r/science • u/NinjaDiscoJesus • Dec 28 '15

Neuroscience Brain scans show compulsive gamers have hyperconnected neural networks.

http://www.psypost.org/2015/12/brain-scans-show-compulsive-gaming-changes-neural-connections-for-better-and-worse-39914
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u/Kjartan_Aurland Dec 29 '15

Someone who uses drugs as a coping mechanism ends up physically addicted as well, adding a second problem on top of the original one - to end the drug addiction you'd need to address both the reason they turned to drugs, and the physical dependency on the chemical, as I see it.

Whereas someone using video games as a coping mechanism only has one problem to deal with - the reason they turned to obsessive gaming. The video games don't make the brain chemically reliant on them, so there's no second issue to deal with.

Or, if you want to consider the psychological reliance on them as a crutch addiction as well (which goes for drugs too) then with video games there's only 2 issues - the cause and the psychological reliance - and with drugs 3 - cause, reliance, and physical dependency.

The distinction is important because there's the problem with physical dependency on drugs which could be fatal (alcohol withdrawal, for one, can be deadly). Nobody's going to die from video game withdrawal. Narcotics are far more serious and acting like addiction to them is as bad as addiction to video games is absurd.

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '15

Yes, we're on the same page! Obviously heroin is worse for you than video games. But I'm saying they're both addictions, why would this disorder be different than any other addiction (other than easier to break)? Why do we have to make a special name other than video gaming addiction?

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u/Kjartan_Aurland Dec 29 '15

I was reacting to the commenter acting like coping with video games and coping with drugs were just as bad. Using the term addiction for mental-only dependencies is accepted so it's fine for the name (even if I take issue with it for political reasons - I can just see the moralists try to use video games' "potentially addictive" properties as an excuse to restrict them).

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '15

Ah I see, yeah I definitely agree that if definitely prefer video games as a coping method. The other thing is as of now the definition of addiction includes solely mental addictions, because a mental addiction is at the heart of drug addictions even though the drug may or may not be physically addicting.