Many of the studies that have been done on video game addiction have been conducted on adolescents. In an Australian study that looked at adolescents classified as pathological video gamers, 84 percent were still addicted to video games 2 years later. This and other studies suggest that video game addiction in youth and adolescents can last for several months or even years. Long term gaming addiction in adolescents has been associated with poor mental health, academic, and social outcomes. A recent study has suggested that video game addiction is very different in adults and it will correct itself overtime, but some news stories still show dire situations when it comes to adult video gaming addiction. Should video game addiction be a concern in adults?
In Australia a study was done of adults that identify themselves as playing video games for at least one hour every week for the past three months. Of those video gamers they were split into two categories. Gamers who identified themselves as having a video gaming problem and those who did not identify themselves as having a problem. The group that identified themselves as having a video gaming problem had higher baseline scores on the problematic video gaming test than the group that did not identify as having a problem with video gaming. In both groups the problematic video gaming seems to recede after 6 months and then again after 18 months. These results may suggest that there may be a natural recovery among all adult gamers.
Even if people suffering from video game addiction will naturally recover over time, I believe that there is still reason for concern. More research should be done. In 2010 an English woman is charged with neglecting her three children and two dogs. Her excuse was that she was playing an online game called “Small Worlds”. Her children were found malnourished and her dogs were found dead from starvation in her dining room. In 2005 a Korean man died after playing “Starcraft” for 50 hours. He only took breaks to go to the bathroom and for very short periods of sleep. The authorities believe that he died of heart failure stemming from exhaustion. You also hear reports of people losing their jobs and people who are unable to maintain their responsibilities because of gaming addictions. While I do think that these stories may be the extreme cases, I do think that continued research should be done. It seems that there are individuals that either have an underlying condition that may make them more venerable to a gaming addiction or that gaming addiction in itself is a mental health problem.
1. King, DL, PH Delfabbro, and MD Griffiths. "Trajectories Of Problem Video Gaming Among Adult Regular Gamers: An 18-Month Longitudinal Study." Cyberpsychology Behavior And Social Networking 16.1 (n.d.): 72-76.
2. Martinez, Edecio. “Mother Obsessed with Computer Game Neglects Kids, Starves Dogs” CBS News. 14 Sept. 2010. Web. 24 Feb. 2013. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20016322-504083.html
I found your sectionon the Korean gentleman to be quite interesting, and had heard that there were treatment centers in Asia for internet addiction, but recently came across an article showing that treatment centers for gaming, and internet, addiction are currently operating within the U.S.A. I wonder if this newly emerged addiction will become an excuse for antisocial activities, as others addictions have in the past.
ReplyDeleteBy Tom Cornell
There is still a lot of questions as to what an online addiction is and if it is a disorder or if it is caused by some underlying condition. It still is not classified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Many believe that online addiction is caused by an underlying condition such as OCD, social anxiety, or some other behavioral disorder. I think that because they are unsure what causes online addiction, this is why you don't hear more about treatment options. It seems that these treatment facilities are few and far between here in the U.S. In other countries they seem to do more research on internet addiction.
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