Gaming addiction discussion

A few days ago, my school held a Pastoral Day for Year 11. They sat us down and talked to us about some issues involving adolescents. One of these issues was Gaming Addiction, and with a hall which was nearly full of students calling themselves gamers, it was probably the most involving topic of the day.

It was clear from the outset that the teacher's knowledge of gaming was quite limited, with her only sources of information probably coming from a 7pm Project report about addiction a few days earlier and numerous COD groups on facebook.

She showed us two reports about gaming addiction. The first one was horribly narrow minded in it's documentation, only showing the stereotyped gamer of today, that is a person who is 'fat, wears glasses and spends their time infront of a computer in a dark room'. The second report was one recently shown on the 7 pm project, which was better in its research; interviewing gamers and professionals in the field of addiction.

She then opened up the discussion to the students; asking us some signs of addiction. Here are two telltale signs of addiction to video games courtesy of some students:

1. When you can't live without it.
2. When you start talking in real life like you would in the internet.

Really? When I can't live without it? Now I can't live without food, am I addicted to food? I can't live without breathing, am I addicted to breathing?

It made me angry, because some of the apparent signs of addiction were just absurd generalisations. At the end of the discussion she said put up your hand if you answered yes to any of these signs mentioned. At this point I had to object, saying that some of the signs mentioned in the discussion were not indicative of what addiction is.

Is addiction a bad thing? My computer defines addiction as 'great interest in a particular thing, to which a lot of time is devoted'.

So by this definition, Roger Federer is addicted to tennis. He has a great interest in it and has devoted a lot of time to the sport. Look where it's got him, it hasn't ruined his life in any way, but he is now the greatest tennis player of all time. Because he was 'addicted' to tennis.

The biggest mistake the teacher made was that she failed to define 'addiction', and through this, everyone automatically got the perception that 'addiction' is a bad thing. The excerpts she showed us only depicted the bad side of 'addiction', when in fact, the term probably belongs in a gray area.

What's my view of the whole thing? Addiction takes a turn for the worse when it leads to negative things.

Addicted to gaming? Fine. Addicted to gaming and it's destroying your social life? That's when it gets bad. I think I am addicted to gaming, but as with anything else, it's obviously detrimental to other aspects in your life when in excess.