The Addiction Help .com

The article that was stated in yahoo today, http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20090420/hl_hsn/almost1in10youngvideogameusersaddicted

states 1 in 10 kids are addicted to video games. Being that I was brought up in a generation of videogames, I played a lot, and my parents felt that I had an addiction at 10 years old and throughout my teens. I'm 28 now and I have a normal job, went to college, live by myself, and my gpa is 3.5.

How accurate is this report? And how different is it from a gambling addiction? And is having a "video game" addiction as destructive as it's saying in this report as some other addictions?
I nearly forgot about Warcraft and Everquest... yeah those people are just crazy. I think that some...not all...people that play those games all the time are lacking something in their lives. But too much of anything is a bad thing right?

addiction is the state of being enslaved by any sort of habit, so of course there can be addiction to video games. addiction can be to ANYTHING. about it being just as destructive as say gambling, it depends on what the time playing video games is taking away. with gambling you can obviously lose all your money and ruin your life/marriage/ect. you were able to make the time to do well in school and get a job, so you obviously were able to give up plenty of your video gaming time to do this. i would say no addiction there, but for others it really could be a problem. like people who surround there life with games and won't get jobs.

2009-04-20 11:18:04 by matthaumschild

A movie I recently made for an English Class giving some statistics about gambling addictions

Just wondering, I think it seem absurd that people can be addicted to an activity counted as a hobby. I mean a drug addiction is one thing but how can a person be physically addicted to video games?

You are confusing the issue, there are physical and mental addictions, affecting the body, mind or both. In some cases, drugs affect both, or only one- and things like video games and gambling affect only mental function. When a behavior becomes disruptive to normal functioning, or interferes with normal day to day activities, or becomes a threat to welfare, you have crossed the line between hobby and addiction. A hobby is something you do for pleasure, it should not induce a stress reaction if you can't do it. It also should not prevent you from being able to pay the bills on time, or risk the family home- as gambling can certainly do. Video games that keep you from interacting meaningfully with other people, or limit your conversational ability to gaming subjects also cross the line. You are not physically addicted in the sense that the body function will suffer if you withdraw the thing, but you are mentally addicted because it is interfering with your ability to function otherwise. Mental addictions are also the hardest to break. The body itself can remove most of the chemicals itself, if you aren't putting more in- it can't exactly purge the brain cells though. Either way- when something interferes with your ability to function normally, then you have a problem. It may have started as a hobby, like the odd dropping of coins in a bandit out of boredom, or the toke of a joint at a party. But when it becomes the center of your existance, and you don't function without it- you have an addiction, physical or mental as the case may be.

2008-04-07 19:40:05 by G-unit

Price: $10.99

I hear tons of things getting thrown around. Drugs, Gambling, Video Games, Sex and Drinking. What addiction makes you a loser?

Denying that you are addicted to something makes you a loser.

2008-07-06 00:09:19 by helloween_619

I'm only asking this because the person closest to me seems to have a problem (much like gambling or drugs)...video games consume our life because of it. Every time there is a new game or new system it's instantly in our possession and it's whittling away our finances. I understand that many people, including myself, find them fun and a lot of people would say, well it's just a hobby...but when a hobby consumes your pay check and your way of life so much so as to that's all you do and you live just to shop for them (many of which we don't even ever play)....is that too much?
does anybody else have a problem with video games? Is anybody willing to admit it's a problem for them? and ...how exactly do you tone it down as to where you're only getting a game or two every other month or so like a normal person?

It depends on the person's personality, not on the game.
Some people possess addictive personalities and can be addicted to anything easily - such as drugs, gambling, or like you said - video games.
People who have controlled personalities, and who are responsible for themselves - can stop whenever they want.

2007-07-09 09:13:24 by crisis

The way I understand addiction is that it is a chemical process in the brain of the addicted person. How can I become addicted to something that doesn't interact with my brain chemistry in any meaningful way?

Everything you do affects brain chemistry in a meaningful way. Everything you do can be addictive. You have to distinguish healthy dependency from unhealthy addiction. Breathing, loving, physical comfort, healthy eating -- they're all good! Anything you depend on that is unhealthy can be termed addiction. Drink a little wine to relax -- healthy. Drink a little too much and get arrested -- unhealthy. Eat and enjoy it to the right amount -- healthy. Eat and enjoy it to the point of obesity -- unhealthy.

This is why some addictions are so hard to break, like food and sex. You can go cold turkey off of heroin or alcohol or cocaine, but you better not do that off of food!

Don't think of addictions as abnormal behavior, but normal behavior done abnormally, either to excess or simply without regard to harmful consequences.

2006-04-12 05:53:54 by faithwarrior118