Is computer game the addiction the same as other kinds (ie drugs)?
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Ame_Evil (
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February 27th, 2010
I’ve just been sitting here doing my lab work and part of it got me thinking about the similarity between computer game addictions – such as online games – and that in drugs. You can argue that both contain reinforcement and withdrawal effects in certain people but to what extent are these addictions the same?
I will not lie, when I was younger I was addicted to online games to the extent it housed all my entertainment needs. However I found that after years it got boring, and subsequent games that I played equally got boring to the extent I am not an “addict” anymore. However I believe this is not true for other addictions such as drug abuse. I have never heard of anyone getting bored of meth and whatnot.
So what extent are these addictions the same? Do you have any experiences, evidence or explanations that will be enlightening? Or is there anything else that can build upon these ideas already stated?
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23 Answers
No. But it is the same as gambling.
They are comparable. Just this week I heard from a friend how his 12year old kid happened to copy his credit card info. In the course of 1 month, the kid had charged several online games using his CC…total tab over $300.
At the same time. the kid’s teachers started to get in touch becasue the grades were slipping and were not handing over HW. The kid also lost weight because he was staying up late and always not hungry to skimp on meals so as to have more time playing.
Almost any activity can become what can be characterized as an addiction. Too much of any thing that then becomes all consuming and takes over your life is not always a good thing. I once had to do an intervention on a friend who played the Kazoo 24/7…it was not pretty.
Perhaps they just keep swapping the drugs, you know like you are swapping the venues.
Drugs and computer games..hmmmm…can you stuff your monitor in a pipe??
World of Warcraft seems to suggest being a video game addict is possible.
Obsession is a hallmark of an addict and plenty of people are obsessed with WoW.
@njnyjobs That isn’t addiction. That is bad parenting.
Well, a person addicted to gaming won’t go into physical withdraw without it, but the psychological addiction and daily habit is the same. It’s that way with any indulgence.
@Grisaille if the kid was using drugs, I would also call it bad parenting…. but the fact remains that it has the parallel effect on the child.
Parallel effect? How are these two scenarios in any way parallel?
In one situation, Kid X spends 18 hours a day playing a video game, locked in his room.
In the other, he’s using drugs. Possibility of overdose. Permanent physiological/neurological damage. Constant dealings with criminals. No way is it parallel.
I did some things I am not proud of for some WoW gold…
Online gaming can be an addiction, and while I don’t think it’s the exact same thing as a drug addiction, it still has altered people’s lives in significant ways.
Online addiction itself has been recognized as a legitimate addiction, I’m sure games are included somewhere in there.
It’s not officially recognized as such (yet) but it is basically a “process addiction” like shopping, gambling, and sex.
Yeah it’s the exact same thing an addiction is an addiction is an addiction. The difference is the side effects and what it does to you. Where drugs mess up your health, video games can isolate you from the world and can impact your life just like drugs would.
www.therazors-edge.com
@Ame_Evil I read somewhere that not all cocaine addicts end up destroyed or dead: sometimes they simply just stop using the drug. Does anyone know about this? But you do outgrow some addictions: games, gambling, drinking: my mother tells me that my father stopped drinking once the children started coming. And it is a fact that in all my life the one and only time I saw him drunk was at a friend’s wedding (he and the bride’s father got into a case of champagne)
Smoke Weed Its The Way To Go!! :D
The two are very similar, though I would say the adverse effects are seen later though.
Drugs cause a physiological addiction, gaming only psychological. I think the descriptor “addiction” is overworked nowadays. It is applied to any who lack self discipline.
Psychological dependence on an activity is the same whether it involves games, gambling, sexual activity, eating food or anything else.
Drug dependence involves biochemical processes that compound psychological dependence with physical dependence.
If any activity is interfering with your ability to function, you have to deal with that problem head-on. Failure to do so will not serve your long term interests.
Take control of your life!
It can be, but the word addiction is being tossed around way too mauch these days.
I’m glad people didn’t think every hobby was an addiction when I was little. I read books every minute of every day I could, including under my desk at school, and under my blankets at night. My Dad built me a little reading room just for me, so I wouldn’t keep the bathroom occupied too much.
ad·dic·tion: noun
the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.
Yeah, that pretty much defines anyone that plays World of Warcraft ^_^
There’s a lot of obsessive compulsive behavior which isn’t an addiction, but still a major problem.
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