Video Game Addiction
While most people associate addiction with substances, such as drugs or alcohol, doctors recognize addictive behaviors as well. In a WebMD feature on the definition of addiction, psychiatrist Michael Brody, MD, set forth the following criteria:
Anyone who has experienced it knows all too well – video game addiction is real. Although gaming addiction is not yet officially recognized as a diagnosable disorder by the American Medical Association, there is increasing evidence that people of all ages, especially teens and pre-teens, are facing very real, sometimes severe consequences associated with compulsive use of video and computer games. Video games are becoming increasingly complex, detailed, and compelling to a growing international audience of players. With better graphics, more realistic characters, and greater strategic challenges, it’s not surprising that some teens would rather play the latest video game than hang out with friends, play sports, or even watch television.
Of course, all gamers are not addicts – many teens can play video games a few hours a week, successfully balancing school activities, grades, friends, and family obligations. But for some, gaming has become an uncontrollable compulsion. Studies estimate that 10 percent to 15 percent of gamers exhibit signs that meet the World Health Organization’s criteria for addiction. Just like gambling and other compulsive behaviors, teens can become so enthralled in the fantasy world of gaming that they neglect their family, friends, work, and school.
If you or a loved one shows signs of computer or video game addiction, this website is for you. Here, you will find up-to-date information and resources that will help you assess whether gaming has gone from an entertaining pastime to a full-blown obsession. From signs and symptoms to advice for parents and treatment options, this site offers advice and solutions to help bring compulsive gamers back to real life.
Anyone who has experienced it knows all too well – video game addiction is real. Although gaming addiction is not yet officially recognized as a diagnosable disorder by the American Medical Association, there is increasing evidence that people of all ages, especially teens and pre-teens, are facing very real, sometimes severe consequences associated with compulsive use of video and computer games. Video games are becoming increasingly complex, detailed, and compelling to a growing international audience of players. With better graphics, more realistic characters, and greater strategic challenges, it’s not surprising that some teens would rather play the latest video game than hang out with friends, play sports, or even watch television.
Of course, all gamers are not addicts – many teens can play video games a few hours a week, successfully balancing school activities, grades, friends, and family obligations. But for some, gaming has become an uncontrollable compulsion. Studies estimate that 10 percent to 15 percent of gamers exhibit signs that meet the World Health Organization’s criteria for addiction. Just like gambling and other compulsive behaviors, teens can become so enthralled in the fantasy world of gaming that they neglect their family, friends, work, and school.
If you or a loved one shows signs of computer or video game addiction, this website is for you. Here, you will find up-to-date information and resources that will help you assess whether gaming has gone from an entertaining pastime to a full-blown obsession. From signs and symptoms to advice for parents and treatment options, this site offers advice and solutions to help bring compulsive gamers back to real life.
"Why are most children addicted to Video Games"?
1. Boredom
This is a huge factor. If you do not have a plan to keep your kids active during their free time, video games can easily consume countless hours of their attention. It is almost human nature to default to the least challenging functions in life. For example, reading a book requires focus, and patience- it forces you outside of your perspective and way of thinking and introduces new possibilities. Playing video games does little, if any, of this. It is quite feasible to spend entire days and nights playing without experiencing a single thought- provoking process.
2. Escape
Living in a synthetic cyber world allows oneself to ignore the worries and responsibilities of real life. It encourages you to be content with whatever state your current affairs might be in. While I agree that stress-relieving activities can be helpful, especially after a long day at school or work, there is an extreme danger in spending too much time on them. For myself, this meant feeling okay about my lack of direction, my loss of desire for a career, my single status, etc. Arriving at this point in life is a very treacherous position to be in, and it becomes more and more difficult to reverse the process the longer it is allowed to continue.
3. Entertainment
This is especially common in today's youth. Kids are raised to believe they deserve constant entertainment. Young children sit in front of movies and are given noise-making toys from an early age. Even schools are becoming more and more entertainment based, with lessons being given via videos and computers. Students are encouraged to watch movies for "research" purposes, instead of the "old fashioned" methods (reading!). Those same students come home, and what do they do? Turn on the television until dinner time- only to eat their meal in the same place because a large number of families have accepted eating meals in front of the television as normal. It's no wonder so many people turn to video games.
4. Self-Esteem
This can be especially enticing for the online gamer. When I played my online game, I had my character built up to the point where other players thought very highly of me. I was constantly complimented for my accomplishments, and not a day went by when I wasn't asked, even begged, to play with another player on his team (the competitive side of the game). I became known as an extremely good gamer, which really fed my ego and made me feel like a "somebody". The problem is, it was never enough; I would sit around for hours waiting for less-accomplished players to take notice of me. When thinking about trying for a specific achievement, my motivation was almost always: "People would really think I'm an incredible player if I succeed at this." Usually, I was right- they did think that, but I still couldn't escape the sinking feeling that none of this is real. Instead of feeling confident in myself because of my uniqueness and different strengths and abilities as a human being, I was deriving a poor imitation from people I would never meet or even know their real name for that matter.
5. "Social" Interaction
In my 3 years of online gaming, I came across many people who admitted to me their fear of real social interaction. The amazing thing was, they appeared to be very outgoing and accessible to other players. This seems to be a common scenario for those who feel they are unattractive and awkward in person, but believe they can gain the attention and approval of others by portraying a false image of themselves through their online world. After all, having "friends" online is better than having none, right? Don't get the wrong impression, there is nothing inherently harmful about interacting with people through the internet. The real danger comes when an individual begins to accept and even prefer it over in-person relationships, even to the extent of excluding them altogether.
6. Romance
Believe it or not, a large number of online players are looking for love- in all the wrong places. Now, I am not against meeting someone online if the end goal is to be with that person in real life, but this is not the case with the majority of gamers. Many are content to simply interact with their "special someone" over the internet, all while keeping them at a safe distance and retaining their anonymity. What is worse is the fact that people already in relationships (even marriages with families) are falling prey to this form of e-romance, and the results are almost always devastating.
This is a huge factor. If you do not have a plan to keep your kids active during their free time, video games can easily consume countless hours of their attention. It is almost human nature to default to the least challenging functions in life. For example, reading a book requires focus, and patience- it forces you outside of your perspective and way of thinking and introduces new possibilities. Playing video games does little, if any, of this. It is quite feasible to spend entire days and nights playing without experiencing a single thought- provoking process.
2. Escape
Living in a synthetic cyber world allows oneself to ignore the worries and responsibilities of real life. It encourages you to be content with whatever state your current affairs might be in. While I agree that stress-relieving activities can be helpful, especially after a long day at school or work, there is an extreme danger in spending too much time on them. For myself, this meant feeling okay about my lack of direction, my loss of desire for a career, my single status, etc. Arriving at this point in life is a very treacherous position to be in, and it becomes more and more difficult to reverse the process the longer it is allowed to continue.
3. Entertainment
This is especially common in today's youth. Kids are raised to believe they deserve constant entertainment. Young children sit in front of movies and are given noise-making toys from an early age. Even schools are becoming more and more entertainment based, with lessons being given via videos and computers. Students are encouraged to watch movies for "research" purposes, instead of the "old fashioned" methods (reading!). Those same students come home, and what do they do? Turn on the television until dinner time- only to eat their meal in the same place because a large number of families have accepted eating meals in front of the television as normal. It's no wonder so many people turn to video games.
4. Self-Esteem
This can be especially enticing for the online gamer. When I played my online game, I had my character built up to the point where other players thought very highly of me. I was constantly complimented for my accomplishments, and not a day went by when I wasn't asked, even begged, to play with another player on his team (the competitive side of the game). I became known as an extremely good gamer, which really fed my ego and made me feel like a "somebody". The problem is, it was never enough; I would sit around for hours waiting for less-accomplished players to take notice of me. When thinking about trying for a specific achievement, my motivation was almost always: "People would really think I'm an incredible player if I succeed at this." Usually, I was right- they did think that, but I still couldn't escape the sinking feeling that none of this is real. Instead of feeling confident in myself because of my uniqueness and different strengths and abilities as a human being, I was deriving a poor imitation from people I would never meet or even know their real name for that matter.
5. "Social" Interaction
In my 3 years of online gaming, I came across many people who admitted to me their fear of real social interaction. The amazing thing was, they appeared to be very outgoing and accessible to other players. This seems to be a common scenario for those who feel they are unattractive and awkward in person, but believe they can gain the attention and approval of others by portraying a false image of themselves through their online world. After all, having "friends" online is better than having none, right? Don't get the wrong impression, there is nothing inherently harmful about interacting with people through the internet. The real danger comes when an individual begins to accept and even prefer it over in-person relationships, even to the extent of excluding them altogether.
6. Romance
Believe it or not, a large number of online players are looking for love- in all the wrong places. Now, I am not against meeting someone online if the end goal is to be with that person in real life, but this is not the case with the majority of gamers. Many are content to simply interact with their "special someone" over the internet, all while keeping them at a safe distance and retaining their anonymity. What is worse is the fact that people already in relationships (even marriages with families) are falling prey to this form of e-romance, and the results are almost always devastating.
"Symptoms of Game Addiction"
"How to prevent Game Addiction"
- Admit you have a problem- As cliche or cheesy as it may sound, the first step to recovery is to admit to yourself and others that you have a problem. Use the beginning sentence of this article as a starter.
- Identify the problem Is it a particular game that you’re addicted to? Is it a genre of games? Be sure to find out exactly what it is that you’re addicted to.
- Identify the triggers Triggers are mental and physical cues that cause you to want to indulge in your addiction, namely play games. Try and figure out what kind of things makes you want to play video games. Maybe its a particular website that you go to online that starts your video gaming frenzy. Maybe it’s being around certain people that make you crave a game or two. Do your best to figure out what kind of triggers make you want to play games.
- Plan out your recovery Quitting video games cold turkey might seem like the best way to stop your addiction, but in reality, most people fail trying to quit completely. Your best plan would be to gradually wean yourself away from video games. Make yourself an ending date of when you want to be completely free from video games. Then, create steps to that ending date, with mini-goals that you want to achieve. For example, instead of playing for 20+ hours a week, try cutting it down to 18+ hours a week, and so on. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t reach your goals! Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your addiction won’t go away overnight.
- Carry out your plan Start working on executing your plan. If you find out that your plan is too hard, then ease it up a bit. If you discover that your ending date happens to be the release date of Starcraft 2, postpone your ending date so you can indulge instead of potentially becoming an addict again. Whatever you do, be flexible with your options, but stick to your plan at all costs.