Is Gaming Addiction a Real Disorder?
Techquickie
·Techquickie
·2019-05-06
·
1,001 words · ~5 min read
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thanks for watching techwiki click the subscribe button then enable
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notifications with the bell icon so you won't miss any future videos when you
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were younger did your parents ever complain that you were addicted to video
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games after you'd been hanging out in the mushroom kingdom for too long i mean
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maybe you're still hearing that from some members of your family well guess
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what the world health organization not to be confused with that ban from the uk
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classified gaming disorder as a real
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health problem earlier this year so did that scolding that you were given about
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how much time you spent in front of a screen actually have some merit to it
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well turns out the answer is maybe but it's important to keep in mind that
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whether you have an actual gaming addiction
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isn't predicated on just how long you spend playing in fact plenty of people
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frequently engage in lengthy gaming sessions without suffering from a true
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addiction instead the folks who classify gaming
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addiction as an actual disease focus on the ways that gaming can affect an
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individual's life specifically the who focuses on whether
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a gamer has difficulty putting the controller down when they want or need
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to do other things and whether they feel compelled to play games like a 15 year
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old boy from britain who missed an entire year of school playing fortnite
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rather than simply gaming because it's an activity that they enjoy
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and to be fair that definition does actually sound fairly reasonable
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and it also sounds a lot like how people decide if they have a problem with other
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more traditional vices such as substance use or gambling there's obviously a much
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greater risk of losing staggering amounts of money if you feel like you
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have to gamble as opposed to spending a few bucks on the occasional lotto ticket
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but if gaming addiction is so similar to other forms of dependence why is its
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classification by the who generating so much backlash after all the who said
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that it based its decision on the fact that many people around the world were
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being treated for the same symptoms well many in the gaming community feel that
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this is just yet another undeserved black eye for the industry after renewed
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public discussion about whether video games are partially to blame for things
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like school violence despite the fact that a causal link has never been proven
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there and there does seem to be merit to
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the argument that the real problem for those who are addicted to
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something is the state of mind rather
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than the actual focus of their specific addiction and that a person who's
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addicted to video games might have the same compulsive feelings as a person
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who's addicted to smoking junk food or alternative forms of entertainment
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there's also concern that whose classification is reflective of a moral
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panic in which video games are simply a punching bag for societal and health
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issues that may actually be caused by different things and this view isn't
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just widespread among gamers but some psychologists also believe that the
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decision to list gaming disorder specifically in the international
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classification of diseases was premature
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and based on weak evidence and even the who itself admits that the alleged
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disorder only affects a small number of people and there was actually an oxford
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university study in 2016 indicating gaming addiction might affect only about
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three percent of gamers at most but there are fears that the mere fact
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it's being recognized as a disease will result in heightened scrutiny on the
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game industry and on individual gamers themselves whose passion for their hobby
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could easily be mistaken as addiction to someone who doesn't share the same
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interests but with specialized clinics for treating compulsive gaming sprouting
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up around the world and with some countries like south korea even looking
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at banning children and teens from online gaming during certain hours
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who exactly is right here well we aren't
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doctors here at techwiki but here's what we can say with a fair degree of
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certainty if playing games is a major part of your life but it doesn't keep
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you from your other obligations and you don't have difficulty putting them down
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when you need to rock on brother
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but if you do think you might have a problem it's really important to
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remember that there is zero shame in seeking out help if you need it
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speaking of getting help if you're trying to stay private online pia is the
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help you need for that not only does pia work on up to five devices at once by
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the hands of advertisers and snoops and it even includes mace pia's built-in
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malware blocker pia supports multiple vpn protocols and encryption levels and
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they've got apps for Windows mac Android iOS Linux and a chrome extension with
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support for more platforms coming soon they've got over 3000 servers in 28
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countries and they do not log user activity so what are you waiting for
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check them out today at the link below so thanks for watching guys like dislike
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check out our other channels videos videos not channels
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okay that's that's the change in my outro comment with the
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video suggested and don't forget to subscribe and follow and don't forget to
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always watch these outros so you can watch me get upset at small
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changes i don't handle change well
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i just throw it away it's like what are these quarters no get rid of them no
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change for me