Addiction Stereotypes

I have decided to explore why gaming addiction gets such bad press when compared to other forms of addiction such as workaholism, books, puzzles etc. and have come to the realisation that much of is to do with assumptions and stereotypes. It also stems from anti-videogame discourse that surrounds any new media form. It seems to me that videogame addiction has taken over from television addiction as the new technology that is corrupting society. Books, work and puzzles all have positive connotations. They are seen to improve oneself whether it be their vocabulary, social skills or problem solving skills. On the other hand videogames have negative connotations. They are seen to damage social skills and cause obesity among other things. Is this true? I believe it is not. As we have seen videogames allow people to connect to people all over the world, people that they would have met without the videogame medium. Surely this does not damage ones social skills.

There is a stigma that surrounds videogames because it is a new form of media, the same stigma that initially surrounded television and the internet before they were finally accepted. It is this stigma that gives videogame addiction such a bad name. Now I am not saying that videogame addiction is a good thing. I am trying to point out that it should be at least on the same level as these other addictions. They all share similar characteristics and should therefore be regarded as no worse than each other. Spending ones whole life reading books is a problem despite the fact that books challenge the mind. All forms of addiction cause a person to neglect the people in their lives; it is not limited to videogames.