimental to their health as alcohol or drugs.
I know a few people who say they’ve been “sucked into World of Warcraft” and play for hours on end. Could you be addicted and not know it? Do you know someone who is and how would you feel if it were classified as a psychiatric disorder? What say you?
June 22nd, 2007 at 2:41 pm
@DB…I found the article at QuickDFW.com (under “Biz & Work”), I think: http://www.quickdfw.com/home/biz/stories/DN-biz–videogames_22ick.ART.State.Edition1.43341dc.html
June 22nd, 2007 at 2:47 pm
yep that’s the one fizzy.
June 22nd, 2007 at 3:03 pm
By making this a condition, the medical field will invent a drug that will “help the condition” and the government can profit from it.
Just like someone said earlier, moderation is the key.
June 23rd, 2007 at 11:12 am
I just did a video for my senior project on video games and how it affects people’s lives and for the most part video game addiction didn’t affect alot of the people we interviewed. I think video game addiction can happen and can be really bad for your health, or yout thinking if you play games like WoW or just MMORPG’s in general but for the most part video games as a whole don’t really require you to play long hours like those games do.
I personally as a 18 year old, play alot of video games. 4-6 hours at least a day, but I don’t consider myself an addict, I do and can do alot of other things, its just that I am usually home. Anyways, I think video games can be bad for kids who are like under 15ish where they would rather play video games then learn anything in school and thats usually what the news targets, video games do affect kids, but so do movies, tv, advertising, peer pressure, and pretty much everything at such an influential time. For the rest of us, video games are just part of our lives.
And seriously drugs and alcohol… worse then video games?
June 23rd, 2007 at 11:14 am
My mom came and started talking about the article when she heard it on TV. She’s like “blah blah blah, BOOM HEADSHOT (gears), blah blah” - Well, that’s what i heard… lol, just kidding. But seriously, I hate all these bullshitters that criticize gaming. They never look to the positive outcome of gaming. I remember reading an article in USA Today I think about how gaming makes you a better surgeon since it strengthens your reaction time. It was also researched surgeons that were gamers made #% (can’t remember) less mistakes than non-gaming surgeons, and worked #% (can’t remember) faster in operations that most surgeons. How come stuff like this isn’t talked about?
June 23rd, 2007 at 12:39 pm
@Roger, i’d love to read that project if you have it in Word format or something.
@Mark, i agree.
June 25th, 2007 at 10:01 am
http://www.unscripted360.com/meda/shb1.mp3
it’s spreading.
June 25th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
I agree with snorkle256 it the person not the product.