An addiction center is opening Europe’s first detox clinic for video game addicts in Amsterdam. The center will offer in-house treatment for people who can’t leave their video games alone.
The center has already treated 20 video game addicts that are from the ages 13 to 30, since January. Some of the addicts were showing withdrawal symptoms, such as shaking and sweating if they just looked at a computer console.
The director of the center, Keith Bakker, stated, “We have kids who don’t know how to communicate with people face-toface because they’ve spent the last three years talking to somebody in Jorea through a computer, their social network has completely disappeared.” I think the same goes for people that are addicted to talking over the internet.
The article states that researchers still haven’t agreed on how to define this type of addiction. But many experts say it’s clear that many of the young people who show dependency on video games are in trouble.
The article also stated that the addiction can start from just having a Game Boy. The parents may give their child a Game Boy to keep them occupied and away from the TV but then it can progress to multilevel games that aren’t made to be won. I guess the Game Boy can be compared to marijuana being the gateway drug. It leads to a downward spiral.
They said that they have seen addiction in children as young as 8. In the United States and Canada, there are already a dozen clinics open. There is one clinic open in China. Worldwide video game addiction is being recognized.
Here’s one addicts story:
“Tim, a gamer who is under treatment, agreed to discuss his addiction on condition that his last name not be used. He said he began playing video games three years ago at age 18. Soon, he would not leave his room for dinner. Later, he began taking drugs to stay awake and play longer. Finally, he sought help and picked up other hobbies to occupy his time.”
I didn’t know video games were that big of a problem. I have many guy friends that spend countless hours on the computer playing games, awhile back ago they would spend all day, everyday playing Halo 2 on the xBox and I’ve had my fair share of playing the Sims 2. But if you start shaking at the site of a computer or video game controller, maybe you do need help.
Here is the article:
http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001/20060609/0757790178.htm&sc=1333&photoid=20060606AMS201
i dont know how that would work
I guess it would work like any other rehabilitating center. They get to the source of the problem. The article also stated (I don't think I included it in my blog) that they take the people on wilderness trips, they try to get them involved in other activities.
Maybe hunting or fishing will provide a sense of reality. Sure, guns are a huge problem in the vid-game circle, but its time to show kids that when something like an animal gets shot, its ugly, stinky. Some might find this cool, others quite traumitizing, all will think differently when guns are used.