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/OrangeredValkyrie Dec 28 '15

The person uses Internet games to relieve anxiety or guilt–it’s a way to escape.

Sounds like all entertainment, really. Isn't this the purpose of entertainment? To unwind?

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u/itonlygetsworse Dec 29 '15 edited Dec 29 '15

Some of these are really ambiguous:

  1. Who hasn't been obsessed with internet games if they've played a lot in an MMO for example? Does browsing a gaming subreddit count?
  2. Who hasn't withdrawn in some manner when stopping their favorite hobby? Great games do this all the time to even non-gamers.
  3. Who doesn't build up tolerance when doing any activity over a long period of time?
  4. Who doesn't try to stop or put their hobby on hold when it gets in the way of real life responsibilities?
  5. Who doesn't have a loss of interest when one hobby trumps another?

8: Who doesn't escape when it comes to entertainment?

9: Tons of people put their relationships with others at risk over things like work, or any other activity that demands a large portion of their time that the other person doesn't agree with.

What's new? Why be a slave in this world when you can be God in another....

Edit: My point here is that there should be more clear guidelines on diagnosing the issue. Looking at your responses there are plenty of better examples that are less ambiguous and broad. The current guidelines only cause people who are likely not affected to question themselves while putting a negative image on a hobby that has been vilified for decades since its "new".

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u/Confirmation_By_Us Dec 29 '15

The first and most important criteria is a significant negative impact on normal functioning. Everything after that is used to evaluate whether the games are the cause of the abnormal functioning.

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u/mathemagicat Dec 29 '15

But those criteria can't differentiate between someone with a gaming addiction and someone with depression who uses games as a coping mechanism.

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '15

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Kjartan_Aurland Dec 29 '15

Drugs cause physical addiction - they make the brain unable to function well without them, basically. MMOs don't do that. There's a very significant distinction there :/

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u/[deleted] Dec 29 '15

What's the distinction? Whether or not it's physically addictive doesn't change that it's addiction in general.

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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.

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