Video game addiction is real, and really should not be taken lightly these days. A 2007 Harris poll reported that in the US 8.5% of youth gamers (ages 8 to 18) “can be classified as pathological or clinically ‘addicted’ to playing video games” while another 23% say they have “felt addicted” to video game. This number is staggering, and in some cases I believe it could actually be a lot lower than the true statistics since, according to Video Game Addiction.Org, gaming addiction is not yet officially recognized as a diagnosable disorder by the American Medical Association.
Personally, as a teenage college student, I often find myself lost and glued to video games such as Call of Duty, or FIFA Soccer (which happens to be one of my personal favorites). I spend at least one hour a day unwinding by playing video games, and I like to think that I'm not addicted to video games, but who am I to know that?
According to Video Game Addiction.Org, there are 5 signs that signal you need help with a gaming/internet addiction. They go as followed:
1) You feel really happy when you're online or when you're playing games, but as soon as you have to stop, you get angry or upset.
2) You think about going online or playing when you are supposed to be focusing on other things, like doing school work or having dinner with your family.
3) You spend more time with your keyboard or controller than physically hanging out with your friends.
4) Your friends or parents ask what you spend all your time doing, and you lie about it or laugh it off, but inside you know they may have a point.
5) You get up in the middle of the night to check your e-mail or your MySpace comments because you're having a hard time sleeping.
Gaming addictions may not be as big of an issue here in the U.S., but overseas in areas of Asia such as Japan and Korea are plagued with this problem, since gaming is almost a part of their culture. "Gold farms" as they are called, are essentially sweatshops, in which usually young children are abused and exploited to play MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing games), such as World of Warcraft, and RuneScape. These "gold farms" are predominately found all over Asia, and they make the gamers sit in front of a computer for over 20 hours at a time and collect items/gold in their respective games, which are then sold online for real money. Not only does "gold farming" ruin the integrity of MMORPG games, but they also promote unhealthy video game habits and addictions.
In conclusion, we can all agree that video game addictions are unhealthy and should be addressed, but until gaming addictions can officially be medically diagnosed, all we have are 1-800 numbers and support systems to rely on to help us out.
Wow, I did not realize that they had such things as "gold farms" overseas. That is such a crazy concept! My little brother is a big time gamer. He is only 14 and already completely addicted to his Xbox. He spends every waking second in front of his Xbox. My brother comes home from school, does his homework, and goes directly upstairs to play his Xbox. He has Xbox live, so he spends the majority of that time talking to his friends. Xbox functions as a telephone to him, he gets on and talks to his friends about anything. My family calls his room the "man cave" because he goes in and doesn't come out again until dinner. My brother isn't just a gamer, he is on the football team and basketball team, but you would never know from the amount of time he spends on his Xbox. My parents just think that it's his age, he is getting "too cool" to hang out with the family, so he hides up in his room until he is forced to come down to eat. During spring break, one day I was gone almost all day, from 9am-5pm. When I left that morning he was asleep, when I got back that evening he was in his boxers playing Xbox in a completely dark room. I asked him if he had left his room all day and when he replied yes, I then changed the question to "have you left your room at all today besides for getting food". His answer was no. Video game addiction is much like cell phone addiction or Facebook addiction, it is hard to recognize. We don't tend to think that it's real, but it most definitely is.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I totally understand what you're saying.
ReplyDeleteI have a 6 year old brother who's already addicted to his laptop. He even already has a Facebook, which he uses regularly. I don't even think that society thinks that this odd anymore, at least these days. Children are becoming much more wired, at an even younger age, so I'm not surprised when I hear about kids like your brother and mine.
I too agree with sensiblesooner. When i was middle school, all i did after school was finish my homework and jump online to play halo with my friends. On weekends i would wake up, make breakfast, bring it to my room, and begin the day with playing games until i had to eat dinner. Even now as a college student living off campus, my apartment is equipped with an Xbox and live and Call of Duty. So, each of us have our time on the console playing in between classes, or on a study break, or even all 4 of us playing together. I see a game addiction first hand with one of my roommates, he seems to always be playing, and he has his chair two feet from the tv. It is bad, and his sleeping schedule is irregular, so it makes it seem as if he has been playing all night. It definitely can effect your social life, and hinder your academic success.
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