Video game addiction, is it real? Is it a problem?
It was only about a month ago when I finally manage to have a firsthand experience in the video gaming culture. This new culture is highly popular in youths nowadays, because it is fun and everyone is doing it which basically makes it a norm. However, for those involved, does it produce a constant invisible threat to their well-being? In other words, does video game addiction exist to those who are susceptible to it? Easy answer, yes it does.
Majority of people are unaware to its existence, because I think it’s the kind of thing that you really have to experience it for yourself to really understand what it is all about. Thus, video game addiction is really hard to explain and since it is not officially recognize by the American Medical Association as a mental disorder, makes it far more dangerous than other addictions. Just like playing the slot machine, video game manufacturers has successfully found a way to encourage obsessive playing through a psychological mechanism known as “variable rate of reinforcement”. This is where fake or virtual rewards and achievements are given to players for completing something like a level or a mission. It is hard to believe but this actually feeds people’s need in their desire to complete one, two, three missions and it never stops because more missions just keep coming. For online video game such as World of Warcraft and Call of Duty, its either you are addicted to it or you don’t play it at all. It is hard to be in the middle due to the obsessive playing required to reach maximum level and get the best items which keeps on being added in every update.
So why should we care about this? Although the U.S. has not seen much of this addiction yet, it is a major concern in countries such as South Korea and China due to their fast broadband and easy access to video gaming. To make it worse, most of those involved in these are kids or youths, whom are the future of the country. It has been reported that at least three million South Koreans are addicted to video games and with the plan for a huge upgrade of the U.S. broadband by the FCC by 2020, this numbers could reach the U.S. and even surpass it very soon.
To those who don’t know this by now, youths or students these days are more vulnerable to video gaming addiction because of boredom and difficulty in socializing. However, for a student, video game addiction usually leads them to stop going to classes, running out of money, violence and sleep deprive. What's more, these video game addicts are usually the last one to notice that they are addicted to video gaming and when that happens, all is too late because by then, they already had been kicked out of school or having major health issues due to excessive gaming. Even worse, so far twelve deaths have been associated with video gaming addiction. Blood cloth has been known to develop from sitting for too long due to excessive gaming. Also, due to need of high concentration needed to play video games, it is common for video gamer addicts to lose track of time. Another story is when a baby dies of hunger because both young parents were too addicted to video games and forgot to feed their child.
Don’t get me wrong, there are benefits, but the harm that is caused by video gaming usually always outweighs it all the time. This is why video game is such a dangerous tool, when not controlled. Like everything, too much of anything is not good. Moderation is the key when it comes to playing video games. Therefore, the government, teachers, parents and the general public should take early precaution to prevent this problem before it comes to the U.S.
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