Hobby or Habit — Does Game Addiction Exist?
Is “game addiction” a simple media panic, like worries about comic books in the 1950s or Shakespearian theatre in the 1600s? Is it possible to be addicted to computer and video games the same way as drug or alcohol addiction? If so, what about books and TV? The talk will look at some of the recent attempts to define and measure game addiction in kids and adults, and offer alternative interpretations of the findings. We don’t know enough to reject the idea of game addiction out of hand, but to label an important hobby (enjoyed by the majority of youth and children all over the industrial world) as a dangerous habit needs some serious science to be taken seriously. Is this the case?
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