Licking the Razor's Edge (2015)

*VIDEO GAMES are PHYSICALLY ADDICTIVE …
Because video games are another form of screen media (either played on a television
screen or watched on a screen very similar to a television screen), they have a very
similar “left-brain to right-brain crossover” effect on the brains of those children and
adults who play them. As was mentioned in the previous chapter on television addiction,
such a crossover (where the right brain is up to twice as active as the left brain) releases
large amounts of endorphins into gamers’ bodies; endorphins that are chemically very
similar to pure opium and its derivatives – and as such, endorphins that are highly
addictive.
Researchers at Hammersmith Hospital in London conducted a study in 2005, which
found that the levels of dopamine — a mood-regulating hormone associated with feelings
of pleasure — in game players’ brains doubled while they were playing. These findings
also clearly support the almost overwhelming evidence that video gaming can easily
become chemically addictive.
To make matters even more challenging, those who play video games – especially the
very realistic (and incredibly popular) real-time “kill games”, are also subject to large
surges in adrenaline while they play. Like endorphins and dopamine, adrenaline (the
body’s “fight or flight” hormone) is also highly addictive, making video games especially
difficult to resist for young and old alike.
*VIDEO GAMES are EMOTIONALLY ADDICTIVE …
In a world where children and adults alike are bombarded everyday with news media that
tells them their world is unsafe and commercials that tell them they are inadequate as
they are, video games provide those with lower self-esteem &/or a more negative outlook
on life with an illusory (and yet seemingly valid) boost to their sense of self-worth.
Do you worry about terrorism and the fact that we have been in “orange alert” for the
past 11 years? Just grab a video game that allows you to kill terrorists.
Do you feel like a failure at work or in life? Just insert a video game that allows you to
become a valiant knight or a noble king or a war hero for an hour or two.
In a society where a sincere and caring validation of our existence is severely lacking, it
makes sense that more & more people are simply “checking out” of the real world that
doesn’t meet their emotional needs and “checking in” to an on-line “reality” that does.
“In the hypothetical world created by such games, players become confident and gain a
satisfaction which they cannot get in their real world.” ~ anonymous head of a prominent
Chinese software-development company
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