Is video game addiction truly a

problem?

Losing oneself in a digitally produced other reality is a

common theme in science fiction. That dystopic image,
however, might be quite real for millions of people around the
world.

Many countries, particularly in China and South Korea, have

recognized excessive, compulsive online video game play,
such as League of Legends and World of Warcraft, as a
severe adolescent public health concern and have developed
treatment facilities (1). Teens' "addiction" to video games has
negative consequences that go beyond time spent studying or
socializing with their classmates. Video game addiction has
been linked to depression, attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)
(2). It's still unclear whether there's a cause-and-effect
relationship.
According to Philip Tam, a psychiatrist with the not-for-profit
Network for Internet Investigation and Research Australia in
Sydney, so-called Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) affects
those around them as well. In extreme cases, it has
reportedly resulted in household violence by children against
their parents who are attempting to take away their games. "A
lot of child psychologists say we have parents who are afraid
of their children," Tam explains.

It's still debatable if video games can cause actual addiction in

a clinical or scientific sense. Is it possible to consider a game
to be intoxicating? The evidence that games can operate like
traditional substances of addiction is emerging, with striking
parallels between the impact of drugs and video games on
users' minds. Many people are concerned, however, that
identifying youngsters as "addicts" may pathologize natural
behavior and lead to false epidemics of other compulsive
activities like sex and eating.

"I'm not sure there's any consensus in this profession right

now," says Nancy Petry, a professor of medicine at the
University of Connecticut in Farmington, who served on an
American Psychiatric Association committee that considered
including IGD in the most recent diagnostic manual but
decided to wait. "I believe it is most certainly a mental
disease, but I believe we need to better quantify what we're
investigating."