Excess Correlation Linked To Claims Of Causation Without Proof

from the correlation-and-causation dept

Over on Dr. Sanjay Gupta's CNN blog, there's a report claiming that excess gaming is linked to depression and bad grades, with the report clearly suggesting that those "addicted" to gaming get depressed and do poorly. It even trots out the old silly argument about making "video game addiction" an official disorder. But, of course, the study is really only showing a correlation between these things, rather than any sort of causal relationship. One could just as plausibly argue that depressed kids choose to deal with or mask their depression by playing more video games. But, I guess headlines that say "depression causes kids to play more video games" isn't as catchy as assuming it's the other way around. Those who have worked with compulsive video gamers have found that there's almost always a separate cause, and treating the problem as "video game addiction," rather than figuring out why the person wants to play so much, tends not to work.

Filed Under: addiction, correlation, depression, video games

Guy Sues Online Game Company NCSoft, Saying That Lineage II Is Too Addictive

from the personal-responsibility? dept

Apparently, a federal district court is allowing a guy to sue NCSoft for making the super popular online game Lineage II too addictive. Seriously:

Craig Smallwood, the plaintiff, claims NCsoft of South Korea should pay unspecified monetary damages because of the addictive nature of the game. Smallwood claims to have played Lineage II for 20,000 hours between 2004 and 2009. Among other things, he alleges he would not have begun playing if he was aware "that he would become addicted to the game."

Smallwood, who did not immediately respond for comment, alleged that the company "acted negligently in failing to warn or instruct or adequately warn or instruct plaintiff and other players of Lineage II of its dangerous and defective characteristics, and of the safe and proper method of using the game."

This sounds like the sort of case that should be easily dismissed, but not so fast according to the judge. You can read the judge's full ruling here: Reading through the details, the story just gets more and more bizarre. Not only does Smallwood claim that NCSoft failed to alert him to the addictive nature of the game... he also gets upset when he was later banned from the game. It's difficult to see how both of those issues can co-exist, though, he uses it to explain how the "addiction" and the sudden forced cold turkey cut-off meant that he was "unable to function independently, he has suffered psychological trauma, he was hospitalized, and he requires treatment and therapy three times a week."

Of course, we still haven't seen any evidence that video games create a real addiction issue. Yes, people can get very into games, but to the point of being "unable to function independently" seems a bit extreme. Anyway, the court does dismiss some of the claims, pointing out that he fails to make the case for "intentional misrepresentation," "negligent misrepresentation," "intentional infliction of emotional distress" and "unfair and deceptive trade practices." However, the court does find that Smallwood can at least move forward on claims of "defamation," "negligence and gross negligence," and "negligent infliction of emotional distress," though the judge still does sound a bit skeptical that those will really go anywhere.

Filed Under: addiction, defamation, lawsuits, lineage ii, negligence, video games
Companies: ncsoft

Internet 'Addicts' Escape Chinese 'Rehab' Center

from the they-googled-'how-to-escape' dept

We're still amazed that some psychologists and psychiatrists have been trying to get "internet addiction" officially recognized. Nearly all the studies on the subject show that it's not the "internet" that people are addicted to. In cases where people are acting in a manner where they don't want to give up their connection, it's usually due to some other serious problem that they're trying to avoid or escape. However, the Chinese have been pushing the concept of "internet addiction" for years, with some fun ideas on how to "cure" people -- from shock therapy to detox units with electric acupuncture and drugs. Then there was the summer camp for internet addicts.

Apparently, though, those so-called addicts aren't happy. Fourteen kids sent to a Chinese "rehabilitation" camp by their parents recently escaped from the center they were in -- though, without their internet connection to guide them, all were recaptured quickly (that's a joke: they were caught after they were unable to pay cab fare). Rather than recognizing that harsh treatments to cure a non-existent problem might not make much sense, all of the parents sent their kids right back.

Filed Under: addiction, china, escape, internet addicts

Shock: People "Addicted" To Communication, Information, Other Humans, Oxygen

from the i-just-snorted-my-iPad dept

Adam Singer writes in to direct our attention to yet another silly study claiming to highlight the evils of technology and Internet addiction. According to this latest study, Researchers at the University of Maryland asked 200 students to give up all media of any kind for one full day -- and found that after 24 hours "many showed signs of withdrawal, craving and anxiety along with an inability to function well without their media and social links." Researchers say the disconnected test subjects strangely equated being without these connections to "going without friends and family" -- which of course is exactly what they were doing. However, if you look at the press release, researchers appear to base their conclusion that students were "addicted" to media by the very scientific fact that students simply said they were:

"A new study out today from the International Center for Media & the Public Agenda (ICMPA) at the University of Maryland, concludes that most college students are not just unwilling, but functionally unable to be without their media links to the world. "I clearly am addicted and the dependency is sickening," said one person in the study. "I feel like most people these days are in a similar situation, for between having a Blackberry, a laptop, a television, and an iPod, people have become unable to shed their media skin."

Just taking common modern media consumption and communications tools away from users for 24 hours doesn't seem to prove much of anything -- aside from the fact that people have grown used to modern media consumption and consumption tools -- which they'd adapt to living without in time. The American Psychiatric Association does not recognize so-called Internet addiction as a disorder (despite efforts to change this to help sell more "cures"), and real addiction generally involves people with real problems who usually aren't quick to admit they even have an addiction. As we've discussed countless times -- the real problem is that we're annoyingly in love with (but not addicted to) calling everything an addiction. At least when we're not busy getting high off of everything.

 

Filed Under: addiction, studies

Internet Addiction Might Actually Get Recognized By The Official Book Of Mental Disorders?

from the ugh dept

Over the last decade or so, there's been something of an... well... addiction to calling any sort of overuse of a product an addiction. So we've seen email addiction, web addiction, online porn addiction, video game addiction, internet addiction, and mobile phones or other gadget addictions among other things. More often than not, it seems that the calls to label these things as an addiction isn't fueled by any actual addiction, but by psychologists or psychiatrists looking to build a practice treating people who play too much World of Warcraft, rather than drug addicts. When you dig deeper, nearly all of these "technological addictions" don't really appear to be addictions to the technology, but rather a symptom of some other issue (such as depression) that manifests itself by focusing an inordinate amount of time on some technology. Focusing too much on the symptom, by falsely labeling it an addiction, could lead to poor treatment, as the focus is on treating the symptom, rather than the actual problem.

Yet, some psychiatrists have been pushing hard to have internet addiction officially classified in the psychiatrist's bible, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM). We had thought that these silly ideas had been shot down, but apparently not. The American Psychiatric Association recently proposed its new changes for DSM-5, the first update since 1994. And, unfortunately, internet addiction is being considered -- though almost no one thinks it will make it in (gambling addiction, on the other hand...). What's troubling is that the door is being opened to classifying such behavioral issues as addictions.

Thankfully, at least some in the profession are quite worried about this. An opinion piece at Psychology Today worries about this decision to append the addiction label, noting that even though it offers an opportunity for him to make more money, it may make it harder to actually help people:

As someone who makes his living as a psychotherapist I know I should shout, "Bravo DSM-5 addiction workgroup!" After all, if "behavioral addictions" makes it through field trials into the eventual manual it will open a a whole new market. Maybe I could even franchise "Internet addiction" clinics to funnel tons of insurance money into my pocket--after all, once "Internet addiction" is in the DSM insurance companies will pay to "treat" and I am sure there are lots of panicked well-insured parents out there who don't like that junior spends so much time playing World of Warcraft.

But I can't bring myself to come close to anything like that. Making "Internet addiction" an official diagnostic category is just wrong on so many levels, including, I believe, making it more difficult to get the right kind of help to those who have actually become painfully stuck online. Many people are turning from life lived to life online and they need help, but real help for real problems, not newly-minted addictions.

By sanctioning behavioral addictions the new DSM opens the diagnostic door to the full menu of confessional daytime TV problems: gambling, shopping, eating, playing World of Warcraft, visiting porn sites, chatting online, having sex with dozens of women with teased blonde hair (hello Tiger), getting too many tattoos, hoarding newspapers (addicted to print!), or whatever else comes along. Who knows, should the political tide turn Republican Senators might successfully plead they were not ruining the country, they were just suffering from "Anti-American Filibuster Addiction Disorder."

Medically sanctioning the category of "behavioral addictions" also changes how we will think about freedom and responsibility. Making bad choices, developing destructive habits, and attempting solutions to problems in living that then become serious problems themselves will all become less important as the locus of responsibility shifts from the person doing something to the something being done.

Let's hope common sense like the above prevail...

Filed Under: addiction, disorders, dsm-v

If You're Addicted To World Of Warcraft, Why Not Get Therapy For It In The Game?

from the I-can-think-of-a-few-reasons-why-that's-a-bad-idea... dept

While we tend to have trouble with the idea that there's a real "addiction" issue with video gaming, there certainly are some people who have trouble leaving the game. And, there have been plenty of therapists/psychologists/psychiatrists popping up with offerings to help "video game addicts." But how does one stand out in the space? How about by treating the patients directly in the game itself? Apparently, that's the plan of one psychiatrists, who wants to start getting other therapists to join the game and treat patients within it. Wonder if they'll try to convince the offshore "gold farmers" that they need help...

Filed Under: addiction, therapy, video games, world of warcraft

Internet-Addicted Kids Are Aggressive, Study Says

from the if-you-accept-they-exist dept

A new study from Taiwan says that teens with signs of "internet addiction" are more prone to aggressive behavior than other kids. While the researcher behind the study says that it could simply be that violence-prone teens are more likely to be heavy internet users, rather than the internet somehow causing this sort of behavior, it's hard to take anything that talks about "internet addicts" too seriously, since the evidence of internet addiction is fairly flimsy. The issue is that the "addictive" behavior -- heavy internet use -- is often just a hint or symptom of a bigger problem, something that some treatment centers for compulsive internet or video game users recognize. But this study sounds even flimsier than usual: it describes signs of internet addiction as "preoccupation with online activities; 'withdrawal' symptoms, like moodiness and irritability, after a few Internet-free days; and skipping other activities to devote more time to online ones." That sounds an awful lot like general teenage behavior, just replace the internet with some other activity. It also goes on to say that teens who spend their time online researching and studying are less prone to aggression than those who go online for gambling and porn, among other activities. If anything, it sounds like the researcher understates the degree to which the tail is wagging the dog here.

Filed Under: addiction, aggression, internet

Video Game Addiction Center Realizes That Compulsive Gamers Aren't Addicts

from the well,-duh dept

We've discussed in the past how ridiculous it is to call video gaming an "addiction" when almost all of the evidence suggests that compulsive video gamers are usually retreating to video games as a result of some other issue. In other words, rather than an addiction, compulsive video gaming is often a symptom of something else, and the treatment should focus on that other thing, rather than trying to "detox" someone from video games. It seemed like almost everyone who was screaming for video games to be declared an official addiction stood to benefit from such a classification (thankfully, the AMA refused to make it an official addiction).

Now, even those who would benefit from it being called an addiction are admitting that it's not. A clinic in Europe that was designed to treat video game addicts is now admitting that compulsive video gamers are not addicts, and shouldn't be treated with traditional "abstinence-based treatments" that are commonly used in dealing with various addictions. Instead, just as plenty of others have noted in the past, the trick is not to worry about the video gaming, but to actually figure out the root causes that made the person retreat to video games. Not surprisingly, it's often social issues, where kids feel isolated and haven't learned to communicate socially with their peers, leading to trouble at school. It's great to see that even those who were making money off of the false "addiction" claim are finally admitting that it's time to rethink how compulsive video gaming is diagnosed and treated.

Filed Under: addiction, video games

Kids Use Mobile Phones Too Much? Send 'Em To A Mental Hospital

from the seems-a-bit-extreme dept

We've noted in the past the, well, addiction some people have to calling any sort of regular usage of something an "addiction." It's quite common with all sorts of technologies. Often there doesn't seem to be any actual evidence of an addiction -- or, if there is, it usually becomes clear that the problem is somewhere else, and the people simply turn to technology to avoid that other issue in their lives. Either way, it still seems a bit extreme to hear that, in Spain, parents have sent two children, aged 12 and 13, to a mental hospital to try to help "cure them" of their mobile phone "addiction." As parents, what was wrong with just taking away their mobile phone?

Filed Under: addiction, mental hospital, mobile phones, uk

Some Psychiatrists Addicted To Prescribing Internet Addiction

from the must-be-good-for-business dept

Over the past few years, we've seen so many "calls" to label the use of certain technologies as "addictions" that we've noticed something of a... well... addiction by some to call for new technology addictions. Among the long, long list of possible addictions has been email addiction, web addiction, online porn addiction, video game addiction, internet addiction, and mobile phones or other gadget addictions. Almost every time, the call for addiction comes from a psychologist or psychiatrist trying to build up a reputation for treating such "addictions." It must be good for business (and perhaps a lot less harrowing than treating some other types of addictions).

So it shouldn't come as any surprise to see a psychiatrist now calling for internet addiction to become an officially classified addiction in the next version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (basically the official rulebook for such things). Of course, there are a few problems, including the fact that research has shown little evidence that the internet is really addictive, and almost every story of internet addiction really tends to be about deeper issues that resulted in someone seeking an outlet on the internet (from depression, bad family situations, alcoholism, etc.). Focusing on the "internet" part tends to have people trying to treat a symptom, not the disease. Hopefully, this new push will follow the same path as the one last year to have video games declared an addiction too. It didn't take long for that idea to get shot down.

Filed Under: addiction, internet addiction, psychiatrists