WHO Gaming Disorder Listing a 'Moral Panic', Say Experts (bbc.com)

The decision to class gaming addiction as a mental health disorder was "premature" and based on a "moral panic," experts have said. From a report: The World Health Organization included "gaming disorder" in the latest version of its disease classification manual. But biological psychology lecturer Dr Peter Etchells said the move risked "pathologising" a behaviour that was harmless for most people. The WHO said it had reviewed available evidence before including it. It added that the views reflected a "consensus of experts from different disciplines and geographical regions" and defined addiction as a pattern of persistent gaming behaviour so severe it "takes precedence over other life interests." Speaking at the Science Media Centre in London, experts said that while the decision was well intentioned, there was a lack of good quality scientific evidence about how to properly diagnose video game addiction.

Comments

Re:The real issue:

[Kjella]

When children play role-playing games, they aren't learning about real life. Most children don't have fully competent parents, apparently. So there is no one to teach them.

You could say the exact same thing about TV, most series and shows aren't exactly realistic and deadbeat parents certainly isn't new so I don't see how this generation is worse off than the last. If you're gaming you're at least thinking a bit for yourself rather than mindlessly watching a show, so I think you're slightly better off than before even though playing Overwatch isn't exactly important life skills. The problem is more that through modern gaming metrics it's a finely tuned addiction machine with levels, gear, achievements, daily challenges, special events, loot boxes, XP bonuses and various tricks to poke and prod you into playing more. And now I'm old enough to see through it that I'm being manipulated, but not at 15 and probably not in my 20s either. One more round, one more level, one more trinket. We are kinda simple beings though when they tickle the brain's reward centers.

difference between use and abuse

[goombah99]

What they are saying is not that gaming leads to addiction but rather some addicable people make gaming their addiction.

This is unquestionably true.

You can say the same thing about cleaning your ears with a Q-tip or sucking on a lollypop.

People who use drugs are not neccessarily addicts. People who abuse drugs often are addicts.

And so we need a category to describe, Q-tip fixation, drug addiction, and gaming addiction.

Unwanted compulsive behaviour is also different than compulsive behaviour. If it's unwanted but not under control it is a problem and so they classify it as such.

okay everybody can calm down now.

"takes precedence over other life interests."

[Shemmie]

That can be called a 'hobby', depending on how extreme we're talking.

Re:The real issue:

[mapkinase]

The problem is that gaming takes much more of your "real" life as a kid: learning physics and mathematics and programming and biology: you know, stuff that matters.

I am old and I do not have time for gaming and, oh, boy, isn't that a time sucking activity. When I binge Frasier in upteenth time I can do it in background. Have you ever tried playing game in the background?

Books and gaming are 100% time sucking activity while music and TV/movies are more tolerant to that.

We went from hard hitting heroin escapism of books to soon to become (with advent of Internet streaming on your side second screen) light ganja addiction to movies and TV to the heroin on steroids: gaming.

Back to childhood. Childhood is not supposed to be "happy". It is supposed to be very difficult and demanding, stressful and painful and if you are under delusion of giving your kids happy childhood, good luck suing your 30-year old son out of your basement. In the past people brought kids because they really needed them as a base for a quiet dignified childhood, now people make kids as pets, to groom them and play with them.

Kids are not pets. Stop spoiling them with bullshit activities, be tiger dads and helicopter moms.

And there bloody is no such thing as "teenage rebellion", it's a Western invention of degenerate lousy parents.