In case you missed the headline, WHO has now deemed “video game addiction” as an “addiction”. As someone who has played video games for two decades, I figured I should give my two cents on the subject. Keep in mind that I have played a wide variety of video game consoles my entire life (PC, Nintendo, Playstation mostly) and enjoy many different types of video game genres, so I have a good background when it comes to video games.
First, let’s look at addiction. According to the “ASAM” (American Society of Addictive Medicine), an “addiction” is: “Addiction is a chronic disease…where the individual feels rewarded for engaging in certain activities…with the inability to easily abstain, has impairment of impulses and/or control, has significant problems with peers and other social interactions and a dysfunctional emotional response.” (this is a paraphase of how ASAM defines addiction, as seen here: https://tinyurl.com/y9bwb6rr). Addiction in all honesty has been used carelessly by the common man. Addiction has been demonized by the public eye, and it is hurting those who do have any type of addiction. Addictions are not just cigarettes, alcohol, or other types of drugs.
According to the ICD-11 (which is used for medical archival/documentation and billing purposes), “gaming addiction” is: “a person who is very impulsive with gaming; video games take a priority over other parts of theirlife (social interactions, work, school, important events, etc.); the person will continue to do gaming activities (mobile games, console games, PC games, etc.) despite the negative consequences from it (fired from work, losing friends/family/romantic partners, suffer from bad grades, etc.); this criteria must have been happening for a minimum of twelve (12) months.” (again, this is paraphrasing the ICD-11 description of “video game addiction”).”
In simple English for both addiction and gaming addiction: addictions are activities you do that negatively impact you and you have a problem stopping said activities, despite how you are aware of how much the activities are hurting you and/or others. Gaming addiction is being addicted to video games and NOT stopping the activity, despite how it is maliciously affecting your life.
Video game addiction is not “I play video games to blow off steam from work” or “I play video games for about an hour or two a day and then do something like” like so many people seem to think. No. Video game addiction is a diagnosis for those who are actively harmed in different aspects of their livlihood because of how much they are playing different types of video games (PC, Playstation, Xbox, mobile, Switch, whatever your preferred method of gaming is).
This new classification is not demonizing regular gaming behavior. It is not pathologizing a behavior that many people do to relax. It is simply giving a name to an activity that is actively harming the individual. Any activity we do can become excessive, and that’s when the addictive description fits. That is when people often need professional intervention involved to help them get control of their lives again.
Addiction is a serious issue that can potentially completely ruin someone’s life, no matter what the addiction is. It is important that the ICD-11 and large health organizations are keeping up with the times and recognizing harmful activities and behaviors that are actively hurting people.
