Okay, not really. But in a recent study done by Iowa State Professor Douglas Gentile, long-term video game playing can lead to pathological gambling and other damaging habits later on in life. The study tested over 1000 kids between the ages of eight and 18, and tried to discover whether kids were “pathological” gamers. In order to be a pathological gamer, a child must exhibit half of the symptoms described by the study. Examples of these symptoms are salience (gaming is of utmost importance in one’s life), tolerance (after a while, more playing is needed to quell the craving), withdrawal (physical effects based on a person’s lack of playing time), and conflict (the need to play video is strong enough to create conflict with others). The study found that of the 1200 kids tested, 88% of kids who played video games occasionally or more were considered pathological gamers. Four times as many boys were considered pathological compared to girls. What does this all mean? It means that video game addiction can be a precursor to later addictions, such as gambling, internet pornography, or addiction to more intense video games like Second Life. Whether or not video game addiction is a problem within itself or sign of problems to come, it is definitely a problem in this country. Go outside and play, kids!
http://www.sciam.com/blog/60-second-science/post.cfm?id=can-kids-become-addicted-to-video-g-2009-04-20
3 comments:
I'm not too surprised that ongoing video game playing is detrimental to people; it is obviously addicting, and any addiction can have serious side effects. However, based on how this test was experimented, I'm wondering whether or not there were other factors (outside of video game playing) that led to such addictions later in life. I wonder on average how often these kids played video games, and whether they did any other activities for recreation outside of this.
"It means that video game addiction can be a precursor to later addictions, such as gambling, internet pornography, or addiction to more intense video games like Second Life." This is not true, and thus dismantles the entirety of the study. There is no hard evidence that links video game pathological traits to drug addiction, etc, so the study really is worthless. It simply says 88% of young gamers exibit one of the traits of pathological gamers.
This is interesting, and it creates a contrast with many articles I've seen talking about how video games can be beneficial. I also wonder if it is the video games that actually cause these problems, or if video games are simply a tool to expose the problems. I think it is a hasty conclusion to say that video games are having a negative effect on these kids, but I think that is most likely the case, as I find it hard to imagine that people prone to gambling and other problems would for some reason be more interested in video games. I am not surprised that many more boys are pathological gamers.
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