Missing The Important Question About Video Game Addiction
from the is-it-harmful? dept
In the past, we've made fun of the speed at which people love to pull out the "a" word: addict. Lots of people pick up on any activity that people do frequently and immediately label it as "addictive" as if that's a bad thing. The latest is a new study that suggests video games meet the criteria for addiction. Whether or not that's true is a separate question, but the problem with the article (and many other articles on other types of addictions) is that it doesn't focus on the real issue. If the addiction is really there: is it harmful? That may be an open question, but it's the important one. Instead, by throwing out the "addict" word, people try to imply that it is harmful without actually proving it.![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
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Addition is not necessarily bad in all cases . . .
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Re: Addition is not necessarily bad in all cases .
Another doctor [a friend, not one treating me] explained it this way: addiction isn't a problem until you can't get what you're addicted to anymore.
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Re: Addition is not necessarily bad in all cases .
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Re: Addition is not necessarily bad in all cases .
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I think...
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addiction
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Towing the Industry Line
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Re: Towing the Industry Line
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Re: Towing the Industry Line
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Who's missing the question?
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denial
When you abuse something to escape from reality with the result that your life suffers, and ceasing to abuse that thing brings about withdrawl problems, physical or psychological - then you are addicted in the traditional sense.
The withdrawl part of the equation hits harder and faster with drugs or alcahol or cigs with alter your bodies chemistry.
but psycological withdrawl can be as serious and can happen with anything which limits a person's contact with some part of their life they dont want to deal with. eg. work, gambling, tv, internet... and gaming. they all help a person escape life, or a part of it (low self-esteem, relationship problems, family problems...)
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Re: denial
"The keenest sorrow is to recognize ourselves as the sole cause of all our adversities."-
Sophocles (496 BC - 406 BC)
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Re: denial
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Re: denial
Jason - Congrats on your recovery! Interresting point of view.
I hope you didnt get the notion that I was in any way blaming the "evil video games" though, in fact I was trying to say the opposite... people can selfeshly indulge / hide away in many addictions to almost anything from class-a drugs to fantasy novels, shopping, work, tv, porn, self harm, eating, exercise...
should we really ban beer? should we ban gambling? I love playing games when i get the time (which isnt often - couple of hours a week if im lucky), once a year i go to the horse races and give a few euros to the bookies. And i love nothing better than a few pints of guinness with my friends on the weekend. so people complaining about these things and trying to legislate my access to them as far as i am concerned are infringing on my civil liberties.
I guess what Im saying is that the problem isnt the "things", its the abuse of them. the problem is the people.
i will say something though. hard drugs are different. they alter the bodies chemical balance and create a physical dependancy. the weakness there is release and physical gratification. not the same as avoiding life through indulgance. i guess motivations can vary.
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Re: denial
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Perhaps...
When Shakespeare (apparently) first used the word 'addiction', it was in the context of 'strong inclination'. It is only (comparatively) recently that 'addict' started to be used in a medical sense for 'dependance' (http://www.worldwidewords.org/topicalwords/tw-add1.htm))
So we have a lesser known, but relativley benign, meaning, a newer definition with more negative connatations, and no real way to tell the difference?
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Re: Perhaps...
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Re: Perhaps...
Go check out some of the posts at http://www.gamerwidow.com and then tell us if there aren't harmful behaviours surrounding a mental dependence.
Like some people mentioned most addicts don't sleep properly, don't eat properly and have neglected their loved ones. I have heard of marriages being ruined, mothers abandoning their children, husbands physically abusing their wives if they even attempt to talk about the addiction, people losing their jobs, people flunking out of school. SO very much harm caused because of a video game addiction.
It's real.
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Re: Perhaps...
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Of course it's harmful, but what ISN'T addictive?
Anything that requires you to follow abstract rules that differ from "real life" can be addicting, as I blogged here. Examples include: collecting anything, playing hopscotch, growing the largest pumpkin, buying shoes, running for distance goals, modeling large chunks of the real world with Lego pieces, finding Waldo, and blogging. - The Precision Blogger http://precision-blogging.blogspot.com
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This one time
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Re: This one time
:-))
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Symtoms
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It is an addiction, and we need help
We are only 8 months into our marriage and i dont want to call it quits but i am feeling very neglected and i dont like it at all.
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What causes addiction
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