Gaming disorder
This text is part of: "I would never send my kids to school" by Piotr Wozniak (2017)
Addiction to gaming
Due to their highly rewarding nature, videogames can lead to addictions. A common myth compares the effect of computer games to the danger of drugs. Games are allegedly a threat to the best-regulated mind (see: Homo tabletis). In reality, like other addictions, they require additional ingredients to take hold of a young man's brain (see: Natural rewards and addictions).
Paradoxically, parents and teachers use tools and remedies that can make the risk of addiction worse. Schooling takes a great deal of time, incl. evening homework. This results in the habit of nighttime play. Disruption in the circadian cycle weakens natural defenses (incl. grit, need for exercise, need for social interaction, etc.). Chronic stress is a driving force that makes minor rewards receive enhanced valuation (see: Impact of stress on addictions). Bad grades, conflicts with parents, bad sleep, reduced exercise, stress, and associated factors conspire to form an addiction spiral that can lead to pathological behaviors. While it is hard to separate the impact of stressors (e.g. parental penalization), and the reward of computer use, the blame nearly always falls on videogaming (see: Scholars warn of gaming disorder overdiagnosis).
The mechanism of game addiction is not much different from other addictions, esp. gambling. Most people can consume alcohol with few noticeable side effects. However, a subset of population may be vulnerable due to a disruption in the reward system (e.g. resulting from an unhealthy family situation).
Feedback loops
Exercise, learning, and social life may provide additional balancing sources of reward, however, these rewards do not tend to fall into a positive feedback loop that worsens the addiction. Kids who love football, play until they drop. Kids that love gaming may get rewards boosted by growing proficiency. In addition, troubles that stem from the gaming addiction may potentiate the rewards. This positive feedback loop, as is the case with drugs, may be hard to break and require therapy.
A popular claim says that variable reward is the basis of the addiction. Cognitive rewards largely stem from the learn drive, which is a powerful force. The learn drive has a positive impact on development, and results in a great deal of learning for gamers. Most of all, inconsistent penalization by school and parents leads to an increase in the perceived valence of gaming rewards (see: Reward diversity in preventing addictions).
At later ages, as the spectrum of competing cognitive and social rewards keeps increasing, teenagers naturally outgrow gaming or reduce their time spent on videogames (see: Videogames and TV tend to saturate).
Book reading disorder
To illustrate the absurdity of combatting the gaming disorder, let's see how it looked half-a-century earlier. There were no computer games around and Atari was in diapers. Book reading is as addictive as gaming, however, it got a greater activation energy. This means, it is much harder for a kid to break the cognitive barrier that converts books into a source of unadulterated pleasure.
Half-a-century ago, a kid might read a fantastic novel and refuse to go to sleep. Reading with a torch under the coverlet was a frequent phenomenon (I did it too). Moms would get upset. Kids would be sleepy on the next day. School would suffer, etc. Similarities with gaming are eerie. Love of books and games comes from the activation of the same reward pathways. This is largely a cognitive reward, and it is predominantly valuable in education. The adult oppression, stress, and fear can turn that reward into variable reward which is a first step towards gambling and addiction. As always, we should combat reward deprivation, not the addictive factor.
If you never heard of book addictions in the 1950s or in the 1970s, it is because reading is harder than playing games. It is not as accessible. However, once the barriers are passed, the mechanics become nearly identical. In addition, benefits of gaming affect a larger portion of the population. Regrettably, adult backlash is proportionally greater.
Today, many a mom would pay a fortune to have her kids read addictively. We forgot the lessons of the past. This is why I need to write about the role of cognitive freedom again and again. Parents may not read, but I know some kids do. Perhaps they will help parents see the light.
Cognitive benefits
The list of cognitive and educational benefits of gaming is too long to include. This is why gaming cannot be considered bad for a child. It becomes a threat only in association with pathologies that necessitate a separate and well-targeted prevention or intervention. These pathologies include authoritarian parenting, child abuse, bullying, high-pressure schooling, etc.
There is a fantastic prevention tool that can be used well ahead of time: freedom, love and a good example. Happy kids can balance their use of computers with sleep, exercise and school. Once things go wrong, coercive interventions may trigger the positive feedback loop that is hard to break. Pressures of schooling and homework may pose a bigger threat than the videogames themselves. For more see: Dangers of screen time limits.
Further reading
- Reward deprivation: how restrictions lead to addictions
- Reward diversity in preventing addictions: freedom as a form of prevention
- Dangers of imposing screen time limits on children: let kids have fun with new technologies
- Neuromythology: how science and pseudoscience join forces to convince parents that school is more important than screens
- Ban schools, not TikTok: who should win the war?
- Scientists invent TikTok use disorder (TTUD): gaming disorder transmuted into an attack on a company
- Horrible proposition of Dr Jonathan Haidt: confusion about antifragility