Video game addiction statistics
The French gaming site, jeuxjeuxjeux recently sent me this cool graphic about video game addiction. They specialize in games development, and wanted to draw people’s attention to video game addiction. I also think that it’s important that we recognize how real this kind of addiction is. The main source of their research was the On-Line Gamers Anonymous website (olganon.org) . You may have heard of some of these statistics before … but just take a look at them now!
Infographic by JeuxJeuxJeux.fr
Effects of video game addiction
Some people think that video game addiction should not be included as a psycho-somatic illness in the Diagnositic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. But it seems pretty clear to me that video game addiction can have some very serious consequences. What do you think? Should we taking gaming addiction more seriously? How real is the threat of cuasing harm because of video games? Are people who are harming others predisposed to violence or is their violence brought on by gaming?
It not the video game that causing the death. It the health problem.
Ok, I agree with Jake. Video games have NOT affected people with stable mind sets. However, those few out their who have a mental condition, one that may not be know, should not be allowed to play video games and should be on medication, but the other 99.9% of the world is ok to play video games. Also, for those parents out there, DO NOT TAKE AWAY YOU’RE CHILD’S GAME!!! Just limit it and not by much. For example, Tommy (not a real person), plays Xbox for 12 hours a day. Only limit him to 8 hours. Not a dramatic drop so the reaction wont be violent, and only match the act taken. Smaller the action, the smaller the reaction. Then with that extra time get him interested in other activities, and so on his own he will slowly leave the controller down and pick up the baseball glove. See what I’m saying?
OK I’ve heard things about WoW but farmville seriously.
in fact its only the mentaly unstabe gamers that cause truoble. video games are great for entertainment and the youger poeple know it.
I think you address a very good point, Amanda. We, as parents, can limit the amount of time children spend doing anything….simply by setting and keeping boundaries with them. I have a feeling that if a child is playing hours and hours of video games, their parents do not have the means to change this…or they would!
But video games can also be a health way to socialize and get together. Hey, it’s better than drinking and drugging!
The statistics about how many young people are addicted to gaming is startling. I knew it was getting out of control, but never thought it would be as bad as it is. I do think we should be taking video game addiction a lot more seriously. If this addiction has caused some people to commit murder then it’s a very serious situation, and needs to be addressed immediately. I am not a psychiatrist, but I believe certain games can cause people to become violent. If we see violence on a daily basis for multiple hours at a time, then we would be more likely to act violently towards others. Playing video games is something I do not let the children in my life do, and hope other parents finally realize how big a threat gaming can be.
i can vouch for wow being bad, i’ve used my friends and family to get me through quitting – its rough.
my friend dedicated an entire website to quitting and staying away, even included a how-to guide for parents
quitwow [dot] blogspot [dot] com