Video games can be addicting. And just like all addictions, it has its profound and malevolent effects. For instance, alcohol can let you loosen up, socialize, and have a good time. It can make you feel like you belong to the group and that you are winning a challenge set up by the situation as to who is the best drinker. But on the other hand, it can give a very bad hang over, it could poison you, it can affect your organs, and inflict memory loss and who knows what else in the brain.
We all know that there is such condition such as video game addiction. Where in the person or child prioritizes his/her games over his/her basic needs and responsibilities and when stopped, he or she goes ballistic, angry, and acts as if the most precious thing has been taken away from them. They couldn't stop themselves and they can't resist not playing video games. But they believe that they can stop whenever they want. The thing is, they don't want to. However, those are the most common features of video game addiction.
Going back to the alcohol addiction example, one person who drinks the same thing an alcoholic does will feel the same effects in some way -- feeling the buzz, the tipsiness, impairment of judgments, etc. The point of this entry is to prove that the same thing also happens with too much playing of video games.
There are a lot of people who are video game addicts but a lot more people feel the effects of too much playing of video games and do not recognize it. They may not go crazy without the psp in hand but they can carry the effects of playing too much in one sitting and incorporate those effects as their physiological and psychological homeostasis. At least in drinking alcohol, we know when we're having a hang over and what to do with it.
Apply these questions on experiences when you feel like you've played too much video games whether by playing too long, consecutive days of playing too long, not sleeping early or in the usual bed time because of video games, or feeling dizzy or really exhausted because you've played too long:
1. When playing video games, did you ever feel like time passed by so quick that you haven't even noticed it?
2. After playing video games, do you feel like you have to shut your focus off and just do some mindless things to get back on track? (such as, playing lighter games before turning off the console, or just staring into space, reading, or doing chores that you don't need to think much about while doing it, etc.)
3. When you start doing work, school work, or any kind of thinking, right away after playing video games, do you find it hard to think or focus?
4. Did you ever feel eye strain, fingers aching, and back aching caused by playing too much video games?
These are a few of the questions I can think of right now but if majority of your answers here are yes, then you are letting video games influence you too much. Just like the jumbled up thoughts, mindless decisions, and embarrassing things we do when we are drunk, video games can also take over your life in a subtle way.
For question 1, the effect is that video games confuses your body clock. This is why some people can stay up really late just playing video games.
For question 2, the effect is that video games heighten a person's focus so much that it needs to gradually go back into the normal focus that we apply in real life. This is why we feel the adrenaline while playing and that adrenaline is addictive to many. However, the amount of adrenaline or focus applied on a game is very different from the amount of focus that we need to apply in real life. Imagine adrenaline or being able to focus on something as an elevator, no matter how high level of adrenaline or focus you have to apply, you still need to pass by from the lowest level to reach the highest. It is the same as going back down to the normal amount of focus we need in real life. So after playing video games, we can find ourselves adjusting while we pull the plug out, and keep the consoles in its place. Every person has a way to cool down after a game whether they are aware of it or not.
For question 3, the reason why we can't focus on other things to do after playing too much video games is because of it's addictive quality. Our mind is still set on the unfinished game (thoughts like, how can I beat the boss? How can I shoot faster? How can I evade his attacks? Where do I go next on the map? What will be the next cut scene? Oh… Squall is soooo gorgeous) that even if we can do work or school work after, we are not 100% focused on it until later because the brain has to gradually adjust to it.
And finally question 4 is about the physiological effects of playing too much video games. Every addiction has a physiological effect. It's just too bad that the physiological effect of video games is too common and subtle -- such as back ache, fingers aching, and eye strain, -- that it's not really making us think that we should play in a shorter amount of time next time.
I've written this solely upon my experience as a video game player and what I've learned in my psychology classes and substance abuse counseling classes in college. I don't know if this is an analysis that corresponds to the studies regarding this subject but if I were to research on this, this is the angle that I would take. I hope my analysis is useful for you and if you have anything to contribute to this at all, feel free to comment or send me a message.
