Video game addiction has been a touchy, controversial subject among experts (and gamers) in the field since it was first introduced and described as a formal condition.
It’s especially difficult to navigate because the definitions and mechanisms of gaming addiction are a bit fuzzier than chemical addictions, leaving gamers wondering whether their favorite pastime is somehow bad for them, freelance journalist David Jesudason wrote in Wired. The essay is a fascinating read on generational trauma and escapism, but also on how it’s possible to take what can be used as a vice and turn it into a healthy habit or coping tool.
“Games may have been part of the problem but for me, they also became part of the solution,” Jesudason wrote.
Stetson University psychologist Christopher Ferguson told Jesudason that video game addiction, if there is such a thing, has a number of key differences…
