Game Addiction

Here is the title of an article in the Washington Post today:  “Study Finds Some Youths ‘Addicted’ to Video Games”

Many thoughts came to mind while reading this article, but I will limit myself to sharing two:

1)  Is this really news?    

I say this not because I dispute the findings, but because I thought everyone already knew this.  Neither of my parents have Ph.Ds, but when they saw my brother and I lock ourselves in the bathroom for a few hours in order to beat Super Mario on our Gameboy, they made their own study and put it in a place where we couldn’t find it (thankfully, we had already beat the game by then, but our legs were numb from sitting so long.).  

They were no psychiatrists, but they instinctively knew a problem when they saw it.  And I, for one, am thankful that they did.  It saddens me to think that a headline such as the one quoted above will be news to many, particularly parents who should be unlocking the bathroom door and putting the video games away (for the good of their own little addicts).  Maybe the fact that this is a headline helps to explain why there is such a problem in the first place.  Not enough parents have thought through the issue themselves.  

2)  In order to come to a consensus about the problem, it is vital to agree upon the definition of ‘addiction.’  

My dictionary says an addiction is 1- dependency and 2- excessive devotion to.  But the dictionary definition is not enough, because inevitably, people will disagree what such dependency or excessive devotion looks like.  Or to what degree it really becomes a problem.  

You notice this even in the article itself.  They had to establish their own criteria for addiction in order to draw their conclusions. The kids interviewed had to have a certain number of factors in order to be classified as an addict.  The problem with this, however, is that they are only dealing with addiction at a certain stage of development.  Addiction to a certain degree.  But addicts come in all shapes and sizes.  And all our various addictions and habits have various negative effects (small and large).  

Dependency upon eating a cookie after a meal is not equal to dependency upon cocaine, but the problem is the same at root.  To degree, no; but in nature, yes.  So any study that deals with addiction to video games needs to keep such a reality in mind. Parents especially should pay attention to this fact, because unless they understand what addiction really is, they cannot adequately help their children fight against it.  And whether we realize it or not, it is a battle we all need to face.  

One final note:  the best study of Addictions I know of is Ed Welch’s Addictions:  A Banquet in the Grave.