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8.5 Percent of Youths from 8-18 Addicted to Games

April 20, 2009 in News comments 19

Researcher Douglas Gentile of Iowa State University found in his studies that 8.5% of youths are addicted to video games. Though he's not blaming the games themselves, but those who play them.

To get at gaming addiction, Gentile adapted diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling into a series of questions about video game use. The questions became part of a 2007 Harris Poll survey of 1,178 children and teens. Gamers were deemed "pathological" if they reported at least six of the 11 symptoms.
xxxRockerxxx via washingtonpost.com »
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  • 2
    Kinganubis2 Apr 21, 09
    Interesting. To bad there's not a link to the quiz itself...

    I think people blow shit out of proportion way to *bleep*ing much. For example, all those people bitching about that Burger King Commercial; umm... who gives a shit?

    8.5% is nothing tbh. I'll admit there's a problem when people are getting kicked out of school or getting fired from their job, or hell, they start dieing because of video games.

    Seriously, just because a few kids in *bleep*ing Iowa are "addicted" to video games, it's deemed news worthy. Un*bleep*ingbelievable.

    How about the war in Iraq? Or the war on drugs? Or, perhaps, all the sexual offenses that happen every day?

    All I'm saying is that people need to let the little things go.[/end_rant]



    I apologize for rambling on and on about off-topic stuff but, this article got me thinking...
    • 3
      BANDITO ATTACK Apr 21, 09
      so nothing that isn't a massive issue on a global scale shouldn't even be in the news?
      • 0
        black doom Apr 21, 09
        Nice... I wonder what your stats would be if we had thumbs down though?
      • 0
        Kinganubis2 Apr 21, 09
        That's not what I meant Bandito. By all means, little stories should be in the news. But, think about this; how many parents have read this article (the WashingtonPost one) and instantly think, "Wow, video games must be as big a problem as drugs or alcohol if you can get addicted to them." (That thought includes all those BS studies out there like this one.)

        It just pisses me off that people keep taking shots at video games, not matter how small or large the blow may be.
  • 0
    Zerpent Apr 21, 09
    Too bad statistics are basically crap-info. 1,178 children and teens are not exactly all of us, if you know what I mean. It could be that a few more of these particular kids were addicted to games, and thus made the result go up.

    Not that I care. I'm probably addicted to games and so far it hasn't affected my life too much.
    • 0
      Mishtram Apr 21, 09
      It would be impossible to sample the entire population of gamers. Over 1000 test subjects is at least a statistically verifiable and well based number to base conclusions on.
  • 0
    Oogity_Boogity_Boo Apr 21, 09
    I wonder what the ratio is compared to people that are addicted to crack in the same age range.
    • 0
      Navronan Apr 21, 09
      That could also be interesting...
    • 0
      kik36 Apr 21, 09
      I would liken video games as crack for kids......they graduate to the real shit in their 20's. LOL
    • 0
      carouselambra Apr 21, 09
      damn you, I was gonna make a crack joke you beat me to it man.
  • 0
    Mishtram Apr 21, 09
    This is getting to be a trend in the news, actually. Only a few days ago I was watching an article about Koreans and the amount of kids who were failing in school, dropping out or doing poorly in everything outside of their online and gaming lives, which they dedicated at least 8 hours, if not more, of their day to, which is fairly shocking for kids who are already at school for 8 other hours of the day.

    They actually used these camps which separate children from electronics, including phones, for two weeks to try and rebuild their "lost childhood" through social activities and workshops. It was surprising when the women who was in a room with maybe 20 kids or thereabout and asked who in the room had health problems in the room because of overuse of the computer, and everyone in the room had at least some eye or ear complications from overuse of electronics.
  • 0
    yugiRULER Apr 21, 09
    Thats so *bleep*. one of the symptoms, is if you like the games, and another is if you play it to escape a problem. Basically that means you play video games to get your mind off things. This guys an ass. Mr. Gentil, what an ass name, obviously doesn't know any little kids.
  • 1
    Darknet* Apr 21, 09
    I do c-c-c-c-games, yeah!
  • 0
    Drago Shi Apr 22, 09
    So what if I can name all 493 pokemon in my sleep.

    So what if I can recite every single zelda song known to man.

    So WHAT if I can beat Banjo-Kazooie 100% in only 4 hours straight.

    I'm not addicted, am I?...
    • 0
      Aussie Legend* Apr 22, 09
      *bleep* you, you beat my time

      So yes you are addicted
    • 0
      xegaldis Apr 22, 09
      It's called a good memory, it's a good quality to have.
  • 0
    Mazda Apr 22, 09
    Ha ha this is stupid i mean really stupid, I can make questions to prove that anyone here is addicted to gaming, or anything else for that matter then argue it is scientific proof. Also statistics mean jack all as 1 they dont effect the individual, 2 such a small sample of the youth from one region in one country. Yeah there will be people addicted to gaming but if you think about it its better than being addicted to alot of other stuff out there.
  • 0
    King_X2 Apr 23, 09
    Oh wow, 8.5 percent, and it's video games. Sure, kids could be spending their time doing something better or more productive, but at least they aren't out being crackheads (most of them, I hope).
    • 0
      Mazda Apr 23, 09
      quote King_X2
      Oh wow, 8.5 percent, and it's video games. Sure, kids could be spending their time doing something better or more productive, but at least they aren't out being crackheads (most of them, I hope).
      no thats the other 91.5% doing that

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