Ehhects of Video Game Addiction

Mario Diaz

20 November 2009

Effects of Video Game Addiction: It’s real and it’s Harmful

A large amount of people nowadays can say they have played a video game at one time or another during their lifetime, whether it was back in the eighties with the Atari, or modern Xbox and PlayStation. Technology has advanced greatly and the graphics of video games are better than ever, inviting and enthralling the gamers into entire new worlds of fiction where anything is possible. However, has anyone ever wondered about the people who don’t ever stop playing these games? The ones who keep up with the latest game releases and updates? These people’s lives revolve entirely around games and the technology of them. Although some people argue that video games can’t possibly become an addiction, the truth is that video games often become addictive and the effects are undeniable, because video game addiction leads to dependency in different levels, as well diverse health problems, and even death.

The addiction to video games is said to start as a habit which later turns into a fully develop dependency. In fact, in the article, “When Play Turns to Trouble,” author Jennifer S. Wagner states “studies show that 92 percent of children under age 18 play regularly, and according to the Media Lab State University, about 8.5 percent of 8-to-18-year old gamers can be considered pathologically addicted.” But that’s not all; according to Wagner nearly one quarter of young people consisting of mostly males have actually admitted that they’ve felt addicted.

But what are the symptoms of this so called “video game addiction”? According to Lee Kem’s article “Gamer Addiction: A Threat to Student Success! What Advisors Need to Know” some of the recognized symptoms have been described as intense pleasure consequent to video game play and guilt due to the feeling of time wasted playing instead of addressing issues. In addition another symptom of video game addiction is, obsessing over video games...