Study: Videogame Addiction Leads to Depression
- Thread starter Greg Tito
- Start date
Nope, certainly doesn't apply to me, I'm playing way more video games than I should (Not 20hrs a day though) and I use it as escapism, I've already estabilished that any problems I have with depression, are caused by more personal factors.
And video game addiction is definately not recognised as an actual addiction, simply because the cases are so few between.
And video game addiction is definately not recognised as an actual addiction, simply because the cases are so few between.
I have to agree with The_root_of_all_evil here. Without more details and peer review you can have a study that claims pretty much anything and proves nothing.
How were the children selected?
Was there a control group?
How did they define depressed and addicted to video games?
Which video games? MMO? RPG? RTS?
The very first line says alot about the objectiveness of the study.
"What we've known from other studies is that videogaming addiction looks similar to other addictions."
As mentioned before the term "video game addiction" is really loose. I'm not sure it even exists.
How were the children selected?
Was there a control group?
How did they define depressed and addicted to video games?
Which video games? MMO? RPG? RTS?
The very first line says alot about the objectiveness of the study.
"What we've known from other studies is that videogaming addiction looks similar to other addictions."
As mentioned before the term "video game addiction" is really loose. I'm not sure it even exists.
Well, games are like any other hobby in this respect, it's just the current boogieman. These same "connections" were made to things like paper and pencil RPGs, comic books, and of course music ranging from old "feel good" Rock and Roll, to more modern Heavy Metal. The basic point being that people who are depressed withdraw into something, and as nothing else changes, the problem gets worse.
Of course the thing with depression and social concerns is that there is no real solution. Someone who doesn't fit in, isn't going to fit in no matter what anyone does. People adapt socially on their own, and if it's not happening no exterior force is going to make it occur. What's more these problems compound, a few simple changes, or a "differant attitude" is not going to undo everything that made someone a social outcast or pariah to begin with. Really the only way one could in theory address these problems would be to change the entire social order, which would probably cause the same problems for a lot more people even if it could be done. The result being that whether or not the pariah in question is objectively right or wrong nothing is liable to change the situation instantly enough to make a differance. In cases like this there is a bit of 'morality by the numbers' at play, where pretty much cutting the pariah loose (with even the establishment getting on them) is seen as being the lesser evil than changing things to conform with some moral code that demands there be no pariahs like this. A school for example is not going to expel 80% of the student base for picking on some kid, even if by rights it should.
Powerful escapism like video games might make the problems "worse" to an outside observer, who think that the pariah in question should be being socialized (and they lose the desire to do so), but given the lack of any way to change anything, people need an enemy to blame and video games are a good target.
Simply put it's easier to go after music, games, or whatever else than it is to actually force laws that would see mass expulsions from schools and so on. Like it or not pretty much every social group needs to have it's outcasts for people to vent on, it's been that way since the dawn of time, and right or wrong it's not going to change. It generally blows chips for the people in that position, and the people who have never been there simply can't "get" what it's like. Enforcing the rulest that exist to prevent this of course would destroy society since it's everywhere, and just imagine what it would do to countries like the USA if 80% of the people who would become educated to the current standard never were by trying to enforce the spirit of law and societal policy against the way things have been since the dawn of civlization. Every society has it's "fools", and if none occur naturally, we create them since the masses need those to look down on.
Of course the thing with depression and social concerns is that there is no real solution. Someone who doesn't fit in, isn't going to fit in no matter what anyone does. People adapt socially on their own, and if it's not happening no exterior force is going to make it occur. What's more these problems compound, a few simple changes, or a "differant attitude" is not going to undo everything that made someone a social outcast or pariah to begin with. Really the only way one could in theory address these problems would be to change the entire social order, which would probably cause the same problems for a lot more people even if it could be done. The result being that whether or not the pariah in question is objectively right or wrong nothing is liable to change the situation instantly enough to make a differance. In cases like this there is a bit of 'morality by the numbers' at play, where pretty much cutting the pariah loose (with even the establishment getting on them) is seen as being the lesser evil than changing things to conform with some moral code that demands there be no pariahs like this. A school for example is not going to expel 80% of the student base for picking on some kid, even if by rights it should.
Powerful escapism like video games might make the problems "worse" to an outside observer, who think that the pariah in question should be being socialized (and they lose the desire to do so), but given the lack of any way to change anything, people need an enemy to blame and video games are a good target.
Simply put it's easier to go after music, games, or whatever else than it is to actually force laws that would see mass expulsions from schools and so on. Like it or not pretty much every social group needs to have it's outcasts for people to vent on, it's been that way since the dawn of time, and right or wrong it's not going to change. It generally blows chips for the people in that position, and the people who have never been there simply can't "get" what it's like. Enforcing the rulest that exist to prevent this of course would destroy society since it's everywhere, and just imagine what it would do to countries like the USA if 80% of the people who would become educated to the current standard never were by trying to enforce the spirit of law and societal policy against the way things have been since the dawn of civlization. Every society has it's "fools", and if none occur naturally, we create them since the masses need those to look down on.
The only time I get depressed when playing a lot games is the thought that I'm spending so much time at home on my own instead of going out with my friends.
I think most of us would agree that gaming isn't pure good and innocence. Most of us (I assume) would reasonably agree that social awkwardness can promote gaming, and that extra gaming can then limit social growth, which further hurts the individual, which means they game more, etc. So it's more of a spiral, where both factors play a part, and either can be the instigator of the cycle.SteelStallion said:
This study does look quite high profile and therefore credible, but they have found a correlation and:
CORRELATION =/= CAUSATION
They might have been getting more depressed anyway - the oldest age they got data from was 13, so mayeb they were just going into their teenage years and were being pumped up with hormones.
CORRELATION =/= CAUSATION
They might have been getting more depressed anyway - the oldest age they got data from was 13, so mayeb they were just going into their teenage years and were being pumped up with hormones.
I'd argue that it works something like this:
1 - The person has a problem that results in playing games excessively (e.g. difficulty socialising or addiction)
2 - Prolonged isolation exacerbates those issues (kind of a vicious circle)
3 - The issues eventually become the subject of depression
That's kind of from personal experience and I could be wrong of course. I guess I'm arguing that addiction could be a cause but it's not the only one.
1 - The person has a problem that results in playing games excessively (e.g. difficulty socialising or addiction)
2 - Prolonged isolation exacerbates those issues (kind of a vicious circle)
3 - The issues eventually become the subject of depression
That's kind of from personal experience and I could be wrong of course. I guess I'm arguing that addiction could be a cause but it's not the only one.
I never heard someone with a addictive personality getting depress ever these computers are terrible.
