Fynitie this may not be what you were looking for - but this show is all about asking critical questions about research, and inviting our audience to do the same. We aren’t interested in investigating questions that have easy answers - we generally look into controversial topics that have multiple perspectives. So we are more about exploration than explanation.
Clorox Bleach It's still huge in LA. You can find dozens of people walking around in groups looking for things during events. I mostly play it for the events and to prepare for Pokemon Let's Go. edit: Also love your name haha.
It seems like a bit of a moot point to discuss until you answer question of, "What if it is? Then what?" The dictionary definition of addiction is vague enough that literally anything could be classified as an addiction. It doesn't really matter if gaming is or isn't. It's what we do about it that matters.
What you as a society do about it also helps determine if it is an addiction or not. In a country where a drug isn't illegal it is less likely to be seen as addictive than in a country that does make it illegal. Unless something changed since I was in college (which does happen I admit) an addiction must negatively impact your life to be clinically diagnosed as such. So addiction is as much a social construct as it is a description of phenomena. Someone that is hooked on lifting weights is unlikely to be told they should seek help. They'll likely just end up fighting aliens in a jungle and coming back from the future to kill John Conner. A lot of the things that make video games "addictive" are similarly present in habitual sports watching or TV consumption or book reading. It's just that society has accepted those things.
I tend to think of games as Better-Than-Life activities, much like art (reading, theatre) in that we prefer them to regular drudgery, and they can legitimately make us happier by performing them. The main enemies to escapism are jailors, after all - people who want us to exist for 'their' ends, not our own. Declarations of addiction often amount to this - that by finding an avenue to fulfilment outside of commercial spending, social interaction and 'vocational' work, we aren't serving the ends others ascribe to us, we're treating our happiness as an end in itself. And for those who depend on us that can be intolerable. Don't get me wrong, I think there are serious limits to BTLs, and that they can get under your skin in an annoyingly compulsive way that a person has to find a way around if they truly want to maximise their happiness. And as the ability to spend one's life playing video games demands a certain amount of hardware, so developing real-world skills in tandem is necessary even if it is treated as a means to a virtual end. My greatest concern is the way we can shame and ridicule people for gaming, and deride gaming itself. If you want people to come out of their video games, it is more effective to make life better than games than convince them that games are worse than life.
Thanks for sharing this perspective. We tried to show both sides of the coin -- that while compulsive behavior of any kind can go overboard and cause bigger problems, there are also real world benefits to gaming, especially the more interactive, problem-solving kind. Not to sound cliche, but seems like it's all about finding the right balance for yourself, right?
@@AboveTheNoise You're quite welcome :) and yes, some clichés stick around for a good reason, balance is important. It's just that sometimes The Noise makes a person define the terms of balance incorrectly, both in judging their own behaviour and in assessing that of others.
As long as you’re healthy and it isn’t negatively affecting other areas of your life I don’t see why people shouldn’t be allowed to play video games. To most it’s just a hobby, just because some people do that hobby a lot doesn’t make it an addiction.
I think that "free-to-pay" games definitely need to be part of the discussion. Some of their mechanics, such as loot boxes or very grindy game progression, promote long game sessions among those who don't want to pay to progress. Some governments are now looking into if these progression systems constitute gambling. So, if gambling addiction is a thing and there are games that have gambling or gambling like elements (depending on jurisdiction) as a core part of gameplay and progression, it leads credence to the idea that certain games can become an addiction.
I’m no expert, but I’ve read that addiction is best treated by talk therapy and that this aspect of addiction has lead to the idea that addiction is always a form of escape from life problems, be they personal or societal. Escapism is escape, but from what?
Addiction is always an escape mechanism. So when someone claims to be addicted to video games this person has other problems. Real problems. And they never mention those. They never want to treat the sickness but instead only focus on the symptoms. That made me wonder how serious those people are.
Sometimes I feel silly calling it an addiction since there's no chemical component but when I do any type of addiction self-assessment test and replace "drugs or alcohol" with "video games" and proceed to answer yes to all the questions, I start to think I might have a problem
Saying videogame addiction is no addiction because it is a symptom of an underlying probem is an odd argument because the same could be said about classical substance addiction (see rat park study).
I just realized a thing, asking if video games are addictive is equivalent to asking if needles are addictive instead of heroine, cause the addictive thing isn't the video games it's the dopamine it's just that video games might be that persons prefered way of "taking a hit"
We don't take "sides" on issues, we try to show multiple perspectives and different researchers' work -- curious to hear which videos make it seem that way to you?
I think everything in moderation, it's easy to get in too deep. That goes for anything. I truly believe that anything can be addictive. One thing that's really bothersome to me is the toxic communities that follow gaming. My boyfriend is a big gamer, he's mature enough to see past the toxic communities, and not contribute to them. However, I have a baby brother who is now 7 y/o and he's found his way into the gaming world. Granted, he is generally only playing MineCraft.. But I know at some point he'll find his way a more broad scope of games. I often worry how these toxic communities will influence his young mind, and the young minds of all the other children beginning to game. Gaming will be a huge part of their world and culture, inevitably, it's what they're growing up with. I think gaming companies should give some type of incentive to not be a complete douche bag, and some type of repercussion if you do.
Some of my friends can't stop playing application games while hanging out with friends and I think they are addicted to games. And those games are made to make those royal players by introducing login points
2:38 Yeah and of course it's the video game's fault. I bet it's something else. Like he is bullied at school and video games are a way to escape. It's just a theory of course, but they should analyse his life a bit more in order to find what's bothering him instead of saying it's the video game's fault without looking at the rest of his life.
to be honest I think most addictions start from an underlying issue, and those that dont were formed because someone felt pressured to take an addictive drug, or didn't understand the risks when they first started. And I especially think behavioral addictions only become addictions when those behaviors were used to escape from something else. Otherwise things like gaming and gambling for a healthy person just aren't addictive. cause if they were addictive on their own there'd be no way someone could do it professionally and not get addicted but there are tons of people who do. So we shouldn't really ask if a thing is addictive cause it doesn't matter, if a thing can give you a dopamine rush it might as well be put under a "possibly addictive" category and if someone starts getting addictive to those then someone needs to look for the underlying issue, not just take that addiction away from them cause chances are if the main issue isn't solved they'll either just pick up a new addiction or go back to the old one.
Yeah I agree. If you're not getting enough dopamine from other things and only from one place (like video games) it can become a problem for you. You'll start to rely on only that one thing to feel happy.
i disagree Lucas i am 16 and i play video game and my friend. but he has a disability that make him need to keep going so he has a time to help stop him. unlike me i don't and i can play until i need to stop or want but i can play, its not a addiction its just need timers, also help understanding the child itself.
Is video game addiction real? No Is book reading addiction real? No The is a difference between hobbies and addiction and there no such thing as addiction in both of them
There's a difference between hobbies and addiction, yes, but both video game and book reading can be an addiction if it takes over your life. If it doesn't, then cool, it's a hobby.
Just playing a lot isn't an addiction just because you play video games doesn't mean you have an addiction but that doesn't mean that no one else does if you played sports for 6 to 8 hours a day and ignored your responsibilities and lost sleep because of sports yeah that would be an addiction you may not be addicted to video games and just like playing video games but please don't act like no one else is I play video games pretty much all day I lose sleep because of video games and my grades are dropping because I just can't stop I tell myself I need to stop but I can't stop no matter what I do I just keep playing video games and I can't stop I have an addiction video game addiction is a real thing people can have
It really depends on the type of game or the type of person. A person who struggles with gambling would get get addicted to a predatory loot box system. But it shouldn’t be classified as one like drugs is because most gamers know how to put the controller down when they need to, most people who use certain types of drugs tend to not know how to stop by themselves.
Its real and its been a bitch to me this past four days. I was fine playing games like red dead 2 or celeste. But then i went back to skyrim, then i waited for the hours of mods to load and the game to stop bugging out on me then i could play on the 2nd day then it fucked my work process up. I regret it so much
It's only addiction if that game is really good to play and you really enjoy playing it. For example you play FPS game kill an enemy and get that reward and dopamine release😄
That’s not true. Some people simply like videogames and others become full on obsessed and it’s all they do. They don’t sleep, eat, take care of their health, become aggressive if they can’t play, etc
@@-mushroom7757 this is a total LMFAO moment , there is nobody like that , people can become angry when you take away there hobby and anyone who doesnt eat or sleep dies . Gaming is exactly like reading a book , but reading a book is more harmful due to its physical and mental inactivity
Dude, don't wanna say your work is bad since it's great, but why do you only take Fortnite as exemple ? Where are Mario and Sonic, The Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, Assassin's Creed, The Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age, The Witcher, Celeste, Baldi's Basics, Doki Doki Literature Club and all the other great games that don't come to my mind right now ? It's just Fortnite Fortnite Fortnite Fortnite and more Fortnite...
Remember Fortnite isn't the only game out there. If you are trying to study gaming addition I would suggest looking into more niche communities, Fortnite because of it's success brings in a lot of causal game players. I doubt the average Fortnite player is playing for more than an hour a day. That being League of Legends is massively popular like Fortnite but I would say the players are far more dedicated.
Above The Noise I'm a high school student XD. Although, if it's Americans I understand because, you know, they do have a reputation of being a bit...behind
You don't have to mention you're not a gamer. Dude, your controller wasn't even turned on!
lol
I came here for answers and instead I left with more questions :^)
Fynitie this may not be what you were looking for - but this show is all about asking critical questions about research, and inviting our audience to do the same. We aren’t interested in investigating questions that have easy answers - we generally look into controversial topics that have multiple perspectives. So we are more about exploration than explanation.
Is video game addiction real? No, of course not-
Wait...sorry. I'll get back to you. My phone says I just got a gift in Pokemon GO.
Wtf, Pokemon Go? Shiieeit bruv
Clorox Bleach It's still huge in LA. You can find dozens of people walking around in groups looking for things during events. I mostly play it for the events and to prepare for Pokemon Let's Go.
edit: Also love your name haha.
Hey, Folks! N
NOT funny
Havent watched your video yet. Just wanted to say that as a former videogame addict, I can attest that videogame addiction is real.
It seems like a bit of a moot point to discuss until you answer question of, "What if it is? Then what?"
The dictionary definition of addiction is vague enough that literally anything could be classified as an addiction. It doesn't really matter if gaming is or isn't. It's what we do about it that matters.
What you as a society do about it also helps determine if it is an addiction or not. In a country where a drug isn't illegal it is less likely to be seen as addictive than in a country that does make it illegal.
Unless something changed since I was in college (which does happen I admit) an addiction must negatively impact your life to be clinically diagnosed as such. So addiction is as much a social construct as it is a description of phenomena.
Someone that is hooked on lifting weights is unlikely to be told they should seek help. They'll likely just end up fighting aliens in a jungle and coming back from the future to kill John Conner.
A lot of the things that make video games "addictive" are similarly present in habitual sports watching or TV consumption or book reading. It's just that society has accepted those things.
Lucas I agree on that point whole-heartedly
I tend to think of games as Better-Than-Life activities, much like art (reading, theatre) in that we prefer them to regular drudgery, and they can legitimately make us happier by performing them. The main enemies to escapism are jailors, after all - people who want us to exist for 'their' ends, not our own. Declarations of addiction often amount to this - that by finding an avenue to fulfilment outside of commercial spending, social interaction and 'vocational' work, we aren't serving the ends others ascribe to us, we're treating our happiness as an end in itself. And for those who depend on us that can be intolerable.
Don't get me wrong, I think there are serious limits to BTLs, and that they can get under your skin in an annoyingly compulsive way that a person has to find a way around if they truly want to maximise their happiness. And as the ability to spend one's life playing video games demands a certain amount of hardware, so developing real-world skills in tandem is necessary even if it is treated as a means to a virtual end. My greatest concern is the way we can shame and ridicule people for gaming, and deride gaming itself. If you want people to come out of their video games, it is more effective to make life better than games than convince them that games are worse than life.
Thanks for sharing this perspective. We tried to show both sides of the coin -- that while compulsive behavior of any kind can go overboard and cause bigger problems, there are also real world benefits to gaming, especially the more interactive, problem-solving kind. Not to sound cliche, but seems like it's all about finding the right balance for yourself, right?
@@AboveTheNoise You're quite welcome :) and yes, some clichés stick around for a good reason, balance is important. It's just that sometimes The Noise makes a person define the terms of balance incorrectly, both in judging their own behaviour and in assessing that of others.
I use to be a hard-core gamer, but then I became a casual gamer.
As long as you’re healthy and it isn’t negatively affecting other areas of your life I don’t see why people shouldn’t be allowed to play video games. To most it’s just a hobby, just because some people do that hobby a lot doesn’t make it an addiction.
I think that "free-to-pay" games definitely need to be part of the discussion. Some of their mechanics, such as loot boxes or very grindy game progression, promote long game sessions among those who don't want to pay to progress. Some governments are now looking into if these progression systems constitute gambling. So, if gambling addiction is a thing and there are games that have gambling or gambling like elements (depending on jurisdiction) as a core part of gameplay and progression, it leads credence to the idea that certain games can become an addiction.
Free to pay games need to be eradicated from existence
This is one of the few non biased videos that actually look at both sides. I like this video.
yea, there is a middle point (games are good and bad at the same time) the right side (games are addictive), and the left side (games are good)
I’m no expert, but I’ve read that addiction is best treated by talk therapy and that this aspect of addiction has lead to the idea that addiction is always a form of escape from life problems, be they personal or societal. Escapism is escape, but from what?
Addiction is always an escape mechanism. So when someone claims to be addicted to video games this person has other problems. Real problems. And they never mention those. They never want to treat the sickness but instead only focus on the symptoms. That made me wonder how serious those people are.
I got a ps4 commercial before this video
Also, fortnite isnt a real game
Natela Adlens yes it is
Sometimes I feel silly calling it an addiction since there's no chemical component but when I do any type of addiction self-assessment test and replace "drugs or alcohol" with "video games" and proceed to answer yes to all the questions, I start to think I might have a problem
I've suffered lots of pain from social situations and began to actively avoid people. But video games and RUclips have allowed me to make friends.
Saying videogame addiction is no addiction because it is a symptom of an underlying probem is an odd argument because the same could be said about classical substance addiction (see rat park study).
I just realized a thing, asking if video games are addictive is equivalent to asking if needles are addictive instead of heroine, cause the addictive thing isn't the video games it's the dopamine it's just that video games might be that persons prefered way of "taking a hit"
What is everyone's favorite nostalgic video game from childhood?
MegaMan II
On NES!?
You know it!
Myst
Excellent question! How far back can we go...without losing any connection with our audience?
I'm confused here. "Making up for depression or some other underlying condition" is how *all* addictions work.
Exactly
If someone always decides to go clubbing to filled the void in there life. Are they addicted to clubbing or are they suffering other mental issues?
Fernando Pina both
i didn't even recognize what dances he was doing at first -.-
I'm surprised you didn't side with the video-games-as-an-addiction camp.
"Above the Noise" has been quite the opposite before.
We don't take "sides" on issues, we try to show multiple perspectives and different researchers' work -- curious to hear which videos make it seem that way to you?
The controller ain’t even on bro🤣
I think that gaming addiction is a myth and if there was then parents need to prevent their children from dropping out of school for it
I think everything in moderation, it's easy to get in too deep. That goes for anything. I truly believe that anything can be addictive. One thing that's really bothersome to me is the toxic communities that follow gaming. My boyfriend is a big gamer, he's mature enough to see past the toxic communities, and not contribute to them. However, I have a baby brother who is now 7 y/o and he's found his way into the gaming world. Granted, he is generally only playing MineCraft.. But I know at some point he'll find his way a more broad scope of games. I often worry how these toxic communities will influence his young mind, and the young minds of all the other children beginning to game. Gaming will be a huge part of their world and culture, inevitably, it's what they're growing up with. I think gaming companies should give some type of incentive to not be a complete douche bag, and some type of repercussion if you do.
Some of my friends can't stop playing application games while hanging out with friends and I think they are addicted to games. And those games are made to make those royal players by introducing login points
1st red flag,its a mobile game
2nd red flag,points
2:38 Yeah and of course it's the video game's fault. I bet it's something else. Like he is bullied at school and video games are a way to escape. It's just a theory of course, but they should analyse his life a bit more in order to find what's bothering him instead of saying it's the video game's fault without looking at the rest of his life.
to be honest I think most addictions start from an underlying issue, and those that dont were formed because someone felt pressured to take an addictive drug, or didn't understand the risks when they first started. And I especially think behavioral addictions only become addictions when those behaviors were used to escape from something else. Otherwise things like gaming and gambling for a healthy person just aren't addictive. cause if they were addictive on their own there'd be no way someone could do it professionally and not get addicted but there are tons of people who do. So we shouldn't really ask if a thing is addictive cause it doesn't matter, if a thing can give you a dopamine rush it might as well be put under a "possibly addictive" category and if someone starts getting addictive to those then someone needs to look for the underlying issue, not just take that addiction away from them cause chances are if the main issue isn't solved they'll either just pick up a new addiction or go back to the old one.
Yeah I agree. If you're not getting enough dopamine from other things and only from one place (like video games) it can become a problem for you. You'll start to rely on only that one thing to feel happy.
I feel like this game is bad because they are getting addicted and that is not a good thing for people’s health
Real men are "addicted" to SMB2 and Postal 1/2
Im not addicted im honestly motivated
What game is played with your controller off?
Schizophrenia Life,of course!
also the boy my just have a disorder or just need help understanding when not to play or when to okay Lucas?
in the video
i disagree Lucas i am 16 and i play video game and my friend. but he has a disability that make him need to keep going so he has a time to help stop him. unlike me i don't and i can play until i need to stop or want but i can play, its not a addiction its just need timers, also help understanding the child itself.
Thanks for defending our video games
Above the noise: I wanna be tracer! Me:TURN ON THE controller! 0:05
Is video game addiction real? No
Is book reading addiction real? No
The is a difference between hobbies and addiction and there no such thing as addiction in both of them
There's a difference between hobbies and addiction, yes, but both video game and book reading can be an addiction if it takes over your life. If it doesn't, then cool, it's a hobby.
Yes and I’m addicted to baseball too. I play a whole lot of sports so am I addicted to sports too.
Just playing a lot isn't an addiction just because you play video games doesn't mean you have an addiction but that doesn't mean that no one else does if you played sports for 6 to 8 hours a day and ignored your responsibilities and lost sleep because of sports yeah that would be an addiction you may not be addicted to video games and just like playing video games but please don't act like no one else is I play video games pretty much all day I lose sleep because of video games and my grades are dropping because I just can't stop I tell myself I need to stop but I can't stop no matter what I do I just keep playing video games and I can't stop I have an addiction video game addiction is a real thing people can have
It really depends on the type of game or the type of person. A person who struggles with gambling would get get addicted to a predatory loot box system. But it shouldn’t be classified as one like drugs is because most gamers know how to put the controller down when they need to, most people who use certain types of drugs tend to not know how to stop by themselves.
I was missing your videos!!!
We release new ones every other Wednesday! Come back for more!
Awesome episode. Keep up the good work!
Its real and its been a bitch to me this past four days. I was fine playing games like red dead 2 or celeste. But then i went back to skyrim, then i waited for the hours of mods to load and the game to stop bugging out on me then i could play on the 2nd day then it fucked my work process up. I regret it so much
It's only addiction if that game is really good to play and you really enjoy playing it. For example you play FPS game kill an enemy and get that reward and dopamine release😄
So,competent game design is addiction?
It’s just called we like the game
That’s not true. Some people simply like videogames and others become full on obsessed and it’s all they do. They don’t sleep, eat, take care of their health, become aggressive if they can’t play, etc
@@-mushroom7757 if that the case then its more than likely they are suffering from major mental issues. They use video games to get away from it.
Fernando Pina yeah I know, it’s unhealthy and they should get help
@@-mushroom7757 this is a total LMFAO moment , there is nobody like that , people can become angry when you take away there hobby and anyone who doesnt eat or sleep dies . Gaming is exactly like reading a book , but reading a book is more harmful due to its physical and mental inactivity
memes are funny. when advertisers use them, its cringy. sorry but, the intro...
hell. no.
We are hearing you all...intro didn't go over so well. Live and learn!
@@AboveTheNoise i like how you listen to your viewers, and you improve. keep up the good work!
He did all the dance move wrong but the video is good
How would you research an "increase in creativity"?
yes it is real. I would rather do my streaming than do anything ealse.
Dude, don't wanna say your work is bad since it's great, but why do you only take Fortnite as exemple ? Where are Mario and Sonic, The Legend of Zelda, Pokémon, Assassin's Creed, The Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age, The Witcher, Celeste, Baldi's Basics, Doki Doki Literature Club and all the other great games that don't come to my mind right now ? It's just Fortnite Fortnite Fortnite Fortnite and more Fortnite...
Dance was cringy af but rest of the video was 👌
How is he playing a game if his controller isn't even on?? 😂
Foreplay Night!
*Shows to parents*
Where fornite dance
Remember Fortnite isn't the only game out there. If you are trying to study gaming addition I would suggest looking into more niche communities, Fortnite because of it's success brings in a lot of causal game players. I doubt the average Fortnite player is playing for more than an hour a day. That being League of Legends is massively popular like Fortnite but I would say the players are far more dedicated.
Riley F the average fortnite player plays way more than 1 hour a day.
Dan the m4n9 Okay maybe I should re-phrase, a lot of people I know don't play Fortnite for extended periods of time or take it seriously.
Riley F a lot of people I know just play fortnite all day
We've been hearing from a lot of teachers and parents that middle school and high school aged kids will play Fornite for several hours, every day.
Above The Noise sounds about true for a lot of kids at my school
PUBG IS BETTER
I’m not addicted 🤣🤣🤣
unsubbed becauses of the intro
Oh no! Please don't go...give us another chance, c'mon!
subbed becauses of the intro
Above The Noise You really shouldn't...most of the gaming community doesn't really like Fortnite too much
yrm159 a big portion of our audience are high school students and their teachers...trust us, Fortnite is HUGE in the K-12 crowd.
Above The Noise I'm a high school student XD. Although, if it's Americans I understand because, you know, they do have a reputation of being a bit...behind
#PCMasterRace
Not to be confused with political correctness
H
The start was uhhhh