this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2023
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Yes, I’m aware that the APA has recommended much further study in order to determine whether technology use might be an addiction. Or did you not bother to read the page you linked?
I did bother to read it. Did you? Just because it hasn't been fully fleshed out to be officially listed with diagnostic criteria and full information for the manual doesn't mean that it hasn't been defined or that it doesn't exist or that the APA does not classify it as a mental disorder.
Do you have some kind of ideological problem with the concept of gaming addiction, specifically, in the universe of all the other behavioral addictions out there? Gamers™ sure do seem to get sensitive any time anyone says anything that could be construed as remotely negative about their hobby - like that some people develop crippling addictions to it as outlined in the topic article.
The article makes no such claims. It outlines the major positions and recommends further research. Gaming is not an addiction, according to the APA.
Gambling addiction - a rather well documented phenomenon over centuries - wasn't even in the DSM until the fifth edition. Gaming addiction will be in the sixth. See you then.
I look forward to seeing if you actually are able to predict the future, Nostradamus.
It's crazy to me that some people don't believe that this is a thing. I knew this guy who seemed like he had it all. A decent job, a house, a wife and kids, good friends, etc, you name it.
Warning: This gets a bit heavy
Over time, this guy's gaming addiction cost him nearly everything. He kept calling in sick to work in order to game instead, so he lost his job. His gaming also caused him to neglect getting mental health treatment for one of their children. His wife worked as much as legally possible, but it wasn't enough for them to keep their house. They were forced to move in with their family for a while, on the other side of the US.
Of course, it didn't end there. They got a new place of their own somewhere else a few years later, only for him to fall back into those same habits. His wife divorced him when she discovered that he was cheating with someone that he had met while gaming.
One of their kids (may they rest in peace) is no longer with us due to their terrible experiences throughout all of this. You never forget seeing a distraught parent at their own kid's funeral. I will never forget the horror in their eyes. The guilt.
Gaming addiction is absolutely a thing.
What kind of gaming/game was it? I'm betting either a mobile game literally designed to get you trapped in it, or some hyper competitive lootbox and microtransactionv filled game