Derek was a 15 year old boy who had turned from a once loving person to failing his classes. His mother Melanie’s description of his son’s symptoms revealed a case of video game addiction. He demanded to play even more games after an extensive amount of gaming. He lied and tried to hide electronic use, and threw temper tantrums when his parents tried to limit his gaming, which caused damage to the family’s relationship.

A mother says, “My 9-year-old son, Matthew, is an addict.” On a Super Bowl Sunday, a mother gives her son the iPad so she won’t be disturbed while watching the game,”He was out of my hair, quiet, and happy, so why not?” Later the night when his gaming session had ended and it was time for him to sleep, he couldn’t. This was a recurring issue – he had been so over stimulated that his body couldn’t regulate his body, behavior and mood. This caused him to act out, be irritable and down right miserable. The mother says that the next few days were terrible; she had taken away Matthew’s video games, and he was showing the negative effects of too many video games. This mother had to witness her 9 year old son truly having symptoms of addiction withdrawal. 

A mother wanted to create a class action lawsuit against Epic Games. She says that not only did her children get addicted to their game, but that Epic Games intended it to be that way. Attorney Alessandro Esposito Chartrand of the law firm Calex Legal, who had represented the family, explains the allegation: “[Epic Games] consulted with psychologists.  They spent years perfecting their game, studying human behavior, the human brain to make it as addictive as possible.”  

“Epic Games, when they created Fortnite, for years and years, hired psychologists — they really dug into the human brain and they really made the effort to make it as addictive as possible,” she said.

These few stories and millions more show the extent to which video games can grab a hold of our lives. With the daily growth of the gaming industry, it is inevitable that video games have been incorporated into some of our lives. 

Research has found that some companies are targeting and profiting teens whose brains are barely developed and more prone to video game addiction. Because of this, “gaming disorders” in teens have reached an all time high, breaking apart families such as Matthew and Derek.  

The beginning 

Since its birth in the 1950s, video games have remained one of the most profitable industries in the world. Video games have become so normalized that it is part of our day to day life. Maybe you play a quick mobile game on your way to school, or you see your grandma play Angry Birds.  It has been proven that more than 42 percent of Americans are gamers and four out of five U.S. households have a console.   

During the earlier years, Dr. Edward Uhler Condon created the first recognized gaming machine at the New York World’s Fair in 1940. It wouldn’t  be until nearly three decades later until the first commercial design was created, called the “brown box.” Using pretty advanced technology at the time, it could be programmed to play a variety of games, including ping pong, checkers and four sports games. The “brown box” was licensed to Magnavox, which released the system as the Magnavox Odyssey in 1972. Unfortunately,  it was discontinued between 1972 and 1975, selling around 300,000 consoles. Poor sales were blamed on mismanagement, but also the fact that Americans were not used to the concept of at home gaming was a big factor. However mismanaged it might have been, this was the birth of the digital gaming we know today.

In 1972 Nolan Bushnell, known as the godfather of gaming, founded Atari. Atari really became the first company to set the guidelines for a large-scale gaming community. Not only did Atari create its own games, they also created a whole new industry around the “arcade,”. In 1973 Atari, retailing at 1,095$, began to sell the first real electronic video game console. It started to show up in bars, bowling alleys and shopping malls around the world. Tech heads and investors realized that this was the next big thing. During the periods between 1972 and 1985 more than 15 companies began to develop video games for the ever-growing market.

In recent years, video games have been so incorporated into our lives that we don’t even notice it anymore. Statistics show that approximately 155 million Americans play video games which is just under half the population of the United States. We may have a preconceived notion of gamers being a teenage boy staying up too late and playing video games but, the average age of a gamer in the United States is 35, and only 29% of all gamers are younger than 18. Due to this fact, some video games have been getting more and more “adult” themed to match the consumer base. Because of this “adultification,” teenagers are playing video games with an excessive amount of violence alcohol and tobacco, which gives them more opportunities to become addicted to substances and desensitizes them to violence. 

Some more statistics on how much we actually play video games as a country  and how its continuously growing are listed below:

“In the United States, a young person will spend 10,000 hours on average playing online games before their 21st birthday.”

“Video games saw a 73 percent growth in sales in just one year as people went online to socialize and escape. Some players find virtual worlds can offer a respite from daily worries and help them cope better in the face of seemingly impossible situations.”

According to a New York Times article “The World Health Organization added “gaming disorder” to a list of officially recognized diseases in 2018.”

How do people get addicted?

Addiction is defined as ”the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity.” Some people have become so infatuated with the digital world that they would rather ignore other normal activities. This infatuation to the video game world should be considered as an addiction 

How does this happen?

Wan & Chiou suggest that people who get addicted to video games generally have something missing in their lives. People have different motives for playing video games. The motives that are usually associated with video game addiction are concerned with the fulfillment of certain needs. If those needs are met in a video game, they will become much more likely to develop an addiction.

There are many different motives for playing video games, and the motivation refers to succeeding in the game, the motivation to get immersed in the game, and the motivation to socialize and play with others. Another common motivation is escapism which refers to gaming for the purpose of escaping from real-life issues.

Mr. Whittaker, a math teacher at the iSchool said, “Living in another world I really like, you know give your brain over to another world. ”

“It’s kind get away from what i’m doing and just have some fun its fun”

Trent, a student from the Ischool said when asked what he enjoyed most about video games,

“I also like the sorta escape my surroundings”

Video games provide an escape from your day to day life and can put you in another mystical word to escape from your problems. Because of this, video games are very easy to abuse, and teens use excessive gaming as a coping strategy for life problems. Their gaming serves as an escape and a way to numb discomfort. Especially during the pandemic, video games have become go-to for people of all ages. However, teens in general are more vulnerable to video game addiction due to their high levels of collective trauma and their still-maturing brains.

“Relying on video games in the long term can be dangerous,” Kanojia explains.

“Negative emotions are one of the strongest teachers for the human brain. If a child touches a hot stove once, they learn to never touch it again. Therefore, since video games suppress our negative emotions, they also make it harder to learn from our mistakes.”

How powerful is a dopamine release?

Dopamine is a powerful neurotransmitter in the brain. The reward center releases dopamine in response to a pleasurable experience or hyperarousal. If someone has a pleasurable experience playing video games, the brain will inherit that activity with dopamine. This person will develop a strong urge to seek out that pleasurable experience over and over again. 

“The amount of dopamine released while playing video games was similar to what is seen after intravenous injection of the stimulant drugs amphetamine or methylphenidate.”

“Playing video games floods the pleasure center of the brain with dopamine,” says David Greenfield, Ph.D.,

Take a game like that away from addicted adolescents and they often show behavioral problems, withdrawal symptoms, and even aggression, according to Dr. Greenfield.

This evidence shows that the dopamine release from stimulant drugs is similar to the dopamine released from playing video games. This proves how addictive video games really  can be. 

The Flow theory shows how similar video games and drugs can actually be.

Flow theory is based around having an optimal experience while involved in some activity (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975). In order to achieve this “flow state,” there are a number of things that the experience must provide. It must have clear objectives, provide immediate feedback on performance, be challenging but not so much as to overcome the individuals skills, immerse the individual, and of course be interesting in general.

When asked gamers how they would describe the zone(achieving the flow state) they said:

Trent, a sophomore in the Ischool said, “When I’m catching on fire, I would be more concerned with what’s going on in my video game then the fire that will soon consume me. I don’t really care what happens right now as long as I can just keep at this moment for as long as possible .”

Malek, a sophomore at Brooklyn Tech said, “I do lose track of time, really focused and anything in my vision other than the game becomes blurred.” 

The flow state seemed to completely immerse the gamers, disconnecting them from reality and bringing them into the video game world.

Mrs Whittaker, “It’s almost like adrenal um i used to compete in track and you know i coach football so you know it’s very similar to athletics. There’s an adrenal rush, eyes are focused, you’re leaning forward. Its exhilarating it feels really good you know there’s a release of endorphins I’m smiling I’m happy” 

The Flow state and the interviews explaining it showed that video games have the ability to immerse you so deep into your game and allow you to escape from reality. The flow state can have a similar effect as some stimulant drugs or at least a runner’s high.   

Mental health 

Problems with extensive game play and becoming a pathological gamer can increase loneliness. Gamers who spend excess hours online risk the decline of relationships or careers that already exist in their lives.

Adolescents with developing brains are also more vulnerable to the harmful effects of excessive gaming. An hour of gameplay a day can bring tangible emotional and mental benefits, but real psychological damage starts knocking on the door with excessive play.

The human brain can get addicted to any pleasurable experience. If you give a stressed out teenager, an opportunity to escape from school work, home life, and day to day inconveniences can potentially spark an addiction to gaming.

With cautionary tales such as Dereks and Matthew and statistics from this article, it is evident how strongly video games have been incorporated into our lives and how you may be more prone to video game addiction than you think. We should consider video games as a part of the digital world including Google, Facebook, Youtube and other social media, which are all in the core components of our lives. Like any other company the idea is to make money. digital companies are trying to make people addicted to there platform so that they can receive more ads from businesses

In order to create these addictions and play with the chemistry in your brain, companies create algorithms that know each person’s preference. The algorithms direct that person to the shows, media and games we prefer, to intensify our addiction to the digital world. 

This also leads us to a future where we’ll be living in an artificial intelligence environment. But like anything, this has a good and bad side. Technology saves millions of lives. There is also some evidence that video games make some people smarter if they are used to an extent that stimulates their brain. We can not totally avoid the digital culture and in this case video games, but all we can do to have awareness of them. All of them are giving us incredible opportunities, but also they force us to be addicted to them so that they make more money. 

It’s up to us whether we use video games excessively and isolate ourselves from our real life issues or use some video games to stimulate our brain so that it leads to more positive outcomes.