Is Video Gaming A Dangerous Hobby?
MIAMI (CBS4) - Video games used to be known as child's play. But now, more and more adults are getting hooked, sacrificing their jobs, families, and friends and spending all their time online.
Their addiction is tearing families apart.
Janet Hunt loves spending time with her husband Don. But a year ago he had no time for her. Only his video game.
"Sometimes he could play up to 20 hours straight. He could be on there by 6 a.m. and by the time that 3 a.m. or 4 a.m. that night rolled around, he could still be sitting there playing," said Hunt.
According to her husband David, "It's just total immersion into the game, as your reality, instead of the real reality."
It got so bad that Don lost his job. And Janet filed for divorce.
"It was lonely. It was real lonely," said Janet. "And it felt like I was like a widow. That I had lost my other half and just, I felt alone all the time."
Janet's story is all too familiar to Ryan Van Cleave, author of the video game addiction book "Unplugged". He said more and more adults are becoming consumed by the games and the consequences can be grave.
"They're killing careers. They're killing families. They're killing relationships," said Van Cleave. "They're killing health and literally now we're having people killing others and themselves over videogames."
How bad can it get?
Police removed six children from the home of a mother in Pennsylvania after finding them living in filth and animal waste. The kids' stepfather said the mom was too addicted to games to care for the children.
A Denver mother admitted she was playing an online Facebook game when her one-year-old son drowned in the bathtub.
And in Ohio, a teen was convicted of murdering his mother and wounding his father because they took away his Halo 3 game.
"Relationships fail and divorces happen and I've even heard of people they don't want to leave the computer so much that they take every meal at the computer and then they wear diapers so they don't even have to go to the bathroom," explained Douglas Gentile, Assoc. Professor of Psychology Iowa State University.
He considers video game addiction an impulse control disorder.
"You know you should go to bed but you just want to get one more level. And you're not able to actually control those impulses to play," said Gentile. "And what people need to do is get that back into balance."
"In a sense you develop an alter ego and play that ego as an invincible character. Once you're killed you push the button and you're back to life again," said psychologist Dr. Mitchell Spero with Memorial Hospital West and the Director of Child and Family Psychologists in Plantation.
Spero believes the key to overcoming this addiction is to find a way to replace that adrenalin rush with another.
"Working out on a daily basis, enjoying music, enjoying face to face interpersonal communication is so much different than communicating with a computer," said Spero.
The problem is, since video game addiction isn't a recognized medical diagnosis, help can be difficult to find.
"You're probably going to need to find a therapist who is used to dealing with people with impulse control disorders or with substance abuse disorders because they have a lot of ways to help people who start getting things out of balance in their lives," added Gentile. And if it's your spouse that has the problem?
Van Cleave suggests "the number one thing to do is not confront them while they're playing the game. A calm, clear conversation with them at a moment when they're not gaming is a great way to start things moving in the right direction."
Janet's husband was finally able to break his video game addiction and they got back together. Today, they are working to get back on track both emotionally and financially. A grateful Janet said, "Life now is good. I have my husband back, I have my best friend back."
