Pawning Video Game Addiction
OPINION
Yes, there's much talk and seemingly intelligent discussion about what has come to be seen as a new phenomena accompanying the wide distribution of computer technology to the general public over the past fifteen years. Video game addiction, though not a
The word “addiction” is a scientific/medical term with an accepted definition, however, and it’s important that this word be defined before any further discussion of this subject is pursued. The first, most obvious place to check (for Americans) is the National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.A.). However, with an advanced search using the word “addiction”, no definition appears anywhere on their website. It may well be the medical community is so well acquainted with this word it need not be rehashed for their purposes. Yet, this site is partially for the benefit of the public. Failing this, Merriam – Webster is a natural next move. Here is found:
ad·dic·tion
Pronunciation: &-'dik-sh&n
Function: noun
1 : the quality or state of being addicted, addiction to reading
2 : compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal; broadly : persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful
The problem with using Merriam – Webster is that they have a policy to convert words used in the vernacular to a form of formality by virtue of frequency of use. Therefore, they tend to adopt the “accepted” definition according to social practice, and not with a rule of language precision. However, for the sake of this discussion, it may be useful to accept this definition. (An attempt to find the Oxford English Dictionary resulted in a web page requiring membership and dues, which were deemed unnecessary for this writing for financial reasons.)
I intend to refer to this definition during the course of this discussion of video game addiction (VGA), for I wish to examine this supposed case for VGA along two avenues with which I am personally quite familiar. The first involves what I’ve come to learn of substance addiction; specifically heroin and alcohol. (Though I’ve never been addicted to these, I have many close friends and four close relatives who have, and I feel confident this empirical knowledge is well accompanied by a wealth of scientific data readily available on-line.) The purpose of this is to test the veracity of the use of the word “addiction” when describing certain intensities of video game play.
The other avenue I wish to pursue relates to my involvement in playing the game of basketball. The purpose of this is to discover whether any characteristics I personally showed as a child, adolescent and adult can be found within the observed behavior of someone supposedly addicted to other games. Obviously my career in basketball was sanctioned by both the community and educational system which oversaw my development as a child. I first began playing league ball at the age of six and played continually for eleven years; from little league to varsity high school. I then coached women’s basketball for three years.
To establish the grounds upon which this examination of VGA will occur, I will here introduce four sources found in the Google search of “video game addiction.” I selected those sources which dealt most directly with this as a subject:
(1.) "TheParentReport.com was developed as an extension to the internationally syndicated radio program titled: The Parent Report. This daily radio program airs across North America and is heard by over 800,000 listeners. The site is owned and operated by WM Communications Inc. from its offices in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada."
(2.) The National Institute on Media and the Family - founded by David Walsh, Ph.D., in 1996, “The leading organization examining the impact of electronic media on families.”
(3.) Berkeley Parents Network - Advice, discussions, and reviews from the Parents of Teens weekly email newsletter. “This web site contains thousands of pages of recommendations and advice from the Berkeley Parents Network, a parent-to-parent advice newsletter for the community of parents in the Berkeley, California area. Formerly called ‘UCB Parents’, the network is run by a group of volunteer parents in their ‘spare’ time...We are called the Berkeley Parents Network because we began as an organization for parents who work at the University of California at Berkeley.”
(4.) Computer Addiction Services, Maressa Hecht Orzack, Ph.D. “For over 15 years Dr. Orzack, a licensed clinical psychologist, has treated addictive behaviors at McLean Hospital, where she is founder and coordinator of the Computer Addiction Service and a member of the Harvard Medical School faculty. She is also a faculty member of the Cognitive Therapy Program, and in private practice in Newton Centre, Massachusetts. In addition she has studied recreational drug use and thinks that inappropriate computer use is similar. Her sense is that we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg. Our society is becoming more and more computer dependent not only for information, but for fun and entertainment. This trend is a potential problem affecting all ages, starting with computer games for kids....”
Personally, I was more than a little disappointed that these represent the stature and quality of available sources (on-line) dealing with what they themselves contend is a condition resulting from playing video games that can be tagged with the same appellation which we use for junkies and alcoholics – addiction. I was quick to note there was no reference for the NIMH, Mayo Clinic, or any other credible source with regard to medical matters. There wasn’t even a reference to the New England Journal of Medicine, the medical profession’s own journal of record. Furthermore, upon examining these sites, I found the great weight of their material was anecdotal in nature with no medical studies to back up any findings, but for their own extrapolations made by intuiting similarities in conditions, which is a purely arbitrary practice by nature – drawing parallels. However, these sources make the case for the alleged VGA, and if you examine them you’ll find they follow the same lines with little variation. Not surprisingly, the one source, (4.), which author seemed qualified enough to address this subject is an advertisement to sell her services to cure people of this VGA.
At this point it is helpful to present how this condition is defined by those who believe it exists. This definition, or set of symptoms, is repeated with little variation in all the above sources, so I’ll present those enumerated by source (4.), the author of which is also offering treatment. I’ve left in the misspellings, since as a journalist, such mistakes (I was taught) reflect upon ones credibility:
“Do any of these stories sound familiar to you?
At Home:
A mother has difficulty getting her child to do chores when computer games occupy all after school time. A husband finds his wife increasingly neglects family duties, is irritable at family gatherings, and the phone bill has risen astronomically to an on-line service number. Someone connects to the Internet at 9:00 PM and suddenly discovers it is dawn and he has not left the computer.
At School:
A child's grades fall and the teacher notes that he/she is falling asleep in class.
A college freshman gets a mid-term warning because he is not keeping up with course work. Instead, he is spending every evening on the Internet communicating with all his family and former high school classmates, and rarely joins in social activities on campus.
At Work:
An employee starts to fall behind at work and a rising number of sick days raises questions about usefulness to his/her employer. A corporate department head stays late each night to meet deadlines. In-house monitoring of computer use reveals he frequently accesses inappropriate sites, including gambling and pornography. An office supervisor suddently resigns from her job. A lot of work is unfinished and the company asks her family to encurage her to return. They find her at home, hunched over a computer and out cold completely oblivious to her surroundings.
These are all examples of a condition called Computer Addiction, Internet Addictive Disorder or Cyberaddiction. It is a problem very similar to Pathological Gambling or Compulsive Shopping. Like other addictions, it affects other people, family, friends, and co-workers. Spouses complain that their loved ones neglect them. Couples separate when one of the partners finds someone else on the Internet and leaves home. Like gamblers they compulsively keep investing time and money. They fantasize that the next connection they make will solve all their problems.
The symptoms of computer addiction are quite specific.
Psychological Symptoms:
Having a sense of well-being or euphoria while at the computer
Inability to stop the activity
Craving more and more time at the computer
Neglect of family and friends
Feeling empty, depressed, irritable when not at the computer
Lying to employers and family about activities
Problems with school or job
Physical Symptoms:
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Dry eyes
Migraine headaches
Back aches
Eating irregularities, such as skipping meals
Failure to attend to personal hygiene
Sleep disturbances, change in sleep pattern
Computer addiction has been identified by many professionals and the media. Family therapists hear about it frequently. Clinical Psychiatric News reports increasing complaints related to computer use. At many colleges and universities, counselors and Deans of Students report increases in inappropriate and exessive computer use associated with rule infractions, student failures and academic drop-outs. Lawyers find that compulsive computer use can be a major factor in divorce.
Like any addiction this one can be treated. Dr. Orzack believes that one of the most effective methods to deal with all these types of problems is Cognitive Behavior Therapy, which teaches the patient to identify the problem, to solve the problem and to learn coping skills to prevent relapse. Often the treatment is helped by medication. In addition she recommends support groups for the other affected persons. She does not treat online, stating, ‘I'm licensed in Massachusetts, not in cyberspace’".
Okay. Many of you readers out there are astute enough to readily see the major loopholes in this set of assertions, some of which are big enough to drive a truck through. However, winning arguments, or pawning the opponent requires a point-by-point refutation by logical counterpoint. In order to do this, if you bear with me, I wish to compare this set of symptoms with certain conditions I experienced personally as a team basketball player – an activity that is not only socially acceptable, but is considered to be very good for ones health, both mental and physical, and general well being.
The first on the list is “having a sense of well-being and euphoria while at the computer.” This is exactly how I felt while playing in a basketball game. Part of it was due to the physical exertion causing the release of endorphins; those happy hormones that make you feel all warm and fuzzy all over. They also negate the sense of pain often found when involved in intense athletic competition. We athletes strain our muscles to an extreme unimaginable by anyone who has not done this sort of thing. The same is true for video gamers. Many will tell you it’s adrenalin, however, it’s not. They’re getting that warm and fuzzy feeling, and super-charged zone of activity by hormones released by the endocrine system, called endorphins. (Oddly enough, the ravages of heroin addiction are caused by an imbalance in endorphins due to the remarkable similarity in molecular structure between the opiate and the hormone.) Now, when I was experiencing this “endorphin rush” while an athlete it was highly praised by my coaches. It was called “the pain threshold.” If one could get past the pain threshold, one could develop ones muscularity to the level required for serious competition. Why would this be criticized if one attains this endorphin rush while sitting at a computer? One point I’d readily accept is the obvious lack of physical exertion involved with sitting and playing a video game. Though it does take a certain amount of stamina and effort, it isn’t the sort of aerobic exercise so needed by our young people today who are dealing with problems of obesity, and other ill health effects due to lack of regular exercise. However, this euphoria in and of itself can’t by any stretch be scientifically defined as a sign of addiction. A doctor, such as Ms. Orzack might arbitrarily extrapolate addiction as the only explanation. Yet, I’d have to know Ms. Orzack’s view on the same thing occurring with me as an athlete. Would she claim I was addicted to basketball? Does her academic leaning color her view of activities other than those in which she herself has participated? The importance of these questions will become more weighty as we go along.
Next in her list is “inability to stop the activity”. Well, at the same time she’s saying these sufferers are at work, or school, and even eventually make it to bed, though it’s sunrise by the time that miracle occurs! She contradicts these words of hers in her last two symptoms. To seriously discuss this may require putting words in her mouth and crediting her with a depth of thought she apparently does not possess. At the risk of doing this, I’ll comment on this symptom anyway. Personally, as a basketball player, I found it to be ridiculous not to be playing ball all the time every day! In fact, when I was a child, I divided people in two categories; those who could play basketball, and those who through some genetic problem were incapable of playing and were only able to watch! Being on that hardwood court with those fabulously painted lines, dribbling and shooting, hearing the swoosh of the net, smelling the varnish in the air, the squeak of my Converse All-Stars, even the odiferous quality of the locker room all were so captivating to me I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else for any reason. When I was in class, I longed to be on the court. When practice, or the game, was over, I was drained, disappointed and dreary. I’d fall asleep hoping the clock would fly around the dial bringing ball practice back as fast as possible. I was considered to be a ball player of some talent, and always started games – a coach’s favorite.
Now, I play Electronic Arts’ Battlefield 2. Now, I anticipate being on the battlefield with the same eagerness I felt as a ball player. Now, I press myself to obtain skills in this game that make me as good a player as anyone else - with this selfish hope that one day I’ll be good enough to be considered as one of the best. I drive around 3-D maps in a virtual M-1 Abrams tank virtually blowing up enemy soldiers, enemy tanks – enemy anythings in my sights with a relish I used to find in sinking a twenty-foot fadeaway jumpshot. I sweat the scoreboard with the same anxiety and urgency. I watch the clock with the same desire to squeeze as many points out of the round as I possibly can, and I react to wins and losses with the same elation and disappointment I once found only in a basketball game. I’m even on an organized team, or clan. I try to make practices punctually and prepared. I feel guilty if I miss one. I feel I let the team down. If I miss a shot, I let them down. If I make a shot, I help the team toward a win. It has all my focus, all my energy and every shred of intelligence, cognition and concentration I can muster. I groan and moan at the screen. Bounce up and down in my chair, shout with anger, and joy finding vindication, or eradication in pressing keyboard keys and dragging a mouse around a mouse pad. So, I ask you, what’s the difference between that arena on the screen, and the hardwood floor of a basketball court? Why am I a good athlete that shows promise in adulthood in one venue, but an addict to a useless activity in another? It doesn’t make sense, unless I was addicted to basketball. If that was so, who’s to decide which is the “good” addiction, and which is the “bad”? Once again, it becomes quite arbitrary in my myopic, unlettered view.
As I craved more and more time on the court, I crave more and more time on this virtual battlefield. I’d rather play this game than anything else available to me at this time in my life. I neglect my dog, and the people with whom I live. They, of course, understand it’s something I am doing with the same energetic involvement I use in all things I do. They also know that though they aren’t the focus of my attention while I play, they aren’t held in any less esteem because I play. My affections and attentions for and to them are just as strong and faithful as when I’m not playing. In playing this game, I’ve also met a lot of new people whom I like to call my friends. I’ve met, and correspond with, other players through game fan sites. I’ve met and work closely with my new teammates. I also indulge in writing lengthy articles for game-oriented web sites and publications. In fact, I’m fully immersed in this activity I’ve found with all that attends it, and I don’t feel guilty about it at all. Though, I understand there are those who would disapprove, I’ve been around the track enough times to know where to place their opinions. I don’t have to feel irritable when not at the computer, or depressed, because I don’t have any authority presuming to tell me when and how I can do what I want to do. I do believe if I lived under parental authority and they tried to restrict my activity, I’d be irritable and depressed about it. I’d also feel somewhat depressed as anyone would if they were being arbitrarily kept from an activity they enjoy so well.
However, this “lying to employers and family about activities” part strikes me as kind of odd. We can safely assume even Ms. Orzack lies to her employer.
“Do you want to work on Christmas Day?” Yeah, right.
“Sure, Dr. So and So, I’d be happy to spend my holiday on the job, if you need me.”
“Is it okay if you don’t get a pay raise this year? If you object, you can work somewhere else, you know.”
“Oh, Dr. So and So, I’m happy with my salary as is.”
Or, are we to assume our employment isn’t an activity? In fact, lying to your employer about anything that might cause one to lose status or prestige (aside from irresponsible, or unprofessional behavior that causes problems for the company) is a socially acceptable practice that either Ms. Orzack is oblivious of, or lying about herself. Adolescents and teen-agers lie as a matter of course if they have to get around disagreements with their parents about what activities in which to indulge. Most child psychologists consider a certain amount of untruth to be normal behavior for children and young adults. In fact, a recent study found the average person tells a lie every 30 seconds. Of course, Ms. Orzack means, “Have you been playing that video game instead of doing your homework?” as the question posed. “No, mommy,” is the lie she’s so concerned about. This sort of thing isn’t video game specific. It began with talking on the phone and watching television. Such lying is not indicative of addiction, not in the way it is with an alcoholic or heroin addict, though the attempt is being made to arbitrarily connect them with one another.
“Problems with school or job.” How generalized can you get? I’m sure this will set off alarms with many parents, and spouses. Who doesn’t have problems with school or jobs? We don’t live in Oz, do we? If we do, show me to the Emerald City! Bullies at school? Problem. Calculus? Problem. In fact, the American school system is defined as “dysfunctional”. Eighty-five percent of the graduates of American public schools were functionally illiterate in the middle eighties, just as video games made their appearance and had yet to gain any popularity. Their methods of teaching, the incompetence of teachers, the overcrowding and under-funding has been pandemic for decades! Who in their right minds would find a home at school? Well, maybe our Ms. Orzack might. After all, she stuck it out oblivious to the decay long enough to gain a doctorate. Now, she’s likely got tenure which means she’s had to kiss a few derrieres in her time, as well as turn a blind eye to the wasteland around her. Furthermore, the injection of “jobs” here has more to do with adults addicted to gambling sites, pornography and chat rooms. Once again, there’s an arbitrary attempt to connect these things to video gamers.
Oh my, the VGA advocates are running out of list! Now, let’s deal with the physical symptoms. Carpal tunnel syndrome: I’ve had this, but not due to video games. I was a clerk typist, and a newspaper editor for many years. It feels like your hands are on fire. I can see how people might acquire this inflammation, but now I use an ergonomically designed mouse, with a support pad for my keyboard. I guess mentioning torn ligaments, tendonitis, stone bruises, strawberries from skidding across a heavily varnished floor, broken fingers and thumbs (all of which occurred to me several times during my basketball career) deserve mention here as a sort of balance. I even broke my foot coaching a women’s team when a player landed on it – crutches for eight weeks. Dry eyes? One can do several things to alleviate eyestrain from staring at computer monitors for hours on end. Does this mean a clerk typist tied to a word-processor all day is an addict, as well? That’s where most of these “symptoms” first arose. It’s not surprising gamers spending as many hours at a computer, but in a different activity, might develop the same conditions. Backaches? Get a chair with good lumbar support. Make sure the keyboard is the appropriate height. Migraines? That’s the first I’ve heard of this. Medical science is certain of some things, and one of these is, they aren’t sure why people get migraines. A migraine sufferer will get them whether they’re at a computer, or not. To claim spending time staring at a monitor causes migraines would bankrupt workman’s comp if it were true. However, the reader must detect the speciousness of this assertion – video gamers with migraines show addiction while secretaries and data entry personnel don’t? Oh, yes. One can only be addicted to something one enjoys!
“Eating irregularities, such as skipping meals:” Well, in a world where seventy percent of the young people are either obese, or verging on it, skipping a few meals can’t be construed as bad. However, this problem, if frequent enough to cause health deterioration can be attributed to many other things this society calls “normal behavior” such as the stress of attending dysfunctional schools, or being an economic slave, tethered to a job that overcomes ones life. In fact, this need to recreate, or find diversion is greater today than at any time in the history of American society. That’s self-explanatory and probably worthy of a book by itself. She may mean missing meals because the child won’t leave the computer even to eat. A little parental authority should handle that well enough. If that authority isn’t there, it could be as much a cause for eating irregularities as anything else.
I hate to tell anyone this; failure to attend to personal hygiene is a typical post-pubescent male behavior attribute. I raised two children. The boy had to be told to take a bath. The girl never did. The boy had to be told until he discovered girls don’t like unwashed boys. He quit storing his clothes under his bed about that time, too. Oh yes, it was the time when he quit “hating” girls – big surprise. To liken this sort of behavior to the unwashed junky or boozer in the alley just takes the cake, and should also reveal more than a little about the people who do this, but I’m getting to the end of this, and I have no time or text to waste on it at this point. Then, at last we have “sleep disturbances, change in sleep patterns.” One of the children I raised is at present building a web site dealing with obesity in children. A large section of it covers sleep problems due to chemical imbalances caused by poor diet and lack of exercise. Stress, as in school or at a job, is also a contributor to bad, or changing sleeping patterns. These factors in every day life are so prominent, it’s disingenuous to assert the same plaguing a video game player is due to playing the game, rather than from some other cause.
Meanwhile, back at the basketball court: I was just telling this same (now) young adult about how all-encompassing my basketball career was. The family had to schedule all its activities around ball practice and game night. I had special status and prestige at my school because I was so preoccupied by this activity. Other students, who made good grades, (the purpose of school) were shunted aside to make room for me, and my teammates. We received the social seal of approval for what Ms. Orzack would define as an addiction.
Now, let me finish with a word or two about actual addiction. It was my misfortune in a lot of ways to have grown up during the fabled sixties. Many of my friends became addicted to heroin and barbiturates. I watched as their lives fell apart. I saw them covered with open wounds from scratching themselves because not having a fix makes your skin itch. I watched them demean themselves to obtain their drugs of choice. I watched them stop washing their clothes and themselves, stop shaving and brushing their teeth, begin to succumb to respiratory problems and damage to their central nervous systems. Looking into their eyes, I saw the wish to die but for the hope of the next fix to make them “well” again. They had no jobs. They had no money, and they had habits that cost them hundreds of dollars a week. I saw them turn to dealing and stealing to meet this requirement. I then saw them march off to jail, one-by-one, until all my friends were either dead, or in prison. If they weren’t taken by hepatitis, they were taken by absolute self-loathing.
I know alcoholics. My grandfather was institutionalized because of it. My son’s maternal grandfather was, too. I’ve seen relatives spend the family food budget on booze. I’ve seen them with their hungry children in the car with them waiting in a parking lot for the liquor store to open. I’ve seen them violently attack people who love them, then forget they did it the next day. I’ve seen them crawling through hangovers to reach that beer for breakfast – the hair of the dog that bit them. One close relative, after losing a job he’d held for 15 years, fell onto the floor convulsing. He was hospitalized, then had to be attended daily at home for weeks, all the while taking expensive prescription medicine to recover. When he had recovered, he went out and got drunk again. I’ve seen people wrap their family vehicles around trees, pass out in the middle of their own front yards, and watched the life slowly drained from them as the varicose veins swept over their faces and eternally bloodshot eyes looked up at me pleading for me not to notice.
So, don’t tell me about “addiction,” and don’t even presume to compare someone who finds video games as engaging and satisfying as I once found basketball to an alcoholic, or a junky.