Video Game and Internet Addiction

Video game and internet addiction is something that effects around 5% of all children. Although it effects a decent amount of people there is still no universal agreed on definition of what internet and video game addiction means. There is no set amount of hours that one needs to spend on the internet/playing video games in order for it to be considered an addiction. A rough definition of video game addiction is an excessive play which results in negative emotional, social, relational, educational or career related consequences. Instead of putting energy towards real world activities, a video game addict will spend most of there time playing video games. Someone who has developed a video game addiction puts video games above all else such as spending time with friends and family, school achievements, work achievements and relationships. Another lose definition for video game and internet addiction can be a serious loss of control over gaming that leads to harm in the real world.

Like I said video game and internet addiction is not recognized as a official addiction by the mental health classification system and is not a diagnosable disease; however, with video games being such a big thing that everyone plays now days, there is a push among mental health professionals to have it classified as an addiction. Future additions of the mental health classification may include video game and internet impulse control disorders, but for know they are still informal descriptions.

There are many different signs of video game addictions, some of them may be...

-Negative impact on work achievement, school achievement and interpersonal relationships

-Spending most of your free time on video games and the internet

-Playing video games for long periods of time; such as 6-8 hours a day

-Loss of interest in social activities

-Avoiding commitments and responsibilities so that one can play video games

-Staying up extremely late and waking up very early to continue playing video games

Video game addictions can also be caused by many different things. Some of the most common are....

-Emotional problems; such as depression, loneliness, social anxiety and anger

-Financial problems; this is not usually a problem for children with such a disorder, but for an adult it can be a concerning issue

-Health problems; health problems can start the disorder, but the disorder can continue them, video game addiction can be linked to childhood obesity

-Social problems; people with this addiction tend to send less and less time with real people creating social anxiety

- Family problems; This is the most common cause of video game addiction, poor family relationships lead to a higher chance of video game addiction.

Video game addiction is a real and big problem. The more technologically advanced our world gets the more video games and internet will be in our lives. Although it is not yet recognized as a addiction, I hope it soon will be. The quicker it gets recognized the quicker we can start to help people who suffer from this disorder. It may not seem dangerous but it can be, and for most especially parents this can be very concerning and scary. Even though this is not yet a recognized addiction there are still treatment centers so don't be scared to seek for help if you think you or a loved one have a video game addiction.