Long before Seung Hui Cho’s video game addiction to “Counter-Strike” was suspected of contributing to his massacre of Virginia Tech students in 2007, my students at George Mason University were writing about friends and roommates whose addictions jeopardized their student status.
One student wrote about a roommate who played “World of Warcraft” so many hours a day that he was skipping meals and classes in order to feed his habit. His roommates tried to lure him away from his computer for evenings out and classes during the day, but he ended up with failing health and failing grades; after one semester, he was forced to return home. The student wrote the paper as a cautionary tale for the rest of the class, who, after he read the paper aloud, each had a similar story of a family member or friend who was addicted to a video game.
In a 2008 speech, Federal Communications Commissioner Deborah Taylor Tate declared that “You might find it alarming that one of the top reasons for college drop-outs in the U.S. is online gaming addiction — such as ‘World of Warcraft’ — which is played by 11 million individuals worldwide.” She claimed this addiction was one of the least recognized dangers for college students. Surveys have shown that 59 percent of parents think the Internet has been a totally positive influence in their children’s lives.
College offers greater opportunities to indulge this addiction because no one calls home when students skip classes or stay up all night at the computer; students are generally autonomous, and the first time a parent might hear of any problem could be too late to salvage a student’s semester grades. Once a student is placed on academic probation, it’s difficult for the student to pull out of the downward spiral.
Gaming addiction is becoming recognized as a clinical problem for teens and college students. In 2002, the self-help Online Gamers Anonymous was formed, incorporating a 12-step process similar to the process used in Alcoholics Anonymous. More recently, treatment centers have been set up in places like Belmont, Mass., and Seattle for “pathological computer use.”
An official recognition of the seriousness of video game addiction is being considered by the “Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders,” published by the American Psychiatric Association, and due to be revised in 2012. For the first time, video game addiction will probably be in the group’s classification of mental disorders.
When the subject of addiction has come up in my classes, it’s been clear we’re all prone to addictions of some type — some more benign than others. My students have admitted feeling at least somewhat addicted to Facebook, texting, crossword puzzles, food — as well as online gambling and video games. Recognizing that no one is immune from addiction is an important step in being able to see when someone we know and love is self-destructing.
We cope with addictions to alcohol and drugs more readily than addictions to video games, and that blindness has put many college students in jeopardy of failing school. As we know, recognizing that a problem exists is the first step to dealing with it.
Erica Jacobs, whose column appears Wednesday, teaches at George Mason University. E-mail her at [email protected].
