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Helping Parents Make Sense of Video Game Addiction

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Video Game Influences on Aggression, Cognition, and Attention

Abstract

Digital technologies, including video games, are the cause of much concern and much optimism. Many parents are concerned by reports in the popular press about the concept of video game addiction. This chapter aims to critically examine some of the most prolific concerns surrounding the concept of video game addiction and provide a discussion of the science behind such concerns. Among the concerns discussed in this chapter are (1) the idea that increasing amount of time spent playing is a symptom of addiction, (2) the notion that video games are forms of digital substances akin to cocaine or heroin, (3) the concern that Internet descriptions of symptoms can be used for diagnostic purposes, and 4) the concern that video games necessarily have negative consequences. We argue that the term “addiction” is not well suited to describe children’s involvement with digital media.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Unless, of course we adopt the thinking that addictions can be either positive or negative as some authors have done (Glasser, 1976). In such a framework, one early theoretician describes “gaming and simulation” as an addiction that might best be understood as a “Mixed Blessing Addiction” (Brown, 1991, p. 112).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Digital Design, IT University of Copenhagen, Center for Computer Games Research, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Rune K. L. Nielsen

  2. Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, Centre for Psychiatry Research, Stockholm, Sweden

    Daniel Kardefelt-Winther

Authors
  1. Rune K. L. Nielsen
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  2. Daniel Kardefelt-Winther
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Correspondence to Rune K. L. Nielsen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Department, Stetson University, DeLand, Florida, USA

    Christopher J. Ferguson

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Nielsen, R.K.L., Kardefelt-Winther, D. (2018). Helping Parents Make Sense of Video Game Addiction. In: Ferguson, C. (eds) Video Game Influences on Aggression, Cognition, and Attention. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95495-0_5

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