This week's "48 Hours" on CBS featured a story about video game 'addiction', especially those playing "EverQuest" by Sony. One sad tale of a twentysomething young man who killed himself after his favorite character was destroyed. His mother thinks suicide was due to the game. What amazed me was that most of the people in the story were not teenage boys, but men in their 20s and 30s. Any real research out there on this subject of on-line gaming addiction? Thanks, Valdis Krebs http://www.orgnet.com
I think we should be suspicious of terms like "video addiction"; addictions are primarily physiological, not psychological and there is not a shred of evidence that playing video games alters brain chemistry in any way. I would say that this story is part of the latest media "moral panic" to divert attention from deep rooted social and individual problems. Nobody takes his/her own life because of a video game. It's rather like suggesting the boys at Columbine killed their classmates, teachers and themselves because they watched The Matrix and listened to Marilyn Manson. Rhiannon Rhiannon Bury Assistant Professor Wilfrid Laurier University Waterloo, ON, N2L 3C5 Canada air-l@aoir.org writes:
This week's "48 Hours" on CBS featured a story about video game 'addiction', especially those playing "EverQuest" by Sony. One sad tale of a twentysomething young man who killed himself after his favorite character was destroyed. His mother thinks suicide was due to the game.
What amazed me was that most of the people in the story were not teenage boys, but men in their 20s and 30s.
Any real research out there on this subject of on-line gaming addiction?
Thanks,
Valdis Krebs http://www.orgnet.com
_______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l@aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l
hmmm.... I am absolutely fascinated by your definition of "addiction" as having to include only physiological criteria... particularly since the a whole slew of illegal "drugs" are considered "addictive" and this is now purely based on psychological addiction. Marijuana for example.... and most psychedelics... and I do not have a copy of DSM-IV handy but I think that text would disagree with you. Disagree with you completely. Hmm, and I am also unaware of any study that actually looked for altered brains in video-game addicts, so you must know of such a study as you are claiming "no shred of evidence" was found. I should like to know about the study that actually looked at these game users brains. Please cite the study. And if you are not aware of such a study, I should like you to totally rethink what you wrote. Muraco Kyashna-Tocha Anthropologist P.O.Box 85325 Seattle, WA 98145 ----- Original Message ----- From: "Rhiannon Bury" <rbury@oise.utoronto.ca> To: <air-l@aoir.org> Sent: Saturday, October 19, 2002 3:50 PM Subject: Re: [Air-l] Video Game Addiction
I think we should be suspicious of terms like "video addiction"; addictions are primarily physiological, not psychological and there is not a shred of evidence that playing video games alters brain chemistry in any way. I would say that this story is part of the latest media "moral panic" to divert attention from deep rooted social and individual problems. Nobody takes his/her own life because of a video game. It's rather like suggesting the boys at Columbine killed their classmates, teachers and themselves because they watched The Matrix and listened to Marilyn Manson.
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Bury Assistant Professor Wilfrid Laurier University Waterloo, ON, N2L 3C5 Canada
air-l@aoir.org writes:
This week's "48 Hours" on CBS featured a story about video game 'addiction', especially those playing "EverQuest" by Sony. One sad tale of a twentysomething young man who killed himself after his favorite character was destroyed. His mother thinks suicide was due to the game.
What amazed me was that most of the people in the story were not teenage boys, but men in their 20s and 30s.
Any real research out there on this subject of on-line gaming addiction?
Thanks,
Valdis Krebs http://www.orgnet.com
_______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l@aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l
_______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l@aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l
Hmm, and I am also unaware of any study that actually looked for altered brains in video-game addicts, so you must know of such a study as you are claiming "no shred of evidence" was found. I should like to know about the study that actually looked at these game users brains. Please
tsk, tsk. hostile? "no shred of evidence" can be interpreted to mean "no evidence has been presented" as easily as "there is evidence to the contrary"... two rather different options. which was actually meant is debatable, no? semantics :) elijah
coool then someone is going to cite the source??? this study that looked at users brains??? I am not hostile but I do think I want things cited, and not spouted off without much thinking... so this study??? ----- Original Message ----- From: "elijah wright" <elw@stderr.org> To: <air-l@aoir.org> Sent: Saturday, October 19, 2002 4:44 PM Subject: Re: [Air-l] Video Game Addiction
Hmm, and I am also unaware of any study that actually looked for altered brains in video-game addicts, so you must know of such a study as you are claiming "no shred of evidence" was found. I should like to know about the study that actually looked at these game users brains. Please
tsk, tsk. hostile?
"no shred of evidence" can be interpreted to mean "no evidence has been presented" as easily as "there is evidence to the contrary"... two rather different options.
which was actually meant is debatable, no? semantics :)
elijah
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Well, well, who would have imagined my first post to this friendly list would have inspired such a vitriolic response! air-l@aoir.org writes:
hmmm.... I am absolutely fascinated by your definition of "addiction" as having to include only physiological criteria... particularly since the a whole slew of illegal "drugs" are considered "addictive" and this is now purely based on psychological addiction. Marijuana for example.... and most psychedelics... and I do not have a copy of DSM-IV handy but I think that text would disagree with you. Disagree with you completely.
The DSM-IV, in fact, does not use the term "addiction" but rather talks about "abuse" and "dependence" and "intoxication". Had you taken the time to look up the index rather than flame me, you would have noticed that these terms are all discussed in the Substance chapter. Lest you accuse me of spouting off without providing any facts, here is the complete list: Substance-Related Disorders Alcohol Abuse 305.00 Alcohol Dependence 303.90 Alcohol Intoxication 303.00 Alcohol Intoxication Delirium 291.0 Alcohol Withdrawal 291.8 Alcohol Withdrawal Delirium 291.0 Alcohol-Induced Anxiety Disorder 291.8 Alcohol-Induced Mood Disorder 291.8 Alcohol-Induced Persisting Amnestic Disorder 291.1 Alcohol-Induced Persisting Dementia 291.2 Alcohol-Induced Psychotic Disorder With Delusions 291.5 Alcohol-Induced Psychotic Disorder With Hallucinations 291.3 Alcohol-Induced Sexual Dysfunction 291.8 Alcohol-Induced Sleep Disorder 291.8 Alcohol-Related Disorder NOS 291.9 Amphetamine Abuse 305.70 Amphetamine Dependence 304.40 Cannabis Abuse 305.20 Cannabis Dependence 304.30 Cocaine Abuse 305.60 Cocaine Dependence 304.20 Hallucinogen Abuse 305.30 Hallucinogen Dependence 304.50 Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (Flashbacks) 292.89 Inhalant Abuse 305.90 Inhalant Dependence 304.60 Nicotine Dependence 305.10 Opioid Abuse 305.50 Opioid Dependence 304.00 Other (or Unknown) Substance Abuse 305.90 Other (or Unknown) Substance Dependence 304.90 Phencyclidine Abuse 305.90 Phencyclidine Dependence 304.90 Polysubstance Dependence 304.80 Sedative, Hypnotic, or Anxiolytic Abuse 305.40 Sedative, Hypnotic, or Anxiolytic Dependence 304.10 Substance [Amphetamine, Caffeine, Cannabis, Cocaine, Hallucinogen, Inhalant, Phencyclidine, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)]-Induced Anxiety Disorder 292.89 Substance [Amphetamine, Caffeine, Cannabis, Cocaine, Hallucinogen, Inhalant, Nicotine, Opioid, Phencyclidine, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)]-Related Disorder NOS 292.9 Substance [Amphetamine, Caffeine, Cocaine, Opioid, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)]-Induced Sleep Disorder 292.89 Substance [Amphetamine, Cannabis, Cocaine, Hallucinogen, Inhalant, Opioid, Phencyclidine, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)]-Induced Psychotic Disorder, With Delusions 292.11 Substance [Amphetamine, Cannabis, Cocaine, Hallucinogen, Inhalant, Opioid, Phencyclidine, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)]-Induced Psychotic Disorder, With Hallucinations 292.12 Substance [Amphetamine, Cannabis, Cocaine, Hallucinogen, Inhalant, Opioid, Phencyclidine, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)] Intoxication Delirium 292.81 Substance [Amphetamine, Cannabis, Cocaine, Hallucinogen, Inhalant, Opioid, Phencyclidine, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)] Intoxication 292.89 Substance [Amphetamine, Cocaine, Hallucinogen, Inhalant, Opioid, Phencyclidine, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)]-Induced Mood Disorder 292.84 Substance [Amphetamine, Cocaine, Nicotine, Opioid, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)] Withdrawal 292.0 Substance [Amphetamine, Cocaine, Opioid, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)]-Induced Sexual Dysfunction 292.89 Substance [Inhalant, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)]-Induced Persisting Dementia 292.82 Substance [Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)] Withdrawal Delirium 292.81 Substance [Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)]-Induced Persisting Amnestic Disorder 292.83 I'll leave it to you to read through each disorder and prove me wrong on whether it is primarily physiological or not. But what should catch your attention is the glaring absence of any disorder related to a form of media/technology or media consumption. The pathologizing language of "addiction" is not used by scientists but by the media, moral majority types and conservative politicians to fearmonger. There is no evidence that television, video games or the Internet alter brain chemistry as do caffeine, nicotine and heroin because there is no research. Sure there's plenty of research on a range of harmful effects but a review of the literature indicates that the jury is out on that one (as someone here already noted). If you're interested in reading more about the problems of "direct effects" research concerning children and media violence, please see: Buckingham, D. (1993). Children talking television: The making of television literacy. London: The Falmer Press. Henry Jenkins has also written about violence and video games and testified before Congress. You can read his essay "Professor Jenkins Goes to Washington" on his website. Very instructive on the workings of moral panic. Finally, you may find the following interesting: Drotner, K. (1992). Modernity and media panics. In M. Skovmand & K. Christian (Eds.), Media Cultures: Reappraising transnational media (pp. 42-62). New York: Routledge. Fortunately, others were able to see my overall point despite the lack of citations. (Thanks Elijah for taking the heat!) I'd be interested in seeing Matt's research as well. Rhiannon
----- Original Message ----- From: "Rhiannon Bury" <rbury@oise.utoronto.ca> To: <air-l@aoir.org> Sent: Saturday, October 19, 2002 3:50 PM Subject: Re: [Air-l] Video Game Addiction
I think we should be suspicious of terms like "video addiction"; addictions are primarily physiological, not psychological and there is
not
a shred of evidence that playing video games alters brain chemistry in any way. I would say that this story is part of the latest media "moral panic" to divert attention from deep rooted social and individual problems. Nobody takes his/her own life because of a video game. It's rather like suggesting the boys at Columbine killed their classmates, teachers and themselves because they watched The Matrix and listened to Marilyn Manson.
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Bury Assistant Professor Wilfrid Laurier University Waterloo, ON, N2L 3C5 Canada
air-l@aoir.org writes:
This week's "48 Hours" on CBS featured a story about video game 'addiction', especially those playing "EverQuest" by Sony. One sad tale of a twentysomething young man who killed himself after his favorite character was destroyed. His mother thinks suicide was due to the game.
What amazed me was that most of the people in the story were not teenage boys, but men in their 20s and 30s.
Any real research out there on this subject of on-line gaming addiction?
Thanks,
Valdis Krebs http://www.orgnet.com
_______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l@aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l
_______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l@aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l
_______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l@aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l
Hey, I've looked at the list, but I don't see sexual addiction on it. Isn't that odd? What about pornography? -Robert On Sun, 20 Oct 2002, Rhiannon Bury wrote:
Well, well, who would have imagined my first post to this friendly list would have inspired such a vitriolic response!
air-l@aoir.org writes:
hmmm.... I am absolutely fascinated by your definition of "addiction" as having to include only physiological criteria... particularly since the a whole slew of illegal "drugs" are considered "addictive" and this is now purely based on psychological addiction. Marijuana for example.... and most psychedelics... and I do not have a copy of DSM-IV handy but I think that text would disagree with you. Disagree with you completely.
The DSM-IV, in fact, does not use the term "addiction" but rather talks about "abuse" and "dependence" and "intoxication". Had you taken the time to look up the index rather than flame me, you would have noticed that these terms are all discussed in the Substance chapter. Lest you accuse me of spouting off without providing any facts, here is the complete list:
Substance-Related Disorders Alcohol Abuse 305.00 Alcohol Dependence 303.90 Alcohol Intoxication 303.00 Alcohol Intoxication Delirium 291.0 Alcohol Withdrawal 291.8 Alcohol Withdrawal Delirium 291.0 Alcohol-Induced Anxiety Disorder 291.8 Alcohol-Induced Mood Disorder 291.8 Alcohol-Induced Persisting Amnestic Disorder 291.1 Alcohol-Induced Persisting Dementia 291.2 Alcohol-Induced Psychotic Disorder With Delusions 291.5 Alcohol-Induced Psychotic Disorder With Hallucinations 291.3 Alcohol-Induced Sexual Dysfunction 291.8 Alcohol-Induced Sleep Disorder 291.8 Alcohol-Related Disorder NOS 291.9 Amphetamine Abuse 305.70 Amphetamine Dependence 304.40 Cannabis Abuse 305.20 Cannabis Dependence 304.30 Cocaine Abuse 305.60 Cocaine Dependence 304.20 Hallucinogen Abuse 305.30 Hallucinogen Dependence 304.50 Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (Flashbacks) 292.89 Inhalant Abuse 305.90 Inhalant Dependence 304.60 Nicotine Dependence 305.10 Opioid Abuse 305.50 Opioid Dependence 304.00 Other (or Unknown) Substance Abuse 305.90 Other (or Unknown) Substance Dependence 304.90 Phencyclidine Abuse 305.90 Phencyclidine Dependence 304.90 Polysubstance Dependence 304.80 Sedative, Hypnotic, or Anxiolytic Abuse 305.40 Sedative, Hypnotic, or Anxiolytic Dependence 304.10 Substance [Amphetamine, Caffeine, Cannabis, Cocaine, Hallucinogen, Inhalant, Phencyclidine, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)]-Induced Anxiety Disorder 292.89 Substance [Amphetamine, Caffeine, Cannabis, Cocaine, Hallucinogen, Inhalant, Nicotine, Opioid, Phencyclidine, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)]-Related Disorder NOS 292.9 Substance [Amphetamine, Caffeine, Cocaine, Opioid, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)]-Induced Sleep Disorder 292.89 Substance [Amphetamine, Cannabis, Cocaine, Hallucinogen, Inhalant, Opioid, Phencyclidine, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)]-Induced Psychotic Disorder, With Delusions 292.11 Substance [Amphetamine, Cannabis, Cocaine, Hallucinogen, Inhalant, Opioid, Phencyclidine, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)]-Induced Psychotic Disorder, With Hallucinations 292.12 Substance [Amphetamine, Cannabis, Cocaine, Hallucinogen, Inhalant, Opioid, Phencyclidine, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)] Intoxication Delirium 292.81 Substance [Amphetamine, Cannabis, Cocaine, Hallucinogen, Inhalant, Opioid, Phencyclidine, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)] Intoxication 292.89 Substance [Amphetamine, Cocaine, Hallucinogen, Inhalant, Opioid, Phencyclidine, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)]-Induced Mood Disorder 292.84 Substance [Amphetamine, Cocaine, Nicotine, Opioid, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)] Withdrawal 292.0 Substance [Amphetamine, Cocaine, Opioid, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)]-Induced Sexual Dysfunction 292.89 Substance [Inhalant, Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)]-Induced Persisting Dementia 292.82 Substance [Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)] Withdrawal Delirium 292.81 Substance [Sedative*, Other (or Unknown)]-Induced Persisting Amnestic Disorder 292.83
I'll leave it to you to read through each disorder and prove me wrong on whether it is primarily physiological or not. But what should catch your attention is the glaring absence of any disorder related to a form of media/technology or media consumption. The pathologizing language of "addiction" is not used by scientists but by the media, moral majority types and conservative politicians to fearmonger. There is no evidence that television, video games or the Internet alter brain chemistry as do caffeine, nicotine and heroin because there is no research.
Sure there's plenty of research on a range of harmful effects but a review of the literature indicates that the jury is out on that one (as someone here already noted). If you're interested in reading more about the problems of "direct effects" research concerning children and media violence, please see:
Buckingham, D. (1993). Children talking television: The making of television literacy. London: The Falmer Press.
Henry Jenkins has also written about violence and video games and testified before Congress. You can read his essay "Professor Jenkins Goes to Washington" on his website. Very instructive on the workings of moral panic.
Finally, you may find the following interesting:
Drotner, K. (1992). Modernity and media panics. In M. Skovmand & K. Christian (Eds.), Media Cultures: Reappraising transnational media (pp. 42-62). New York: Routledge.
Fortunately, others were able to see my overall point despite the lack of citations. (Thanks Elijah for taking the heat!) I'd be interested in seeing Matt's research as well.
Rhiannon
----- Original Message ----- From: "Rhiannon Bury" <rbury@oise.utoronto.ca> To: <air-l@aoir.org> Sent: Saturday, October 19, 2002 3:50 PM Subject: Re: [Air-l] Video Game Addiction
I think we should be suspicious of terms like "video addiction"; addictions are primarily physiological, not psychological and there is
not
a shred of evidence that playing video games alters brain chemistry in any way. I would say that this story is part of the latest media "moral panic" to divert attention from deep rooted social and individual problems. Nobody takes his/her own life because of a video game. It's rather like suggesting the boys at Columbine killed their classmates, teachers and themselves because they watched The Matrix and listened to Marilyn Manson.
Rhiannon
Rhiannon Bury Assistant Professor Wilfrid Laurier University Waterloo, ON, N2L 3C5 Canada
air-l@aoir.org writes:
This week's "48 Hours" on CBS featured a story about video game 'addiction', especially those playing "EverQuest" by Sony. One sad tale of a twentysomething young man who killed himself after his favorite character was destroyed. His mother thinks suicide was due to the game.
What amazed me was that most of the people in the story were not teenage boys, but men in their 20s and 30s.
Any real research out there on this subject of on-line gaming addiction?
Thanks,
Valdis Krebs http://www.orgnet.com
_______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l@aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l
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Hey,
I've looked at the list, but I don't see sexual addiction on it. Isn't that odd? What about pornography?
see this page ( http://www.jenniferschneider.com/articles/diagnos.html ) for an explanation of why sexual deviancy isn't included in the DSM guidelines. [i found it with google, know nothing about the site owner, and am referencing it because it cites the DSM-IV directly.] also note table 4, which gives a brief schema for determining whether something "counts" as an addictive behavior or not.... :) ~elijah
participants (5)
-
elijah wright -
muraco -
Rhiannon Bury -
robert m. tynes -
Valdis Krebs