‘Gaming disorder’ is officially recognized by the World Health Organization
sorry, but I call bullshitHonestly, “gaming disorder” sounds like a phrase tossed around by irritated parents and significant others. After much back and forth, however, the term was just granted validity, as the World Health Organization opted to include it in the latest edition of its Internal Classification of Diseases.
The volume, out this week, diagnoses the newly minted disorder with three key telltale signs:
1) Impaired control over gaming (e.g. onset, frequency, intensity, duration, termination, context)
2) Increasing priority given to gaming to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other life interests and daily activities
3)Continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences
I can hear the collective sound of many of my friends gulping at the sound of eerily familiar symptoms. Of course, the disorder has been criticized from a number of corners, including health professionals who have written it off as being overly broad and subjective. And, of course, the potential impact greatly differs from person to person and game to game.
The effects as specified above share common ground with other similar addictive activities defined by the WHO, including gambling disorder:
“Disorders due to addictive behaviours are recognizable and clinically significant syndromes associated with distress or interference with personal functions that develop as a result of repetitive rewarding behaviours other than the use of dependence-producing substances,” writes the WHO. “Disorders due to addictive behaviors include gambling disorder and gaming disorder, which may involve both online and offline behaviour.”
this is a sad testament to society as a whole that any time someone has issues due to voluntary activities they participate in they can just say "oh, but it's not my fault - I have a disorder"
sounds to me a bunch of knuckleheads simply need to have their controllers smashed by hammers right in front of them and their gaming consoles locked up for a while