Video Game Addiction

[Wolf Kanno]

Discuss (http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20090420/hl_hsn/almost1in10youngvideogameusersaddicted)

[Depression Moon]

I read the thing and it looks like they ignored a lot of outside influences that could cause these problems.

Take me for instance. I had troubles with grades during my late middle school and early high school years, but there are some other things besides video games that are taken into account. One thing I did was blame my failures on others and made damn excuses for myself. I had trouble paying attention too and I just happen to be a gamer, but I'm not addicted. I also had my fair share of fights, but that's most likely to come from the way others had treated me and because the school I been too had a high number of student violence. I don't believe my ADD exists because I play video games, because you need an attention span to play them, another psychiatrist that was in PSM or Game Informer showed differentiating attention spans between certain people that play video games.

I think the 1 in 10 is extremely high. If it's like that then a lot of people in America are F*ed up.


She also questioned whether kids as young as 8 can accurately complete a self-administered questionnaire.

I also definitely agree with this. My younger brother can barely answer the questions I give him, so think how the answers would be from a survey from some doctor.

This is just another old white guy trying to blame youth problems and violence on video games.

[Bolivar]

^ Yeah, anytime you have a study with kids, and ESPECIALLY with video games, the data is probably going to be meaningless.

Most of all, "addiction" has been such a buzzword its become almost a popular fad. You have to keep in mind firstly that nearly all "addictions" are human constructs; very few, such as cocaine or alcohol addictions have severe and noticeable physical symptoms that you can clearly identify.

I think if a kid is playing tons of video games and its taking time away from social interactions and schoolwork, then there's something else that's the problem here. I know growing up I had strained relationships all kinds of people at home, at school, kids and adults, and I played a lot of video games because it was something I really enjoyed and I could just zone out with, just me and the game.

[McLovin']

Video games don't envoke violence at all. If someone does violence from a game then there is something psychology WRONG with that person. The game only revealed that.

[KentaRawr!]

Unless I missed it, the article didn't say anything about violence.

Personally, I think that labeling something with a word so subjectively objective like "addictive" will mainly serve to give youths more excuses to make for their own mistakes and change them into misfortunes upon themselves. At least, I can imagine a few people I know doing something along those lines. >_>

[Depression Moon]

And they were more likely (24 percent vs. 12 percent) to report having been involved in physical fights in the past year.

[KentaRawr!]

And they were more likely (24 percent vs. 12 percent) to report having been involved in physical fights in the past year.

Whoops. :(

[Tavrobel]

One of the sample questions they gave seemed to give off the idea that the questions being asked were very broad, and that even a small amount of interpretation would give too many positive responses to get to a point where video-gaming could actually be a problem. It's more like people are just being lumped in, without qualifying the degree of damaging gaming.


Have you ever played [video games] as a way of escaping from problems or bad feelings?

Yeah, if by that you mean in the same way I talk to my friends about how much Wizpig is pissing me off.

People have already said it, but surveying kids isn't exactly the way to go about this. I do recognize that video gaming, just like anything else, can be abusive in large quantities (what isn't?), and until there are more studies with more specific criteria, people are just going to keep getting needlessly pissy about it.

[Iceglow]

Are computer games addictive? Yes, to those with addictive personalities they can be. However like all things in this world addiction comes from the person not the product. There are very few people out there, but people out there all the same who could inject heroin daily then quit cold turkey because they don't want to do it anymore. They're an abuser but not addicted to it. Same as people like myself who can smoke if we choose to or not it doesn't physically bother me either way. Gaming addiction is like that too. I can easily not play any computer games for several weeks the difference is I play them because I get bored otherwise but I don't NEED to play games and that is the difference between a concious choice to play computer games because they're cool/fun and a need to play games regardless.

[strawberryman]

I think the 1 in 10 is extremely high. If it's like that then a lot of people in America are F*ed up.

You don't need to have read this article to know this as truth.

But seriously, I'm with the camp that young kids are bad sources for these kind of surveys and that addiction depends on the person.

[Skyblade]

And they were more likely (24 percent vs. 12 percent) to report having been involved in physical fights in the past year.

Notice the use of the word "reported". It doesn't make any claims that they are actually involved in more violent incidents, just that they "report" more. I certainly reported more than most of the kids in my class, despite being involved in fewer fights, because I didn't start or enjoy the fighting. How do they know that the kids aren't just being picked on more since they are nerds who play video games all the time.

[sdm42393]

"Have you every played [video games] as a way of escaping from problems or bad feelings?"

I don't see how that question is realevant. Many people do many different things to escape/forget about their problems for awhile (books, movies, televison, misc. hobbies), it doesn't mean they're addicted (they can be, but it doesn't mean they are).


^ Yeah, anytime you have a study with kids, and ESPECIALLY with video games, the data is probably going to be meaningless.

Most of all, "addiction" has been such a buzzword its become almost a popular fad. You have to keep in mind firstly that nearly all "addictions" are human constructs; very few, such as cocaine or alcohol addictions have severe and noticeable physical symptoms that you can clearly identify.

I think if a kid is playing tons of video games and its taking time away from social interactions and schoolwork, then there's something else that's the problem here. I know growing up I had strained relationships all kinds of people at home, at school, kids and adults, and I played a lot of video games because it was something I really enjoyed and I could just zone out with, just me and the game.

^ And pretty much this.