Replies to '06/03 Virtual Chaos'

Your last sentence of "Think of it this way, if you watch sitcoms on TV for over an hour, then would you say you are addicted to sitcoms on TV?" indicates to me a lack of understanding of what addiction is.  Until I became addicted to video games, to be honest, I did not really understand how people could become addicted to anything.  One of the things, to me, that defines an addiction to video games is not so much the number of hours per day that are spent playing, although that is often an important indicator of an addiction problem.  For example, I only played about 4 hours per day, which is less than quite a few people spend on a hobby.  However, the important difference is the issue of control.  I only spent that much time because I had some limited control over myself but even that much time, in addition to my other procrastination methods, caused a lot of problems for me.  Although I have stopped playing now, it was not an easy thing for me to do.  People with just a hobby or a pastime, like watching T.V. occasionally, even for over an hour, can usually easily change the amount of time involved if they want to.  Nonetheless, as you say at the start, almost anything can be addictive to certain people.  However, too much time spent doing anything, whether or not it is truly an addiction, is a problem if it causes a person to ignore their real life responsibilities to themselves and those around them.

If you are interested in learning more about the issue of addiction, I am sure that there are many excellent books and other references.  However, one book that I, and at least several other people that I know of, have found to be very helpful is "The Addictive Personality: Understanding the Addictive Process and Compulsive Behavior" by Craig Nakken.  A link to it on Amazon is www.amazon.com/Addictive-Personality-Understanding-Compulsive-Behavior/dp/1568381298/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1221858013&sr=1-1 .