The American Psychiatric Association is in the midst of a major debate on whether Internet Addiction should be classified and treated as a recognized disorder like depression and anxiety. In the case of video game use, I equate the positive feeling associated with gaming as a dopamine surge that follows the variable reinforcement schedule found in digital games.
Here’s the full article from the online news site Multibriefs giving you further background into the problem as well as some suggested ways to avoid this pitfall. During my interview for the story, I point out that the physiology behind these games affects the player much like a slot machine.
The full article is available here:
