"For the computer or video game addicted person, a fantasy world on-line or in a game has replaced his or her real world. The virtual reality of the computer or game is more inviting than the every day world of family, school or work. With the increased access to pornography on the Internet and in games, this fantasy world may be highly sexual."
So says - and has said for some time - the USA's 'National Institute on Media and the Family' in its 'Fact Sheet'. It's an institute, so it must be taken seriously.
Well, it's now come up with some research that even The Washington Post appears to take seriously, that says that 8.5% of (North) Americans aged between 8-to-18 'show signs of behavioural addiction' - that's three million kids.
Actually, we're being a little off the mark: the study was carried out by Douglas Gentile of Iowa State University. You can find out more about Dr Gentile here. In the event that you can't be bothered, that link refers to the doctor's biography... at the National Institute on Media and the Family.
According to The Post, "To get at gaming addiction, Gentile adapted diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling into a series of questions about video game use. The questions became part of a 2007 Harris Poll survey of 1,178 children and teens. Gamers were deemed 'pathological' if they reported at least six of the 11 symptoms."
Mmm. We went and looked this up... and discovered that Dr Gentile's report was actually published in September 2008 (you can find it here).
The report actually says this, "Based on television usage trends, we would expect usage to increase across elementary school, peak about middle school, and drop off across high school (Huston et al., 1992). This pattern appears to be similar for video games when examining frequency of play and perhaps amount of play. The frequency of video game play appears to hold relatively steady from ages 8 to 13, then decrease thereafter."
Our bolding because we've got some quibbles about the idea of 'addiction' being an age-specific event.
Fortunately, Mark Griffiths, director of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University has this to say, "In all honesty, if there really were 8.5 percent of children who were genuinely addicted, there would be treatment clinics all over America."
Maybe they've not been caught yet though, Mark... maybe they are all lurking in this "highly sexual" fantasy world!!
Either way, research into video games using the same questions as used in a study of gambling would appear to us to be either lazy or aimed at getting certain results. But we're not an institute.
So says - and has said for some time - the USA's 'National Institute on Media and the Family' in its 'Fact Sheet'. It's an institute, so it must be taken seriously.
Well, it's now come up with some research that even The Washington Post appears to take seriously, that says that 8.5% of (North) Americans aged between 8-to-18 'show signs of behavioural addiction' - that's three million kids.
Actually, we're being a little off the mark: the study was carried out by Douglas Gentile of Iowa State University. You can find out more about Dr Gentile here. In the event that you can't be bothered, that link refers to the doctor's biography... at the National Institute on Media and the Family.
According to The Post, "To get at gaming addiction, Gentile adapted diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling into a series of questions about video game use. The questions became part of a 2007 Harris Poll survey of 1,178 children and teens. Gamers were deemed 'pathological' if they reported at least six of the 11 symptoms."
Mmm. We went and looked this up... and discovered that Dr Gentile's report was actually published in September 2008 (you can find it here).
The report actually says this, "Based on television usage trends, we would expect usage to increase across elementary school, peak about middle school, and drop off across high school (Huston et al., 1992). This pattern appears to be similar for video games when examining frequency of play and perhaps amount of play. The frequency of video game play appears to hold relatively steady from ages 8 to 13, then decrease thereafter."
Our bolding because we've got some quibbles about the idea of 'addiction' being an age-specific event.
Fortunately, Mark Griffiths, director of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University has this to say, "In all honesty, if there really were 8.5 percent of children who were genuinely addicted, there would be treatment clinics all over America."
Maybe they've not been caught yet though, Mark... maybe they are all lurking in this "highly sexual" fantasy world!!
Either way, research into video games using the same questions as used in a study of gambling would appear to us to be either lazy or aimed at getting certain results. But we're not an institute.
Comments
Joji 20 Apr 2009 11:15
1/3
Lol. A good porn mag isn't enough for some.
These docs are clutching at straws again. Can't people enjoy anything, without being called an addict?
These docs are clutching at straws again. Can't people enjoy anything, without being called an addict?
tyrion 20 Apr 2009 12:23
2/3
Joji wrote:
These docs are clutching at straws again. Can't people enjoy anything, without being called an addict?
Surely without defining "Hobby" and "Obsession" levels of involvement in an activity, they can't claim to have discovered "Addiction" levels of involvement.
I'm beggining to think that addiction is just being used as a label for a hobby that the speaker or researcher doesn't approve of, because, you know, addiction is bad, M'kay.
In fact given that (cccording to Wikipedia) "In medical terminology, an addiction is a state in which the body relies on a substance for normal functioning and develops physical dependence, as in drug addiction." I think I'd be safe to say the researchers are afflicted with an oxidane addiction, but I don't think they'd wish to be cured of that.
Human 1 21 Apr 2009 02:52
3/3
Who is that girl in the picture.. and where can i see more of her...