What I found most disturbing about this video was that at the end you see that Peter has returned from his month + of recovery and is still playing video games. It was so sad to watch because usually on Intervention the last closing minutes of the program show that the addict has recovered and is taking the right steps in order to stay clean but Peter is shown right back in front of the TV screen.
While I was looking around the internet at gaming addictions I came across an article and video on CNN.com about addictions to Facebook that I also found really interesting. The article explains how more people are becoming obsessed with the popular online social network and I really thought it was something I should address here because of all of the jokes my friends make about how I am addicted to Facebook as well.
The video is accompanied with an article which explains that the Facebook craze is not officially considered an addiction but is becoming a serious problem. Here are the "5 Clues That You Are Addicted To Facebook" that are discussed in the article :
1. You lose sleep over Facebook
2. You spend more than an hour a day on Facebook
3. You become obsessed with old loves
4. You ignore work in favor of Facebook
5. The thought of getting off Facebook leaves you in a cold sweat
So maybe I have a slight addiction considering I can relate to "symptoms" # 1, 2, and 4 but luckily I am not breaking into a cold sweat at the thought of getting off Facebook or stalking old flames but there are most certainly people out there that do.
The "Intervention" clip really scared me. We associate addiction with say - drugs and alcohol, which really don't present many plusses in our lives. With gaming, sure you can live without it, but there is nothing ostensibly dangerous about playing video games (drinking too much can harm your liver, cause accidents, etc.) But after watching this video, it really blows the lid off of these other forms of addiction. This guy, Peter, was suicidal and has a link to his obsession with gaming to the divorce of his parent - both that indicate a mental health issue which is obviously related to the disease of addiction. It is incredible how with every positive advance, we are dealt with a few negatives that stand in our way.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I know we talked in class about addiction but I don't think it really hit me until I actually saw that clip. I'm not sure why but I think that the fact that you see how desperate his friends and family are to actually help him with this gaming addiction and they hold an intervention just really got to me and showed how real and serious the situation was.
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