Mayo Clinic's Bad Take

 One thing that has remained a joke since the near beginning of the internet is to never Google your medical conditions or never WebMD your conditions. In the realm of gaming, I feel like there is a similar concept. When it comes to gaming, I believe that MayoClinic and other similar sources do not truly understand gaming addiction and lifestyle and just make incorrect remarks.

 

In regard to their “Are video games, screens another addiction?” article, they make good statements, but I feel that their approach is all off. Can video games be an addiction? Yes. Can anything be an addiction? Most definitely. From their negative symptoms list, they suggest video games cause violence, obesity, and loss of social skills. I disagree with all of these. Studies have shown that video games do not make people violent. Although sad, even national issues with gun control could not be linked to video games as the cause of the violence.

 

Obesity is not a direct result of gaming either – sure kids will be less active if they play games, but I do not believe these are directly correlated. They go onto say that kids might crave sweets while gaming, and if that is true, I suppose that could be a direct cause. Although I do not know if it is true, if it is I understand the direct relation.

 

The loss of social skills is a bit of a stretch as well. I think if the control group were young kids, I’m sure you could see loss of social skills. But little kids do not make up the majority of gamers. Many games actually require communication to succeed. I think the article is written as a blanket statement: Are Games Addictive? For improvement, would suggest MayoClinic to emphasize that most these negative effects are seen in children and not all of gamers as their first sentence makes it seem.