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Article 1: When Video Games Become an Addiction

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Article 1: When Video Games Become an Addiction

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CNN,
By Samantha Bresnahan and Will Worley, January 6th, 2016

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Douglas Gentile, a psychologist at Iowa State University, has been studying the subject for decades.

"The first study I began in 1999, to basically try to show video game addiction isn't a real thing, and it turns out I was wrong!" he told CNN.

According to his research, roughly 8.5% percent of children who play video games in the United States are addicted. He found similar numbers across the world.

"Even though different researchers across the world may define the problem somewhat differently, or ask different questions in different countries with differently aged kids, we find almost the same results across the world" Gentile says.

"The estimates perhaps vary somewhat, but they all seem to come out somewhere between about 4 and 10 percent: that's the amount of gamers I would classify as addicted."

Access is key

Gentile sees the increased availability of technology and the spread of broadband internet as a key reason for this.

"A risk factor for addiction is access," he says. "It's really hard to get addicted to drugs if you can't get them.

"This is why we're seeing Internet Gaming Disorder becoming a bigger problem because now, not only has almost everyone got a computer, and almost everyone has a video game system in their home ... but now you've got a cell phone and you've got games on it and you can access games pretty much everywhere."

The American Psychiatric Association's DSM-5, a manual that classifies mental disorders, lists Internet Gaming Disorder as "a condition warranting more clinical research and experience before it might be considered for inclusion in the main book as a formal disorder."

Tackling the 'ABC'

Gentile says games are so compelling because they satisfy an "ABC" of human needs.

"The A Is Autonomy, we like to feel we're in control. B is Belonging, we like to feel connected to other people. And the C is Competence, we like to feel that we're good at what we do," he says.

Games can fulfill all of these, or at least they do when the players are good and become part of an online community surrounding them.

Mark Griffiths is a chartered psychologist and director of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University. He believes that addiction boils down to being constantly rewarded while playing a game -- whether those rewards are the physical buzz of beating your high score, or the psychological reward of knowing that your strategic play helped you succeed.

"Most of these rewards are -- at least to some extent -- unpredictable," he says. "Not knowing when the next reward will come keeps some players in the game. In short, they carry on gaming even though they may not have received an immediate reward. They simply hope that another reward is "just around the corner" and keep on playing."

He also points out that in the last decade we have seen a shift from standalone console gaming to massive multiplayer online games that have no end, and can't be paused.

"Many excessive gamers report that they hate logging off and leaving such games," he says. "They don't like it as they don't know what is going on in the game when they are not online."

If gaming goes beyond fun

But how can you tell what's a healthy enjoyment of gaming, and what is an addiction? There is no universal definition of addiction, but Gentile highlights a key characteristic: "It has to be something that's actually damaging your life," he says.

"What we started finding in the early research is it did look like some kids were doing worse in school, harming their friendships, harming their family relationships. They couldn't stop thinking about gaming, it was the only thing they wanted to do."

Griffin Mathieu, from Southern California, is only 16, but has already been through treatment for Internet Gaming Disorder. According to his mother, Noelle, he suffers from anxiety and depression.

He was introduced to video games at the age of 10. Over time, his parents noticed his behavior begin to change. Noelle's main concern was his isolation.

"He wanted to be playing more, so that takes away from family time, and takes away from socializing with his friends," she said.

"It really started escalating more in middle school and then we noticed there was a real change in Griffin around 8th grade," she continued. Last summer his parents sent him on a program called Outback Therapeutic Expeditions, in Utah, where he spent time outdoors, away from his games.

Griffin was in treatment for six weeks before returning home. Noelle says he still has challenges with his tech use, and his depression.

Griffin says the problem goes beyond the games themselves: "I want other kids to realize that the problems they are facing aren't because of what's going on around them, but also due to the fact that they stay inside and won't speak to anyone about them. Sitting inside and staring at a screen won't make it disappear."

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when video games become an addiction - cnn

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Samantha Bresnahan and Will Worley, for CNN

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When video games become an addiction - CNN

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Douglas Gentile, a psychologist at Iowa State University, has been studying the subject for decades. "The first study I began in 1999, to basically try to show video game addiction isn't a real thing, and it turns out I was wrong!" he told CNN.

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New York Times,
By CHRISTOPHER J. FERGUSON and PATRICK MARKEY APRIL 1, 2017

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Is video game addiction a real thing?

It's certainly common to hear parents complain that their children are "addicted" to video games. Some researchers even claim that these games are comparable to illegal drugs in terms of their influence on the brain - that they are "digital heroin" (the neuroscientist Peter C. Whybrow) or "digital pharmakeia" (the neuroscientist Andrew Doan). The American Psychiatric Association has identified internet gaming disorder as a possible psychiatric illness, and the World Health Organization has proposed including "gaming disorder" in its catalog of mental diseases, along with drug and alcohol addiction.

This is all terribly misguided. Playing video games is not addictive in any meaningful sense. It is normal behavior that, while perhaps in many cases a waste of time, is not damaging or disruptive of lives in the way drug or alcohol use can be.

Let's start with the neuroscientific analogy: that the areas in the brain associated with the pleasures of drug use are the same as those associated with the pleasures of playing video games. This is true but not illuminating. These areas of the brain - those that produce and respond to the neurotransmitter dopamine - are involved in just about any pleasurable activity: having sex, enjoying a nice conversation, eating good food, reading a book, using methamphetamines.

The amount of dopamine involved in these activities, however, differs widely. Playing a video game or watching an amusing video on the internet causes roughly about as much dopamine to be released in your brain as eating a slice of pizza. By contrast, using a drug like methamphetamine can cause a level of dopamine release 10 times that or more. On its own, the fact that a pleasurable activity involves dopamine release tells us nothing else about it.

A large-scale study of internet-based games recently published in the American Journal of Psychiatry bears out our skepticism about this "addiction." Using the American Psychiatric Association's own metrics for ascertaining psychiatric disorder, the study's researchers found that at most 1 percent of video game players might exhibit characteristics of an addiction and that the games were significantly less addictive than, say, gambling.

More damning, the study found that almost none of those classified as being possibly addicted to video games experienced negative outcomes from this addiction. That is, the mental, physical and social health of these potential "addicts" was not different from that of individuals who were not addicted to video games. This suggests that the diagnosis of addiction doesn't make much sense to begin with.

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Christopher J. Ferguson and Patrick Markey

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Is video game addiction a real thing? It's certainly common to hear parents complain that their children are "addicted" to video games. Some researchers even claim that these games are comparable to illegal drugs in terms of their influence on the brain - that they are "digital heroin" (the neuroscientist Peter C.

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Article 3: do video games cause violence?

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Article 3: do video games cause violence?

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By procon.org, adapted by Newsela staff

11/27/2016

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Newsela | Issue Overview: Do video games cause violence?

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Opponents and advocates debate the influence of video games on violence.

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This evidence would support an argument (in favor or against) video games because....

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although this article states.... I still think.... because....

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"When Video Games Become an Addiction" Summary

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"When Video Games Become an Addiction" Summary

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"Video Games Aren't an Addiction" Summary

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"Video Games Aren't an Addiction" Summary

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"When Video Games Become an Addiction"  Purpose

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"When Video Games Become an Addiction"  Purpose

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"When Video Games Become an Addiction" Response

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"When Video Games Become an Addiction" Response

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"Video Games Aren't an Addiction" Purpose

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"Video Games Aren't an Addiction" Purpose

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"Video Games Aren't an Addiction" Response

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"Video Games Aren't an Addiction" Response

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"Do Video Games Cause Violence?" Summary

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"Do Video Games Cause Violence?" Summary

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"Do Video Games Cause Violence?"  Purpose

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"Do Video Games Cause Violence?"  Purpose

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"Do Video Games Cause Violence?"  Response

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"Do Video Games Cause Violence?"  Response

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Video Games aren't to blame for for violence.

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Video Games aren't to blame for for violence.

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Its the same case with gun laws. If someone has a type of mental illness, they shouldn't be allowed to acquire weapons. There are millions of gamers who play violent video games and there aren't millions of shootings happening everyday. That's because people who have mental illness or are prone to violence are more open to influence from violence in video games. You don't hand a rifle to a mentally ill person and you don't hand a controller to a person with aspergers.

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No. Its precisely the same with gun laws. Video Games have been proven to improve hand-eye coordination, enhance memory, and improve social skills. Only a mentally ill person has the chance of becoming violent while playing video games.

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Do the Benefits outweigh the problems with Video Games?

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Do the Benefits outweigh the problems with Video Games?

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Yes. Video games have been known to improve hand-eye coordination, enhances memory, and improves social skills. The only reason violence can be linked to violent video games is because the particular person may have a mental deficiency like aspergers which would cause them to be more prone to video games. Its the same case with firearms. You don't hand a rifle to a mentally deranged person and you don't hand a controller to a 5-year old.

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