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[PATV] Thursday, September 1, 2011 - Extra Credits Season 3, Ep. 4: Game Addiction pt.1
Dog
Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
This week, we begin a two-part series on the much-debated topic of "Game Addiction."
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OT:Game being addicted is officially an addiction likegambling and shopping, where it is an inducedeuphoria where it can change a mental stae of people (the nerdrage!) but it comes with underlining conditions, and some behaviors that need changed too. I have read stories of them.
I know, it's a cracked article, but it makes some very good points, and touches on the subject of being the parent of a video game player. It's one I stumbled on a while back, and that particular author tends to actually get me to think about things, rather than just mindlessly enjoy the entertainment they bring.
It is interesting to think that, right now, the news media is alienating its future viewers. I suppose we're just supposed to ignore what they're doing right now, or possibly go the route you mentioned a few videos back. Ban the next thing to come along that's "evil" just to make our children suffer the way we did.
People are always really shocked when they hear either of my parents play video games, especially my mom, but it's actually pretty common. They might not be hardcore gamers, and are not part of the heavy duty circles many of us are in, but they are there, and I feel as though they are a market that is too often ignored.
Addiction is a dependance on a behavior or substance. Or, the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming.
That is gaming in a nutshell for too many people. I know, for myself, I try to restrict myself on game playing, because I will get wrapped up into it and want to play it until completion (I want to see it through to the finish. This is not something against my will). It's a drug with effects that last 30-40 hours of gameplay and the high is the experience.
I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but like anything that is addictive, even if it is otherwise harmless, people need to relegate themselves based on how much they get drawn in, lest they find themselves with no life. That's what I try to do and for the most part, I'm successful. I go into my gaming session for awhile and then I stop for awhile.
Addiction is not inherently bad nor harmful. That's the knee jerk reaction people have, because of the association with addiction to harmful substances. I know a few people who are very much addicted to a good book. They start a book and find themselves whittling away their time until they finish it, completely drawn in. They need to see where it goes, they become dependent on it. And they'll seek out the next 'high', another good book, the next chance they get.
The good news is that these kinds of addictions have no real physical effects, so if you stop them for awhile, you won't suffer from things like withdrawel. But they can be every bit as addictive as anything else.
Sitting down with the kids to talk about video games sounds easy and intuitive, but there are just so many parents out there who are either totally disinterested in communicating with their kids or are actually afraid to, especially when they hit their teenage years, as the kids become so aloof and disdainful of their parents. There are also a lot of parents around here who seem to be terrified that their kids can have any negative emotions at all and will spoil them silly. These parents seem to be apprehensive about offending their kids, so they just buy everything the kid wants as long as they're left alone.
Not only that but gaming has been shown to alter brain chemistry. Claiming that it doesn't is just ludicrous. Even a simple google search shows a study where in fact it did alter brain chemistry.