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Comment by JPKab | Hacker News Reader

Do you think that video game addiction contributes to this kind of thing, or is the video game addiction a coping mechanism?

I think video game addiction is an incredibly underreported and highly destructive phenomenon. I encounter (and had to fire a few days ago) lots of young men who don't appear to ever sleep, and are highly unproductive, unmotivated, and constantly distracted. The kid I had to fire (I call him kid, but he was 28 and incredibly immature) reminded me of a former colleague in the construction industry who relapsed on his crack/cocaine addiction. Distracted, listless, kind of just there for the ride.

Edit: Apparently ASKING about video game addiction merits downvotes with zero responses explaining why.

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I think video game addiction definitely contributes. I used to spend a fair amount of time playing first person shooters in my childhood 15-20 years ago. I haven't played much nowadays but these games provide a sense of "progress" and "accomplishment", which people would probably normally seek outside. Even in the past 5 years, I've caught myself having a reflex to open a game like Apex Legends or Valorant whenever I had a free moment instead of going for a run outside, playing piano, or cooking dinner. The problem is they're really fun also, which exacerbates the problem since it's easy to follow the "greedy optimization" algorithm in life and do things that are fun and rewarding as opposed to doing challenging but longer-term actually rewarding things.

This is not to say that you should never play video games. I've found that they've been great for staying in touch with friends I would've otherwise lost touch with. A few hours a week isn't bad at all. It's just that it can snowball very quickly if you're not mindful about how you spend your time.

I luckily never really became addicted to any video games, but I'm concerned for my future children who will undoubtedly encounter video games in the future some day.

I worked as a video game tester briefly while working my way through college (Mattel Intellivision).

It permanently destroyed my interest in video games, along with the fake rewards it offers.

The brief synopsis of video game tester I remember reading somewhere is that it's actually incredibly boring, because it involves finding and exhaustively reproducing bugs, not actually playing a game. Is that accurate?

Incredibly boring, yes. What you do is exhaustively go through every option at every point in play, and verify it does the expected thing. Then you get a new version with fixes/improvements, and do it all over again. You learn to hate every moment doing this.

The dorm in college had a pinball machine, the old mechanical contraptions before LEDs took over. I was fascinated by them, but had no money, so playing them was a rare treat (10 cents a game, 25 for 3 games). One day, the coin op broke, and free games galore. Yay!

After playing that continuously for hours, something broke in me, and I just couldn't stand playing pinball anymore.

I honestly cannot fathom people managing to spend their lives playing video games.

The same thing happened to me with fireworks. I grew up fascinated by fireworks, and would blow every penny on them on the 4th. One day, in college, I had enough cash to buy all I wanted. I bought a lot. Went out to a field, and started lighting and throwing the black cats one by one. Bang, bang, bang. Some hours went by, again something broke. I haven't bought fireworks since. I have no interest in firework displays. The needle doesn't even move.

Go figure.

Never lost my interest in muscle cars, though :-) I grin like an idiot when I drive mine.

Video game addiction (overuse) is a coping mechanism in the face of increased anxiety in the modern world.

I don’t think it directly causes issues as much as it enables or locks in certain behaviorally patterns such as being a NEET or similar. It’s really more of a symptom of a lack of support system in a person’s life, the same way social media overuse or drug abuse comes about.

Real addictions have severe physical consequences like chemical withdrawals that can lead to death.

I find that Self-Determination Theory is a good model to look at this with. Modern school and work life provide little autonomy, little relatedness, and little (desirable/appreciated) skill for the vast majority of people whereas video games do the opposite by providing essentially an ideal playground.

> Video game addiction (overuse) is a coping mechanism in the face of increased anxiety in the modern world.

You are stating this in absolute terms, which indicates to me that you have a solid source, or are an expert in the field. If so, can you please detail?

From my background working in psychiatry (in-patient) for six years, it is certainly not that clear.

> Real addictions have severe physical consequences like chemical withdrawals that can lead to death.

So the sex addicts I treated didn't have a "real" addiction?

The gambling addicts I treated didn't either?

Or the extreme adrenaline addicts?

Also, many experts in the field seem to disagree with you. See the proposed internet gaming disorder [1].

https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/internet-gaming

Genuinely curious: Is video game addiction different in kind to anorexia? My understanding is the latter is often a symptom of wanting control over something. I see getting stuck on video games the same way.

I would say they're different, because it's possible to remove a lot of the triggers associated with video games, gambling, alcohol, and drugs (by not having them easily accessible, for example) but it's not possible to do that with food.

I'm glad you responded because the person you were responded to exhibits typical thought patterns on addiction that I'm sure you are as frustrated by as I am.

People don't seem to understand that drugs like cocaine flood the brain with dopamine and that's exactly what these video games are designed to do by the psychologists the game companies hire. I don't get why people don't seem to understand that it's alarming when video game companies are hiring people from the gambling industry in Vegas.

Looks like you're being downvoted for suggesting video game addiction, but I think it's a huge part of it. I refer to it as 'digital drugs'. They're definitely addicted. Even on rare occasions when they show up to family gatherings they've got their face glued to their portable games and rarely speak.

Of course, the parents played a part in enabling this. Their mom (my sis) will often suggest I buy them video games for their birthday/Christmas but I refuse to do that. What they need is a kick in the ass to get them outside.

> Even on rare occasions when they show up to family gatherings they've got their face glued to their portable games and rarely speak.

That's not video games though, that's the general digital addiction going on. And honestly, as a teenager I used to avoid everyone with books and I doubt anyone would have described me as addicted to a paper drug.

Social media is the real digital crack.

That’s what most people are getting their hit of when they’re staring at a screen during a family gathering.

Games are the mild stuff in comparison (so long you steer clear of gambling and the ‘basically-gambling’ of loot box-based games)

Stomping out my son's fortnite and overwatch addiction was obnoxiously difficult probably because of the stupid loot box and skin phenomenon.

He was failing out of school and had lost interest in sports. I put all of his Xbox controllers in a safe and if he wants to play games he has to maintain a straight a average and be playing at least one sport or have a after-school job.

Within about 2 weeks he was back on track at school and is now a straight a student again.

Obviously this is just an anecdote but I don't think he was suffering from any form of anxiety or anything like that. He got hooked on the games and then his brain was just unable to be excited by other things for a long time.

Very few things in the real world are as optimized as the playing experience and overwatch or the social aspects of fortnite.

I think "is it a cause or a symptom?" is a valid question and deserves serious thought. Upvoted.

I worried about my own son playing video games incessantly through his teens and twenties, but now at 28 he has been holding down a stable job for a year and I have got good reports from his employer. He's still a loner IRL though.

Would I worry so much if he were a gym rat or ultramarathoner-- an "exercise addict"? Good question.

You should worry about anyone with a sedentary lifestyle, regardless of whether they play video games or not. This has serious health consequences later in life.

But competing in a lot of ultramarathons isn't necessarily healthy for the long term either. In extreme cases athletes end up with heart muscle scarring and calcification. Somewhat shorter distances might be better. Everything in moderation.

I am also a father and I had to stomp out my son's video game addiction. Frankly I don't think it's a major victory for a 28-year-old to have been gainfully employed for a year and still be a loner. Being an introvert is one thing but not having a social network around you especially in your twenties is a very bad sign.

Too often people think that because their kid is introverted they shouldn't be alarmed by them not having a social network of any kind. The reality is that there are many many very healthy introverts who still have strong friendships with other people. I'm only saying this because I've seen too often people write off their children's bad lifestyle choices as simply being introverted.

I don't think I got so freaked out by video game addiction until working at my last company where we hired a bunch of people from the gaming industry. They were the ones who told me about how many top-notch behavioral psychologist are employed in the gaming industry to maximize the addictive potential of video games.

We can say what we will about exercise addicts but at least they are getting very healthy bodies and the highly positive mental health benefits of exercise. Plus when you're in a gym or if you are running trail marathons you are going to be doing so with other people who don't sit in there darkened rooms for days on end.

I'm trying to stomp out my son's video game addiction right now. The trouble is that online classes require a web browser, and there are lots of web games.

I don't think video games have anything to do with it. Humans are naturally lazy, and if all your needs are being taken care of for you, then you'll naturally seek entertainment for your boredom.

They could do all sorts of things in their spare time, from watching tv shows, movies, youtube, anime, browsing reddit/twitter/instagram/tiktok, etc.

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