As I read this article College Students Vulenerbel to Web Addiction, I was rather stunned to find that there is a serious consideration that videogames, web games, and digital writing tools such as Facebook and Twitter should be classified as a possible addiction. I laughed at the thought, really how could these be an addiction? When I think of things that are addictive items, I think of the obvious, Cocaine, Crack, Meth, Heroin, and alcohol. These things after some time claim the lives of it's users in horrific ways. I never heard of Facebook defiling your looks while giving you hepatitis in a hotel room with a hooker. I've never passed out with my Xbox controller hanging from my arm after I overdosed on too much game playing. And I can honestly say I have never puked after playing too many hours Solitaire on the computer. So what makes these professionals so knowledgeable on what makes something an addictive item that requires a rehabilitation center in Redmond, Washington?
Monday, September 14, 2009
Goodbye AA, Hello GA
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The thing with addiction is that it isn't generally about the physical manifestation of an addiction, by which I mean that a heroin addiction isn't particularly damning because of track-marked arms or waking up in grim and dirty alleyways. Rather, it's the total loss of control of the addict over his environment; by becoming addicted, he has permitted (or had happen, whatevs) himself to allow a certain element of his life to dominate the other aspects of his life. While a heroin addiction may certainly kill you, it's pretty much guaranteed to destroy whatever life you've built for yourself.
ReplyDeleteSo, too, for the Internet and videogames; numerous South Koreans have died from exhaustion in gaming cafes, and countless thousands of American students have failed out of college due to a problem with gaming. Even though it isn't physically addicting quite in the sense of a junkie with track-marks, it's still an element of someone's life that was allowed to come to dominate other aspects of it.
As a final thought, gaming in general triggers dopamine release in the brain - this is the same reaction that causes narcotics and pharmaceuticals to have their power over humans. It stimulates the reward center of the brain, and often, the dopamine rush from killing a boss in a videogame can be greater than the dopamine rush from almost anything else they experience - which paves a pretty clear path for addiction.
I can see people get addicted to just about everything. Though I don't think the solution is to put them into some fancy treatment program. I think treatment should be something along the line of face-to-face social skills.
ReplyDeleteI've known quite a few people who felt more comfortable online than they do in actual face-to-face sessions (myself included in many ways). I was never very good with social interactions and so I would come home from school and sit online for hours until I either had to do homework, which I did while online, or I had to sleep. It never actually turned into an addiction but more of an escape from pressure.
The root of the problem is that its easier to talk to people online because you don't have to worry about rejection because 'they're just a name on a screen' or because the game you're playing doesn't change the rules on you like work does. All that is fine and dandy until you get someone with an addictive personality. These people don't have the same behavior controls as most people and are more likely to get involved in something that encompasses their life.
It's not the same type of addiction as heroin or cocaine, but it's the same as far as the person lets the twitter updates or facebook updates take over their life. They don't see themselves outside of that social circle that they've created and continually goes back to it for reinforcement, comfort, and social networking that they aren't equipped to handle in their 'real' lives.
Practically any activity can be addicting. The media just likes to portray videogames this way. Anything you do that could potentially be "addicting" you should have the self control to only do that thing in moderation. It's just silly to say that college students are "vulnerable" to web addiction.
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