Video
Game Addiction
By
Albert Gamboa
Video game addiction is not considered a disorder by
the American Psychological Association, but it is getting dangerously close to
that point. Being addicted to video games is classified as playing for a long
period of time (four hours or more a day) and it having a negative impact on a
person’s life. At least three million
people from ages 8-18 are addicted to playing video games in the United
States. This number is rising every year
due to the high quality entertainment a console game system provides and parents
not knowing what their child is doing on their free time. Parents should be more aware of how much time
their child plays video games and should also notice if any personality changes
are occurring. There should be
counseling/treatment centers or camps all around the country to help the youth
with this increasing problem. This is why video game addiction should be
considered a diagnosable disorder.
Currently there are less than one hundred treatment
clinics in the United States where there are treatments for video game addicts.
But less than half of those are
specifically meant for video game addicts. Most clinics are meant for drug abuse users
that are over the age of thirty, what needs to grow are video game addiction
treatment centers that are suitable for people under the age of twenty five.
Video game addiction can alter a person’s life that hurts not only themselves but
also family members and friends. The
symptoms to check on a person if he/she is becoming an addict is if the person is
becoming anti-social, developing lack of hygiene and anger problems, or school
grades and work production decreasing. Some symptoms are far more serious such
as reenactment or having violent behavior.
Take for example 27 year old James Swan who still lives with his mother
and likes to play “World of Warcraft”.
James’s mother interrupted him while playing to ask him to turn the
volume down on the video game but James refused and since he got interrupted;
James threw his mother on the bed and started choking her till she blacked
out. James was arrested but this shows
how serious a person can get if one is addicted to video games. There are also other effects that can be
caused because of video games, according to this article, “Young adults who
spend a lot of time playing video games are more likely to be involved in risky
behaviors like drinking and drug abuse.” (Vivo 2011). So not only it a problem but it can also lead
up to multiple problems.
If video game addiction is considered a diagnosable
disorder, more information would be available to parents and kids. More books and articles would be written to
help out anyone who needs answers or solutions to this problem. Websites would emerge for quick and easy
access to information and phone numbers if they would want to talk to a person
who specializes in video game addiction.
Most importantly though, treatment centers would open just for video
game addicts which would help kids/teenagers/adults be more active outside in a
world without a video game console or online gaming. Patients would be able to actually practice
living a life without a remote control in their hands
In conclusion treatment centers will greatly
decrease the number of video game addicts in the United States. According to this article, “a residential
treatment center or therapeutic boarding school… your teen will have a
supportive environment in which to break their addiction and learn healthy
coping mechanisms.” (Davis 2011). The
way to get more treatment centers in the U.S. is by making video game addiction
a diagnosable disorder by the American Psychological Association. Contact the APA and share your issues at www.apa.org. This issue needs to contained before it gets
out of hand and it’ll be game over for some more people.
References
Davis, L. (2011). More Harm to Your Children Than You Think, Retrieved from: http://www.video-game-addiction.org/video-game-addiction-articles/internet-may-be- causing-more-harm-to-your-children-than-you-think.htm
Vivo, M. (2011). Game
Over: Video Games Strain Relationships with Friends and Family, Retrieved from: http://www.video-game-addiction.org/video-game-addiction- articles/game-over-video-games-strain-relationships-with-friends-and-family.htm
Image retrieved from: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19354827/ns/technology_and_science- games/t/video-game-addiction-mental-disorder/#.T6chsOuvhcg
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