‘Gaming disorder’ - officially recognized by World Heath Org

[Boris13c]

yet another sign the world is going completely to hell

‘Gaming disorder’ is officially recognized by the World Health Organization

Honestly, “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.”

sorry, but I call bullshit

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

[wab]

It's just like any other addiction disorder.

[The Marshall Plan]

sorry, but I call bullshit

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

I see your point. When I was a kid, I pretty much wasn't allowed in the house during the summer when the weather is good. During the school year, homework first, then get out of the house and go play. Gaming was for bad weather, when I was sick, or before/after I could leave the house. I slept like a rock because of all the fresh air.

In my opinion, a lot of it comes down to parenting. Too many people don't want to be bothered to be the "bad guy" and tell the kid no. Or they see the gaming as a cheap way to know where the kid is at all times and its less work than driving them everywhere or wondering about where they are walking to.

Now that I'm a parent I have difficulty with this because my child is a real Tech Head. Very interested in technology and learning about that so its hard for me to figure how to balance a good intellectual curiosity with forcing my kid to do other activities like reading a book or playing with toys.

[bearsfaninaz]

To me I've enjoyed online gaming since EverQuest 20 years ago. It's a good place to meet people and be social, however the bad is definitely looking at a monitor for hours on end.

[skamanfrank]

Yet another sign that in modern society/culture fewer and fewer people are capable of accepting responsibility for the positions they find themselves in, in my opinion.

[Otis Day]

I am so not a techy or close to it. I have a flip phone for god's sake.

I told my kids early, you want to play games, we have a computer. You want Nintendo, Sega, xbox, playstation, buy that shit on your own. Once you buy it, half hr time limit. My oldest would go with me to my part time janitorial job and help. He saved the money and bought a Nintendo 64. He bought his own games or rented them with his own money. My daughter despised video games. My youngest, same thing. We have bought him games but not until the past couple of years (he is 19).

On vacation last week, could not believe the parents that were letting their young ones, pre-10 yr old, have tablets, phones and shit like that as they wheeled them around. None of them cared about the beautiful mountains or forests. Play the game and don't bother us is the message sent.

I could go on and on about how kids have been ruined, IMO, by technology. 1st graders with smart phones

[LacertineForest]

It's an interesting subject, and I agree with wab that it's like any other addiction. Yes, you voluntarily play games, but people voluntarily drink and, at some point, your brain chemistry makes it more difficult to quit. It's the same with more traditional forms of gaming - particularly gambling. Based on first-hand experience, I have no doubt the same is true for video games. As an adult, I still play games from time to time (maybe 1 or 2 a year), and when I decide to play something I get sucked in - really sucked in. I put over 100 hours into certain games and when I'm in the midst of a really engaging game, it's all I want to do. I get up extra early before work to play. I stay up late playing. I think about it frequently during the day and I even dream about it.

Being a mid-30's software engineer, my livelihood is dependent upon technology and I very much enjoy much of what technology has to offer. I do think my habit as a gamer and my interest in computers when I was younger led me to my career path, but that's not the norm - I knew what I wanted to do straight out of high school and succeeded in that. Most people take a little while to figure out what they really like to do.

I am not a parent (yet), but if/when I were, I would definitely restrict time spent gaming. If they want to spend time building something or learning programming languages or whatever, then fine, but I believe part of the reason I didn't become someone with "gaming disorder" is because I had sports, musical instruments to play, and other activities to keep my body and mind healthy.

I also agree with the sentiments about how young children are when people are giving them devices. It's good for kids to be technologically adept, but people are using them as a substitution for parenting, just like TV. Everything needs limits and boundaries or those kids are going to really struggle.

[malk]

It's an addiction and as such, generally exacerbated by external factors, inequality, social alienation, poor life prospects etc.

What's interesting is that people don't have the same concerns with kids who read a lot. One form of media being more valid than another. There's a strange hierarchy where some pursuits are fine and others are problematic, I'm not sure where it comes from.