According to Caplan (2003), problematic internet usage or PIU, is defined as maladaptive cognitions and behaviors that result in negative academic, professional, and social consequences. An online activity or area which I believe is very conducive to promoting these maladaptive cognitions and behaviors is addicting games. Now, I am referring to the extremely addicting, very simple, one player, free online games, not the memory intensive, skill required, knowledge required, often multi player games such as Starcraft, Warcraft, and Diablo. The largest online compilation of these such games, as far as I have found is www.addictinggames.com. However, I would urge you to finish reading this blog before clicking that link, as you may not return for a long, long time.
The games at addictinggames.com are all free and load instantly or at most within a minute. There are literally thousands of games to choose from and are organized into categories such as, action games, sports games, strategy games, or classics. There is no multi player option, no way to save your current game, no ability to contact or communicate with anyone, be it cmc or ftf, and I will stress, from both personal experience as well as friends experiences, these games can be very, very addictive.
Now, what about this space could lead one to have PIU? Caplan discusses two types of “use,” excessive and compulsive. Addictive behavior is often associated with Caplan’s definition of compulsive use, which is an inability to control one’s online activity with guilt about lack of control. These addicting games fit the mold. Frequently, one will open up to the website to play a game just to kill some time. Several hours later, they are in an epic attempt to complete all 100 levels, despite a test, HW, or school. Clearly, these types of games have a very addictive and compulsive attribute. Another factor which makes these games lead to PIU is their easiness. Seemingly, anyone can go out and find many games which they are good at. Personally, I am horrible at video games and have zero interest in them. However, these pointless and easy addicting games, I love. So as a result of their level of ease, it becomes more of a challenge to beat the game, which is very doable in several hours, rather than master it or become part of a gaming community. Additionally, there is zero ability to communicate, and in fact, playing such games definitely decreases ones amount of socialization and communication. Both these factors (no communication, decreased socialization) are obvious gateways to problematic internet usage. Finally, there is complete and total anonymity within these games.
I believe this example is perhaps an exception to Caplan’s model. As described above, addicting games can lead to highly compulsive behavior. However, I do not believe, in this case, that it fosters psychosocial problems. This fact means there is a break in the chain, and the model is not accurate. Online gambling or pornography, are all inherently more dangerous, in my opinion, and these examples definitely fit Caplan’s model, as they can lead to dangerous clinical issues. I believe addicting games are a lesser evil, and thus not as pertinent of a problem. Now, I’m sure there are exceptions, and in some instances the model will fit for addicting game users. However, for the most part it is not the person’s issues or lack of issues that causes the problems, merely the nature of the website which makes addicting games PIU prone. This statement also rejects the conclusion of Davis, Flett, and Besser, which was that individual differences seem to play an important role in PIU.
As stated, I believe addicting games are a lesser evil than most other PIU prone areas. As a result, I do not believe it has many unique components. Rather, it is a diluted version of several other areas of the web prone to PIU. For example, pornography is partially problematic since it is used as an escape, to a lesser degree so to is addicting games. Gambling is inherently addictive because of the desire for money. Addicting games are inherently addicting as a result of the desire to complete a board or level.
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4 comments:
Hey Scott,
I did my post on online gaming addictions and I can’t believe I forgot about those games. I often browse through that website and other sites that have compilations of addictive games when I need to kill some time. I agree that this would be an exception to Caplan’s model and that it in itself does not cause a problem but it helps other problematic uses grow because it is often used to kill time. The users do not need to leave the comfort of the internet to fill up their time. This was an interesting post, taking a unique approach to the assignment. (and btw, the comment above mine is hilarious)
Hey Scott, great post. I myself am addicted to addictinggames.com. I love it so much, there's so many games to choose from. I love how you tied this website to Caplan's theories and models. It's a website/addiction/time consumer that I did not think of myself. Great job!
Hey Scott, nice post. Online gaming is quite addicitve sometimes, as many of us can attest too. In regards to your point about online gaming addiction being somewhat of an exception to Caplan's model, I somewhat agree. Yes, gaming is less harmful than other types of internet addictions. But I think spending large amounts of time on games online does fit in with the low social competence part of the theory. The theory says that psychosocial issues lead to feelings of low social competence, and going online all day playing games can only worsen your social competence; you are not interacting with others most of the time on addictinggames.com, so you are just spending time looking and clicking. To me, this can only harm your social competence even further. Great job.
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