Post 1 : Video game addiction

Find in this article, the definitions, concept and limits of addiction to video games.

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A relatively new risk

Addiction to video games is a relatively new phenomenon, but no less frequent. It has exploded in recent years with the possibility of playing online in a community of players. This development is exponential to the point that the video game industry is now worth more than the movie industry today.

Even before the time spent in front of a screen, the main factor of addiction is the phenomenon of MMORPG (Massevely Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game). It is very important to differentiate between the playful practices of video games and the exclusive practice which, in these extreme cases, harms the primary needs of the players who are so immersed in the game.

Note: there are very few studies on the subject because of its novelty, but it is estimated that about 10% of young people aged 8 to 18 years have symptoms of addiction to video games. However, true addicts are mainly adults between the ages of 20 and 35.

We talk about "hardcore gamers" for people who play video games for more than 14 hours a week (about two hours a day) but we can consider it an addiction in the medical sense of the term when players spend more than 30 hours a week playing. For those who play up to 15 hours a day, psychiatrists refer to "digital relational infusion" as a psychological disorder. These people are literally unable to do without the game(s) in question.

Advice to parents: monitor your children's screen time and video game use. The less they are used to it at a young age, the less likely they are to become addicts later on.

The most affected

It is mainly the youngest who are exposed to video game addiction, those of the new generation. However, no one is excluded from the risk as long as he or she has access to one or more games, and access to the Internet, which is now the case for a large majority of the world. Addiction can affect all age groups.

Since 2018, the addiction to video games is recognized as a disease in its own right by the World Health Organization. The latter defines it as "behavior related to the practice of video games or digital games that is characterized by a loss of control over the game, an increased priority to the game, to the point that it takes precedence over other interests and daily activities and by the continuation or increasing practice of the game despite harmful repercussions."

Take our quiz to find out if you could be considered a video game addict: "LINK"