Video Game Addiction
FROM THIS
TO THIS!
Stanford University School of Medicine researchers have shown that the part of the brain that generates rewarding feelings is more activated in men than women during video-game play.
In another Bristsh Study -72% Of men would prefer to play Video games than be with their partner. From a study of 1130 British men, of those in relationships, 32% that said they would prefer to play video games gave reasons ranging from their "partner being hard to please" to the prospect being "not as much fun" as gaming.
When many of us were younger we would talk about how we were "addicted" to a video game, but we never really meant it seriously. However, a new study has been released that shows that video game addiction is very real and very serious.
In what is being hailed as the first national study on video game addiction in the United States, researcher Douglas Gentile of Iowa State University found that 8.5 percent of American youths between the ages of 8 and 18 who play video games exhibit multiple signs of addiction.
Considering the fact that the study found that 88 percent of the children in the U.S. between the ages of 8 and 18 play video games means that there are millions of kids who are addicted.
Video game addiction shows up primarily in boys. The study found that four times as many boys are addicted to video games than girls are.
"For some kids, they play in such a way that it becomes out of balance. And they're damaging other areas of their lives, and it isn't just one area, it's many areas," said Gentile.
According to the study, some of the symptoms of video game addiction include:
*Lying about how much they play
*Spending increasing amounts of time and money on video games to feel the same level of excitement
*Irritability or restlessness when the amount of time playing is scaled back
*Escaping problems through playing video games
*Skipping chores or homework to spend more time playing video games
*Stealing games or stealing money to buy games
The reality is that video games are more engrossing today than they ever have been before, and they can easily take over your life if you are not careful. They can eat up so much time that they can damage your schoolwork, your relationships and your mental and physical health.
In fact, some people have gotten so engrossed in video games that they have literally died while playing them.....
*Two World of Warcraft fanatics played so much that they actually dropped dead while playing the game.
*In South Korea, a 28-year-old man collapsed and died after a marathon session of playing the game Starcraft.
*A Taiwanese man died of exhaustion after playing video games non-stop for 32 hours at an Internet cafe. He was found in the cafe's toilets, bleeding from the nose and foaming at the mouth, and he died before he could be taken to the hospital.
*An "overweight" 26-year-old man from northeast China died after a massive gaming session that extended over the entire Lunar New Year holiday.
The truth is that video game addiction is very real and it can be very serious.
If you think that you may be addicted to video games, here is a test:
Try to quit for one week.
If you cannot do it, then you are probably addicted to video games.
Video game addiction can be defeated but it is not easy.
It can be harder to beat than drugs or alcohol.
But it can be done.
Reach out for the support of your friends and family and get involved in some other activities for a while. Life is about balance, and unfortunately, as wonderful as video games are, they can suck you in and throw your life way off balance if you are not careful.
June 28th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Thanks for the article. I agree that video games are addictive. I looked at your bullet points listed and would have to agree that I was/am addicted. I spent far too long playing games; time that essentially was wasted on a non-productive activity. I used to be quite fit and more social. I became sedentary, introverted and certainly not eating 3 square meals/day. Not to mention, my vocabulary has taken a nose dive due to lack of time spent reading a good book and/or newspapers. Something had to change.
Having recognized my addiction and detrimental effect on a healthy lifestyle, I placed the video games in a garbage bag and threw them in a dumpster. I also uninstalled these games from my computer. That was 2 weeks ago. I haven’t purchased another game since, but would freely admit that I do have the urges to play again, simply because it was habit forming.
Make no mistake, it’s a unhealthy addiction that has contributed to my relationship breakdowns: personal/family/friends. Since I obviously couldn’t limit myself to ‘x’ hours/week of playing, I had to quit cold turkey.
Getting off my arse and back to the real world is a rude awakening but essential to bringing back my sense of self.
It will be a challenge but one I’m ready to tackle.