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[Madbad]

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[stormlord]

I think gaming addiction is a serious problem, but come on, not everybody playing games has severe mental health problems. There're a lot of addicts you know. Gaming; shopping; gambling; drugs; sex; work; exercising (!); tanning. I think addicts might have common genes though that make them suscpeptible to addiction. There're studies which support this.

Note not about exercising. There're people who run for miles everyday and can't miss a day of exercise. They HAVE to do it. They say it makes them feel good. I think the reason nobody notices is because .... it's exercise. Problem is if someone is exercising so much it can have negative consequences on other things if they neglect.

I do agree though that gaming or computer-use in general are particularly somewhat social-avoidant. It's not merely something which can become an addiction. Even if you chat online, you're not actually interacting directly with people. People who avoid others and go on the computer might have mental disorders or problems which make them do this.

I knew a person in HS who spent hours eveyrday programming, not necessarily gaming. Addiction to programming? Maybe. But the point was this dude spent a lot of time on computers. He was avoiding people intentionally. The same guy also liked to read, sometimes a lot. He'd shut in somewhere and get buried in the book for hours.

It's the computer itself which becomes addicting, not necessarily the games. It's an escape from social pressures or from failings brought on by mental disorders or health problems or similar. That guy never seemed HAPPY to me. He didn't have a girl friend. He didn't have many friends which I knew of. One of those invisible class mates who repels others.

[Madbad]

I don't think every person who plays video games is mentally ill.

I started this thread as a kind of response to what happened to Dayse and Vyrenoth. Two mental health tragedies that were covered by news outlets is a lot for our relatively small community.

I wouldn't be surprised if our community had a disproportionately high number of mentally ill people.

I also think that addiction is a pretty severe mental illness.

Anyway,

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[stormlord]

I think it's computers we have to fear, not mentally unfit people. Ever noticed the increasing numbers of people staring at their mobiles? Like they have to? Seriously, I've witnessed some absurd scenes in past years.

Invasion of the mobile zombie people.

This s*** is aobut to get real though. It's straight front and center. Can't avoid it. When half the people on your work crew are staring at the mobile and this is hte last place people should be doing that, you know aliens are involved.

Ray Bradbury was onto this at least 60 years ago. It started with phones and radios and esp. portable radios. The martians might have been involved, but Bradubry never entertained the idea. He just blamed apathy.

Here's example (the quote is circa 1960):
https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Ray_Bradbury

On another occasion, Bradbury observed that the novel touches on the alienation of people by media:

In writing the short novel Fahrenheit 451 I thought I was describing a world that might evolve in four or five decades. But only a few weeks ago, in Beverly Hills one night, a husband and wife passed me, walking their dog. I stood staring after them, absolutely stunned. The woman held in one hand a small cigarette-package-sized radio, its antenna quivering. From this sprang tiny copper wires which ended in a dainty cone plugged into her right ear. There she was, oblivious to man and dog, listening to far winds and whispers and soap opera cries, sleep walking, helped up and down curbs by a husband who might just as well not have been there. This was not fiction.[46]

[Madbad]

I was sitting next to a person at a restaurant last night who was taking selfies the whole time.

[Madbad]

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[Swish]

Are you having these symptoms? Take a step back.

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[Madbad]

I reckon it's a war gun.

[Deadmantis]

As much as I loved playing classic EQ back in 1999, it didn't run my life. I logged a lot of hours and had fun, but I wasn't addicted.

In 2008 when the economy took a dump the company I worked for downsized and I was laid off. At that time I was playing WoW with some real life friends. I was still single and I had so much free time collecting unemployment and job searching on the internet I became a real neckbeard with 3 level 80s. It was my outlet for the depression that sunk in when I woke up one day and realized I had no frickin job. I was living on fast food and a couple hours of sleep each day, usually when servers went down or my friends logged off.

I was a smelly basement dweller that could heal heroic dungeons with my eyes closed.

A few months later I was back to work and no longer depressed. Cut way back on my playing time, and eventually stopped playing WoW altogether.

Now I'm married and don't get much time to play anything. Now that's depressing. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Madbad]

Info on Major depression:

http://obad.ca/information_depression


Info on Dysthymia (Major Depression's insidious cousin):

http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-c...n/con-20033879

Maybe these links can help people get to know themselves or someone they love.