Experts have defined video game addiction as a problematic or pathological use of video games that results in social and/or emotional problems.1,2 Further, despite these problems, the gamer is unable to control this excessive use.2 Accordingly, someone essentially prioritizes video game play to the extent that essential life roles and responsibilities become compromised.
Treatment is highly recommended to alleviate symptoms, which may include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and lifestyle changes, alongside support from family and friends.
What Is Gaming Disorder?
The World Health Organization (WHO) officially accepted “gaming disorder” as a diagnosable medical condition in 2018.3 When video game play takes up significantly more time than the other activities in your life, that’s a key sign that you have a problem. Like any behavioral addiction, other signs of addiction include becoming distressed or on edge when asked to stop, or an inability to stop thinking about gaming while not even playing. These signs mimic what someone experiences during withdrawal.
Everyone experiences gaming differently—when done in moderation, there’s nothing wrong with playing video games. Some experts even recognize that video gaming may strengthen cognitive skills like spatial awareness, reasoning, and memory.4 There can also be an engaging social component when done online. But for some, moderation becomes difficult or impossible.
Is It a “Real” Addiction?
Experts are split as to whether video game addiction is real or not.3 On the one hand, it does meet the criteria for addictive disorders in the DSM-5, but is not officially recognized as its own addictive disorder.5 There is not currently enough evidence weighing in on whether lasting brain chemistry changes in the same way as with other addictions.3
Although the DSM-5 has not included video game addiction as a formal diagnosable mental health disorder, it is currently under review as a “condition for further study.” At present, a potential name for this condition is “Internet Gaming Disorder” (a subset of Internet addiction). Despite the term “Internet” preceding “gaming disorder,” there are considerations for including non-Internet games, such as those played on consoles and portable devices.
What Causes Video Game Addiction?
Video games provide a high amount of stimulation. They have numerous storylines, a learning curve, immediate feedback, and infinite possibilities. Each time someone plays, essentially, anything can happen. Behaviorally, the more positively reinforcing something is, the higher the potential for addiction. Video games activate the same reward pathway in the brain as the substances we associate with diagnosable substance use disorders.6
Causes and triggers of video game addiction include:
- Addictive personality
- Loneliness
- Boredom
- Desire to escape reality
- Increased amount of time spent playing
- Coping with trauma or significant stress
- Having another diagnosable mental health condition or another addiction
While video game play does provide temporary comfort to the player, it further exacerbates someone’s problems long-term.
Gaming Addiction Symptoms
Video game play crosses the line into addiction when it proves detrimental to someone’s life and responsibilities. The key sign of a video game addiction is repetitive use of video games, often with other players, that leads to significant issues with functioning.5
To qualify as “internet gaming disorder,” five of these nine symptoms must occur within a year:5
- Preoccupation or obsession with Internet games
- Withdrawal symptoms when not playing internet games
- A build-up of tolerance—more time needs to be spent playing the games
- The person has tried to stop or curb playing Internet games but has failed to do so
- The person has had a loss of interest in other life activities, such as hobbies
- A person has had continued overuse of Internet games even with the knowledge of how much they impact a person’s life
- The person lied to others about his or her Internet game usage
- The person uses Internet games to relieve anxiety or guilt—it’s a way to escape
- The person has lost or put at risk an opportunity or relationship because of Internet games
Child Video Game Addiction Signs
Today’s young child is much more exposed to technology than in previous generations. With video games now more accessible than ever, children are playing at increasingly younger ages. Though these games may help with learning, comprehension, spatial logic, and otherwise; they may also become addictive if not careful.
Some signs of video game addiction in children include:
- A strong preference toward video games over any other toy
- Minimal desire to engage with anyone or anything when not gaming
- Responding negatively when video games are removed
- Playing in secrecy or refusing to stop when designated game time is over
- Performance struggles at school, home, and elsewhere
- A lack of interest in a social life or other prosocial activities
- Preoccupation with gaming to a point where it consumes their thoughts
- Disregard for physical activity
- Needing to play for longer periods of time than anticipated
- No longer playing for enjoyment but merely to satisfy an urge for gaming
Teenage Video Game Addiction
If unchecked, video games may become the center of the teen’s world—finding ways to engage in play regardless of the medium, like smartphones, tablets, smart TVs, and computers. Teens may become combative toward parents and guardians when homework, extracurricular activities, chores, or other familial and social obligations interfere with play.
Signs in Adults
For adults, problematic game play may crossover from childhood and adolescence. It may also begin as an escape from everyday life. Now that a parent can no longer restrict use, someone might find themselves gravitating toward gaming during any free moment. It may also serve as a coping mechanism for stress, loneliness, substance use, et cetera. A key sign of an addiction would be if someone found themself missing work to play video games.
Health Risks of Video Game Addiction
With any addiction comes health risks and concerns. The higher the number and severity of risks and concerns present, the more significant the problem.
Health risks and concerns associated with video game addiction include things like:7
Lack of Social Engagement
Although there are opportunities to socialize virtually through multiplayer games, the desire to socialize ends there. Gamers gradually shift toward a social life that revolves around gaming. If gaming is not the center of the connection, then it has minimal to no value for them. Especially at younger ages, this hinders social development and compromises identity development.
Problems Concentrating
The immediate gratification afforded by videogames is something that is out of touch with reality. Many things in life take time and effort. Though there is some skill in gaming that may require a learning curve and time, gratification often occurs quickly during game play. When this becomes an expectation in everyday life, it is hard to pay proper attention to those things warranting more concentration. Further, when not gaming, those struggling with video game addiction are constantly thinking about it, limiting their concentration on anything else.
Poor Hygiene
With so much time spent gaming, the focus on everyday things such as hygiene becomes compromised. What is the point of showering and fixing yourself up to sit behind the screen gaming all day? Over time, lack of hygiene may contribute to mental health complications.
Lack of Adequate Sleep
It is easy to play video games longer than expected or even pull an all-nighter. “Just a few more minutes.” “Just one more level.” “The game ends after I lose this final life.” This is especially problematic when occurring on school or work nights. Lack of adequate sleep prevents cells from regenerating, which compromises the immune system. Further, lack of sleep compromises concentration, making it even harder for a gamer to concentrate on important tasks.
Failure to Complete School, Family, & Work-Related Obligations
When too much focus is placed on gaming, people may take short-cuts with important tasks or even omit them all together. In other cases, someone might even cheat or pay someone else to complete a task. Either way, it removes them further from important life tasks.
Anxiety, Irritability, Anger, & Agitation
When the brain is constantly stimulated by video games, the reward pathway is overloaded and it does not have appropriate time to reset. Further, previously enjoyed activities become less enjoyable. Joy is reduced to time spent gaming while everything else is just “blah.” While gaming, someone might become anxious given the stakes of winning versus losing. Upon losing a game, they might throw a tantrum. When gaming is removed, negative moods such as anger or irritability surface.
Loss of Appetite
When in the flow of gaming, everything else becomes secondary. It is natural to play for hours on end without realizing it, forgetting to engage in important tasks such as eating three square meals per day. Anxiety or other negative emotions during game play may work to further reduce appetite.
Reduced Physical Exercise
It is common for physical exercise to go by the wayside while gaming. Fortunately, there are newer games that incorporate physical components. These may include team sports, group exercise, or solo activities. In this respect, someone may receive as powerful a workout as going to the gym; however, most gamers stick with games that are sedentary.
If any of these risks and concerns are present, it is an appropriate time to seek treatment.
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How to Stop Gaming Addiction
If you recognize you have a gaming problem, you’ll need support and determination, but there are a lot of steps you can take to break a video game addiction.
Here are five tips for quitting video gaming:
1. Set Firm Boundaries for Yourself
Whether deciding to limit gaming or completely abstain, the most important thing is to set boundaries around video game use and stick to them. This might entail removing video game consoles and games from the house. Or, you might set restrictions on websites, apps, et cetera that may be available for use on computers, smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs.
2. Find Other Hobbies You Enjoy
Engage in other healthy behaviors and prosocial activities. If you fill the void left by gaming with another social behavior, you increase your likelihood of recovery.
3. Avoid People or Situations That Encourage Gaming
Distancing yourself from others who only intend to game while spending time together helps. If these individuals are close friends, consider hanging out in environments where opportunities to game are limited or impossible. This may include spending time outside or at the gym. If one connects with others online for gaming, then remaining logged off one’s account or terminating it all together might be best. Any time online should be specific to work or other purposeful endeavors.
4. Join a Support Group
Support groups such as Computer Gaming Addicts Anonymous (CGAA) or Online Gamers Anonymous may prove helpful. People having faced similar struggles with video game addiction connect to share experiences, relapse prevention strategies, coping skills, and resources. They also hold one another accountable. When relapse feels imminent, contacting a fellow group member oftentimes makes all the difference.
5. Focus on Your Physical Health
Like how extensive time spent gaming leads one toward gaming even more, focusing on your body’s health is similar. Proper diet and exercise are necessary for a healthy body. Over time, one begins feeling healthier, looking healthier, getting positively noticed by others, and holding oneself with higher confidence. Once the body becomes used to a healthy routine, it struggles when it is broken. The negative feeling of falling back helps continually reinforce healthy habits. Though it can take some time to get into a routine, things will eventually click. And once they do, videogaming becomes all the less important.
Video Game Addiction Treatments
If you’ve tried the tips above and you’re unable to break the addiction on your own, there is treatment for video game addiction available which usually involves therapy. Therapy addresses the problematic behavior by seeking to explore its origin, reasons for use, symptoms, and means of enacting change. It should be noted that if there is any other mental health or substance use disorder present, that should also be treated to reduce the likelihood of relapse.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a leading approach for treating video game addiction.8 The therapist can help someone replace thoughts about gaming in order to change behavior patterns. Behavioral interventions will include setting boundaries around gaming and encourage other healthy behaviors.
You can easily find a therapist by asking your primary care provider, or you can search a therapist directory where you can filter by someone’s specialty and insurance coverage.
Is There Medication to Help Beat Gaming Addiction?
Although there is no medication designed specifically to help beat gaming addiction, there are medications that can reduce specific symptoms. For those with other mental health or addiction diagnoses, medication prescribed to treat those conditions may help. But this conversation must be had with a prescribing physician, such as a psychiatrist. It is strongly discouraged to self-medicate, especially with recreational drugs. Doing this may lead to a co-occurring condition or cross-addiction—further complicating everything.
How to Get Help for a Loved One
When you notice the signs and symptoms of video game addiction, it is important to have a supportive conversation with your loved one to properly get them help. Recognize that video game addiction is similar to other forms of addiction in that it is something your loved one can no longer willingly control. It is important to participate as much as necessary and possible with their treatment plan. With your support, recovery becomes a much more likely possibility.
How to Get Help for a Child or Teen
When children and teens get to the point of video game addiction, it is important to recognize that there are likely complications in other areas of life. By being sensitive and mindful of this, families may work together to support the child or teen through recovery.
Some useful strategies for helping teens with a gaming addiction include:
- Setting time limits for game play
- Removing video game accessible electronics from the bedroom or other areas where frequent play occurs
- Engaging in family activities that do not include electronic media
- Encouraging the teen to become involved in extracurricular activities or part-time employment
- Having direct conversations regarding concerns about video game play
- Checking with the teen daily insofar as how things are going socially, emotionally, academically, et cetera.
- Speaking with a professional
- Serving as a positive role model by not overusing electronic mediums (particularly partaking in video game play) oneself
Can Gaming Addiction Be Prevented?
It is important to set limitations on how much game play is allowed per day, for any gaming platform. When setting such limitations, you should consider time for work, social, and familial obligations. It is also important to consider what is necessary for healthy living—diet, exercise, and a healthy amount of sleep.
You should also consider what other activities you enjoy and find meaningful. This may include engaging in athletics, crafts, music, or some other hobby. It may also include philanthropic activities such as volunteer work and advocacy. When you contribute toward something that provides personal and societal benefits, video gaming may remain a healthy, recreational activity.
Video Game Addiction Statistics
Because of controversy related to whether video game addiction is truly an addiction or not, research has been relatively minimal compared to that of other diagnosable disorders.
In an overview of current research on video game addiction, The Recovery Village reported the following:9,10
- 64% of the U.S. population are gamers
- The average male gamer is 33 years old
- The average female gamer is 37 years old
- Males between the ages of 18–24 are most at risk for gaming addiction
- 94% of males and 6% of females represent the gender breakdown for gaming addiction
- 69% Caucasian, 13% Asian and 18% of other ethnicities is the ethnicity breakdown for gaming addiction
- The video game industry continues to grow at a rapid rate. In 1999, the industry generated $7.4 billion in revenue, compared to $131 billion in 2018. Some reports speculate that the video game industry could make $300 billion by 2025
Video Game Addiction Infographics
