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Study Claims 8.5% of Young Gamers "Pathologically Addicted"

schnucki brings word of new research which claims roughly one in twelve American children between the ages of eight and 18 are "pathologically addicted" to video games. The study, conducted by Douglas Gentile, director of the National Institute on Media and the Family at Iowa State University, says that "pathological status was a significant predictor of poorer school performance even after controlling for sex, age, and weekly amount of video-game play." However, Professor Cheryl Olson, who has conducted her own research into video game use, questioned Gentile's methodology, saying, "The author is repurposing questions used to assess problem gambling in adults; however, lying to your spouse about blowing the rent money on gambling is a very different matter from fibbing to your mom about whether you played video games instead of starting your homework."

3 of 296 comments (clear)

  1. HA HA DISREGARD THAT I SUCK COCKS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Linux just isn't ready for the desktop yet. It may be ready for the web servers that you nerds use to distribute your TRON fanzines and personal Dungeons and Dragons web-sights across the world wide web, but the average computer user isn't going to spend months learning how to use a CLI and then hours compiling packages so that they can get a workable graphic interface to check their mail with, especially not when they already have a Windows machine that does its job perfectly well and is backed by a major corporation, as opposed to Linux which is only supported by a few unemployed nerds living in their mother's basement somewhere. The last thing I want is a level 5 dwarf (haha) providing me my OS.

  2. Re:Ya, totally impartial.... by Draek · · Score: 0, Troll

    Next time you use that smartass answer, do so on a story that doesn't have precisely what you ask linked in the same summary. Thanks.

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    No problem is insoluble in all conceivable circumstances.
  3. Re:Pfff by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: -1, Troll

    Drop that deity worship now, Christian-boy. No wonder you're in a shitty place in life, playing too many video games and talking to an invisible man - not enough education and READING BOOKS.

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    Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!