The negative impact of online gaming addiction

The negative impact of online gaming addiction

Gaming addiction is prevalent more now than ever before. With all of the current at home consoles as well as computer gaming, it can be quite easy for one to become addicted. The social effect of these gaming addictions can be quite a lot. Since the majority of gamers are men, teens, young adults and boys, most of the effects relate more so to them than it does to their female counterparts.(Chappell 2006) A lot of gaming is done in front of a screen at ones house, these gaming sessions can go on for countless of hours. In some games you are able to talk other gamers and cooperate in achieving the same goal, but in others you cannot do that, that is where gaming hits you, socially. When one has been gaming for long periods of time and not talking (or just talking to himself in his head) one becomes very awkward in social environments. For one, the person may not feel comfortable having so much people around him as that person is used to being in their own little gaming “world” or “atmosphere” that this environment might feel like a new experience. In addition to feeling overwhelmed to the situation, one may find it very difficult to have a conversation with another person. The lack of speech can be credited to a gaming addiction, when you constantly play for hours and hours without talking you will find it hard to go out and start talking to people. Furthermore, if a gamer is losing sleep because they are playing video games, they might find it hard to perform at their school or workplace, it is essential for one to try and get eight hours of sleep every night, without that a gamer might find it hard to get the grades he or she was attaining before, or for gamers with jobs might find it harder to get through the day, they may even end up submitting mediocre and put their job at risk. In fact, gamers with families might put family matters and responsibility to the side just so that they can keep playing or “beat the level” or whatever it may be. Gamers may actually think twice before helping their family, and that is only if they do decide to help out. On the other hand, there are people who do stop playing but all they would do is talk about the game. On top of talking about it a lot, they talk about it with a lot of passion, letting their emotions get ahead of them and it does drive spouse, friends, and girlfriends mad. But overall gaming is not a bad thing, but gamers do need to learn how to control it and communicate with the “outside” world.

Sources: 

Chappell, D., Eatough, V., Davies, M. N., & Griffiths, M. (2006). EverQuest—It’s just a computer game right? An interpretative phenomenological analysis of online gaming addiction. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction, 4(3), 205-216.