Is Video Gaming Addiction Real?
We hear a lot about the potential adverse effects of video games and the possibility of video gaming addiction. Is it real, however? How do video games affect users’ brains? Do they contribute to aggression and violent outbursts? We explore the answers to some of these widely debated questions below. How Video Games Affect the Brain Before discussing whether or not video game addiction is real, the same way drug or alcohol addiction is, it’s helpful to understand how game playing affects our brains. More than 150 million people in the United States play video games regularly, for at least three hours a week. Video gaming may impact the brain and create changes in some regions of it. Some of the ways video games can affect the functionality and structure of the brain include: Gaming affects attention. Studies consistently find that video game players have improvements in some types of attention, including selective and sustained attention. The areas of the brain that play a role in atte