The Differences Between Drug and Video Game Addiction

Many studies have been done concerning drug addiction to help victims. Many drug addicts receive help, some of which involve rehabilitation and they have successfully recovered and returned to normal life. 

Video game addiction is new and not much research has been carried out. The few studies on this subject reveal a lot of similarities between drug and video game addiction. The studies reveal that compulsive use of video games can interfere with someone’s normal life and lead to addiction. 

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The Differences 

There are conflicting studies about video game addiction. Some researchers conclude that video games are not addictive parse. Instead, they give gamers the chance to learn collaborative work and build their cognitive skills. 

However, when the video gamer spends more hours playing and begin to forgo important priorities like schoolwork, personal hygiene, job, and social life, the benefits of video gaming become unproductive. 

According to the British Psychological Society, too much video gaming can lead to a disorder known as the autistic spectrum. The disorder includes several social challenges where the victim secludes themselves and avoids social relationships. 

Video gaming has been recognized as helpful to students learning because they help the student’s mind to relax, which increases concentration. The student can do better in college assignments like essay writing. 

Too much video gaming develops into an addiction and the disadvantages outweigh the benefits. The student needs to create a balance between video games and college work. 

The drug addict can easily be identified because they may lack body balance and their speech could be interfered with by excessive use of drugs. The computer game addict may not stagger or be slow in speech and it may require close monitoring to identify them. 

Apart from physical body signs, the drug addict uses a tangible substance. Although they try to hide the substances, it can be easy to search and pick the substances like cocaine, heroin, and alcohol. 

Computer game addiction does not involve a tangible substance. The gamer spends excessive hours playing video games until the habit becomes compulsive and eventually, they fall into addiction. 

Researchers suggest that video game addiction widely comes as a result of competition where the gamer wants to outdo their friend or opponent. As a result, they continue playing for a long and eventually develop an addiction. The video gamer mostly plays to feel entertained, relaxed, and refreshed. 

Due to external influences, the video gamer spends more time gaming and the resulting negative experiences make the victim play video games as a coping mechanism. 

Drug addiction, on the other hand, does not come as a result of competition. Instead, other factors influence the victim like peer groups, depression, rejection, and failure in life. The drug abuser mostly consumes them to help them forget their troubles. 
 

Drug and Video Game Addiction – Similarities

According to researchers, too much video game playing causes the brain to release a mood-elevating substance called dopamine. The researchers say that this is the same substance responsible for releasing high mood and energy in drug addiction. 

If the video gamer is obsessively preoccupied with games, dopamine is released in larger quantities and the victim begins to show signs similar to those of drug addicts. The parent to a child or family member of an adult addicted to gaming can recognize early warning signs when a video game is no longer entertaining to the player but has turned into an addiction. 

In the case of a child, he or she loses interest in school and begins to get poor grades. The child becomes aggressive to anyone who tries to distract them when playing video games. 

The parent may notice withdrawal behavior where the child wants to be alone, even at school. If the child is not an introvert, the parent will have a reason to worry and seek help. Children addicted to video games can completely lose appetite for food and they can even refuse to take a shower because they want to be keen on the video game consistently. 

Parents will begin to realize that the child is unable to create a balance between gaming and study. When the parent tries to intervene, the child becomes irritated and can shout back and show signs of violence like breaking and throwing items around and sometimes physical violence against their siblings or parents. 

Video games and drug addiction will show similar signs even in adults because they will become anxious, nervous, depressed, aggressive, less concerned with personal hygiene, seclusion, and refuse to go to work or do simple house chores. 

Conclusion 

Video game developers were initially targeting children because they wanted to create a game that would keep them better entertained and remove boredom during holidays and weekends. The pros outweighed the cons by far. 

As more children began video gaming, adults too developed an interest. Too much time spent on video gaming begins developing addictive behavior in children and adults. Quick action needs to be taken to help reverse the trend.