Computer Game Addiction and Young People

There is no doubt about it computer games are addictive that is one of the reasons that games like Angry Birds and Farmville have done so well in recent years. Why? Well, computer games are well made.

A recent report from the BBC references a government advisor (presumably from Westminster?) who warns that adolescent addiction to computer games is set to rise steeply over the next few years. 

There is no doubt in my mind that computer game addiction will rise over the next few years. 

The reasons for this are simple. We will have more games than ever before, greater access to technology than ever before and more teenagers than ever before. But it is important to remember that addiction to gaming is not new – people have been addicted to card games for years (its called gambling…).

However, making these basic comparisons are not really the point of this short article. My point with the BBC story is something that I have been talking about for years and concerns emotional intelligence – lots of people disagree with me on this one.

In the BBC piece it comes across that Jane Whalley (the mother of addicted son, Jack) blames the game for her son’s addiction. Jack who is obviously over 18 because he states that his favorite game is ‘Call of Duty’ where you go around ‘shooting things up’. Everyone knows that Call of Duty has a PEGI 18 age rating on it.

Hmmmmmmmmm, or maybe Jack has been playing games that he is not emotionally ready for? I wonder what we can learn from this? From an education perspective one thing is for sure. We probably need to do more surrounding teaching about games as well as how games can be used for learning.

What ever happens we can not let the media reporting incidents like this in any way impact on the good work that is going on in many schools. Games based learning has huge potential in education as has been demonstrated by the Learning and Teaching Scotland Consolarium time and time again.

If you want to find out more about Games Based Learning in Scottish Schools why not come to our Games to Learn – take 2 Conference being organsied by JISC and the LTS Consolarium on March 19^th 2011.

 

Comments

[Chris the Playstation Move guy]

I think game based learning can be huge, and not only can it be a positive for students and children, but it's a big market opportunity as well.

[Bryan]

Well, mostly computer games are addictive because of its reward system. Honestly, who would play a game with nothing to unlock? Even farmville for sure has its unlockables.

[Iain Williamson]

Ollie, not sure if you are aware but in Media Studies there is an entire unit entitled 'The Effects Debate' in which students gain the opportunity to engage with this issue on a mature level. Basically from the 70s onwards, most media practitioners agree that audiences seek active pleasures (Uses & Gratifications Theory, Blumler & Katz, 1974) from media texts, rather than consuming texts in a passive manner. Hence, what 'gratifications' are students seeking from the media they consume? (And why?) It is pointless to generalise about games in a negative manner...this is simply sloppy, ill informed journalism. To use Goleman's 'Emotional Intelligence' example, the Purdy case study springs to mind. Young people deal with turmoil, strife etc in a number of ways. I suspect that for most, playing first-person-shooter games is much more of a cathartic process than a destructive one. Those most vulnerable are the students who seek 'diversion' (escapism) because reality is not a very happy place. Check out Ill Effects by Barker & Petley which is a seminal read on the discussion. For an even more contemporary discussion on gaming, check out the work of Henry Jenkins and in particular his 2006 white paper on media literacy.

[Brian O'Connell]

Video games take the blame for a lot of things, such as sedentary lifestyle. But games and gaming, in and of itself, isn't a bad thing. It's just like the old adage about everything in moderation.