Game Addiction can really eat up your time. I can speak of this first hand, although most of my extreme addiction was a long time ago. Early in my business programming career, I was working for Atari. It was in the early days of that company also and their main product when I started was pinball-type machines for arcades. The interactive game of Pong was just new. And the company was growing.
There were many perks with that job, but the best one was the Game Room in the office building. It was FREE and open to all employees 24/7. Of course, we were expected to work at our “jobs” from 8-5, but before and after that we were free to play the games. When I discovered the game room, I was in trouble.
When I was much younger, my brother had been given a broken pinball machine. He fixed it up and installed it in my parent’s basement. When I was at home, I would get on that machine and play it for hours. So when I discovered the Atari Game Room, time had a habit of fading away. I’d go in for a few minutes after working all day and the next thing I knew, it was 9 PM and I’d be starving. I would reluctantly drag myself away from the games and go home to eat.
Years Later
Now, years and years later, I am still addicted to games. I have several on my phone and they are my wake-up exercise every day. Crossword puzzles, sudoku games, and others. There are four of them that I have to finish before I get busy with something more constructive. Usually about one hour’s worth. And then after dinner, I have my solitaire games on my computer. I keep telling myself that they are beneficial and I really do think they are keeping my mind sharp. After all, I am 85.
So, yes, games are addictive. My roommate has been playing some Island game on his computer for a couple of years or more. For him, it is just one game, but it is very challenging and time-consuming. It seems once you start one of these they go on and on. They get you hooked.
Game Addiction with Children
And parents may have reason to worry about children becoming too absorbed in their games. But as I said above, I do think there are some benefits with the games also. They teach the kids coordination, logical thought, and other useful learning things. We all just have to learn to keep them in check and not let them take over our whole lives.
And we have to learn to separate the actions of the game from real life. There have been suggestions that violent war-type games are the cause of young people becoming addicted to guns and killing. So monitoring the types of games the children are playing is probably advisable. But there have been excellent online games developed that are very educational too. So not all Game Addiction is negative. Just keep them in perspective.
Other Types of Game Addiction
Other than video-type games, I am as guilty as others with my addition to sports games on TV. I addressed this phenomenon in my satire page on Sports. Go here to read it.
