Video Game Addiction TedX Talk - Page 8

On November 05 2013 11:28 SjPhotoGrapher wrote:
Honestly, on second thought.....a gaming addiction might not be the problem. The problem might be that gaming is your calling and that you should figure out how to make a living doing it if you love it so much.

I don't buy into the whole "addiction" manual diagnoses as those are just another way to get Doctors to prescribe medications instead of fixing the core issue or because the person doesn't want to contribute to society by working a dead end 9-5 they consider it a "problem".

I suggest to the OP that he gets back into playing games and figures out how to make a living at what he loves to do. Ask yourself....without money being an issue, what would you love to do the most? If gaming is the answer, than it is what it is.....go pursue it.

You can become a gaming journalist, a streamer and eventually get to a pro level, a coach, a game designer, game tester, etc etc.

Tap into what you love to do and do it for a living. Most people don't know what they love to do in life, you do and you should tap into it.

On November 05 2013 13:10 RuskiPanda wrote:


And then you have the thousands of entry level game industry guys who don't realize how awful of a business it is with high competition and long soul-sucking hours. Lots of people "love" games but I don't think you can necessarily say they all want or need a career out of it.

On November 02 2013 12:16 ZERG_RUSSIAN wrote:

I agree with you, we should all support anyone who decides that they want out of an addiction. That being said:

While I agree that addiction is generally bad, there are a lot of reasons which drive people to drink or do drugs or play video games. Sometimes it's an escape from reality, sometimes it's for pleasure, or whatever reason--that's not the point. The point is that it's not really anyone's place to decide but the individual's. Sure, I don't recommend abusing drugs or alcohol, but if the choice is between that or hurting people or actively killing themselves? I'd much rather have them in a state of functional addiction which can be treated than have anyone dead anywhere. That's a personal opinion of mine.

Video games in particular are not incredibly harmful compared to other potentially addictive activities or substances and I think that they are a healthy coping mechanism for many people. There is no reliable, agreed-upon criteria for "addiction" to video games and that's why I think it's important to recognize how subjective our views about it can be. Your definition of addiction might differ wildly from the person who you think is "addicted", and who's to say who's right?

BUT! We're in luck! The American Psychiatric Association has proposed criteria for Internet Gaming Disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 5th Edition under the "Conditions for Further Study" section, which may eventually become a part of the revisions to the manual at a later date. Here they are, for posterity:

The manual further goes on to describe the PROPOSED disorder in more detail, listing Subtypes (none currently identified), Diagnostic Features, Associated Features Supporting Diagnosis, Prevalence ("seems highest in Asian countries and in male adolescents 12-20 years of age"), Risk and Prognostic Factors (Environmental; Genetic and physiological), Functional Consequences of Internet Gaming Disorder, Differential Diagnosis (social media use and porn are not considered analogous; excessive gambling online may qualify for a separate diagnosis of gambling disorder), and Comorbidity (Major Depressive Disorder, Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder).

Again, this is PROPOSED and has not been approved as the actual criteria or even if it is a disorder to be included in the DSM-5.x yet.

Also, in terms of clinical use, the DSM is never used as a cookbook--it is simply a manual to talk about individuals without having to describe all of their symptoms to other clinicians. Instead of saying "paranoid ideations, command hallucinations, unstable mood, flat affect, etc. etc. etc." we can just say "schizophrenic" or "schizoaffective" or "bipolar I with psychotic features" and it's easy to differentiate between someone whose psychotic symptoms occur only when their mood disorder flares up and someone who has no mood disorder but psychosis and someone who has permanent psychotic symptoms as well as an unrelated mood disorder. THIS IS NOT SOMETHING YOU CAN JUST LABEL SOMEONE WITH BECAUSE THEY MEET SYMPTOM REQUIREMENTS. IT IS ULTIMATELY THE CLINICIAN'S JUDGMENT. This manual just makes things easier to talk about with other people.

Personally, I disagree with their proposed criteria in multiple spots and think it needs a LOT of rewriting and revision!

On November 06 2013 00:21 sc4k wrote:
Absolutely ^, well said neotheone. I think 1 2 3 5 and 8 could be applied to almost any passion that anyone has. Be it fishing, jiu jitsu, knitting, sex etc. It's annoying when the mundane gets confused with the legitimately serious in these sorts of things.

On November 06 2013 00:27 Lysteria wrote:
When you met only 1 or 2 of those criteras, I don't think there is much of a problem, it's mostly when you can recognize yourself into at least 5 or 6 of them.

On November 06 2013 21:52 Colbert wrote:
Ok I’m back after traveling through Poland the last few days. Again if anybody has any specific questions I’m happy to answer them.

General thoughts on the criteria: I’m extremely hesitant to want to encourage medical diagnosis when it comes to gaming if it entails giving people medication. I’m a strong believer in helping someone come to their own conclusion about wanting to move on from games and simply educating them on the underlying reasons why they play. I’ve found major success in helping people overcome this “addiction” by this simple formula. The whole medical diagnosis, encouraging a solution full of medication scares the shit out of me.

@ ZERG_RUSSIAN - I definitely understand. I guess the question comes down to what the line is between someone like yourself who is fine and someone who is not. The affect on your daily life and responsibilities is a major part of that in my opinion.

@ NEOtheONE - Thanks for commenting. I guess a big part of the equation is what’s the percentage of people who are doing fine in their life playing 8 hours a day and what’s the percentage of people who are not. I’m excited to see what the research will say over the next few years as people begin to take this “addiction” more seriously, but I do think there is certainly a large number of people who DO have a problem.

The underlying issues are definitely the thing you need to fix, it’s just a matter of identifying who has a problem and then how to fix it. I’ve seen this exact method work in the blog post I wrote on how to quit playing video games. People are searching for the answer to why they play so much (they literally google “how to quit playing video games”) and then the blog post shows them that the reason they play are for various underlying issues. Unfortunately, the awareness they have around what the underlying issues are (prior to reading the post) is not much.

In other words, they have a better chance of googling “how to quit playing video games” then they do of googling “how to make more friends"

When it comes to the ADHD argument, I guess for me it’s very tricky. I was “diagnosed” as ADHD because I couldn’t pay attention in school. But it had nothing to do with my ability to focus, and everything to do with the fact that I was straight up BORED at school because the curriculums were not interesting at all. On the contrary, I had absolutely no problem focusing on learning about entrepreneurship because it interested me.

@ goody153 - Thanks for your comment. Cool to hear it helped you learn English!

@ SjPhotoGrapher - I think this is a really fine line. The whole idea of gaming being your calling can be one of the biggest rationalizations of pursuing a lifestyle that is not healthy or serving you. In my opinion, I’m cautious around the idea of gaming being your calling because many people who are addicted have never had a chance to experience other hobbies. In my own particular experience, over the last 5 years of not playing games I’ve realized I never even cared much about the games, I cared about WHY I played the games. Now I do activities like DJ, travel and work on entrepreneurship… which in my own opinion have been much closer to my “calling” than video games were. Not that this is the case for everybody, but I think it’s important to be careful with that type of rationalization.

I do believe you should find what you love and go after it. I just don’t think it’s always what you “think” in the moment and it’s important to expand our horizons before dedicating our lives to the one thing we know.

On November 08 2013 06:55 NEOtheONE wrote:
The important thing to remember when dealing with underlying issues of any type is that there are 2 words that are key. Insight and Judgment. Insight addresses someone's ability to recognize how he/she contributes to his/her own problems and Judgment covers the ability to make healthier decisions in the future. Like my Nintendo Rehabilitation Clinic t-shirt says, the first step is admitting you have a problem. Many people not functioning at "normal levels" have some insight into their problems, but when it comes to addiction and compulsions, judgment is what is usually lacking.

Honestly, I believe with proper diagnostic criteria the number of people with this "addiction" or compulsion is significantly smaller than what the current criteria would end up suggesting. I'm curious as to gamers' thoughts on differentiating between normal use and problem use. I know where I would draw the line as a counseling professional, but I want to see where you would draw the line.

On November 09 2013 23:21 Colbert wrote:


I definitely agree with the difference between Insight and Judgment. I have a close cousin who's an alcoholic and I've experienced the lack of Judgment piece time and time again. It's been years of this back and forth.

Truthfully I'm unsure where I would draw the line. The medical diagnosis element of this is something I have little to no experience in.

One insight to consider is I know there will certainly be a difference in opinion on what a healthy level of gaming is between gamers and the rest of society. I can't say for a fact that either side has the right argument on this question either. Looking back to my own experience playing games and in the moment what I thought was a healthy amount, compared to now and the type of lifestyle I live, it's difficult to decipher exactly what a healthy amount is.

On October 24 2013 07:26 [GiTM]-Ace wrote:
I wonder though how much video game activity is ok. Because isn't it all a waste a time in the long run anyway?

Like some games I definitely just wasted countless hours playing. Starcraft I wasted a lot of time but it also led me to poker which led me to going places I never went before and meeting people I've never met. So I don't reall regret that at least.

On November 09 2013 23:21 Colbert wrote:


I definitely agree with the difference between Insight and Judgment. I have a close cousin who's an alcoholic and I've experienced the lack of Judgment piece time and time again. It's been years of this back and forth.

Truthfully I'm unsure where I would draw the line. The medical diagnosis element of this is something I have little to no experience in.

One insight to consider is I know there will certainly be a difference in opinion on what a healthy level of gaming is between gamers and the rest of society. I can't say for a fact that either side has the right argument on this question either. Looking back to my own experience playing games and in the moment what I thought was a healthy amount, compared to now and the type of lifestyle I live, it's difficult to decipher exactly what a healthy amount is.

On November 10 2013 02:28 Thalandros wrote:
I used to be kind of addicted to World of Warcraft. I'd play it in all my spare time. Then for some reason I started looking analystically at games like TB, and not just WoW. I eventually stopped playing, now play single player games from time to time but as my main game Starcraft.. And I don't see starcraft as an addiction because I watch/play it 6 hours a day. It's more of a passion. World of Warcraft: that was kind of an addiction. I wanted to paly, even though I made no progress that entire day. My friends were on there. Right now: Yes, I feel very comfortable behind my PC because it's what I'm very used to and like a lot, but Starcraft is a passion of mine, and not an addiction. Does anyone else feel this way?