ABC News polling guy rips apart game addiction figures

Go Gary!!!

GARY FTW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Only 91.5% to go.


...or not, apparently.

So it's probably more of an "I'm, like, so addicted to tetris" thing?

This makes me wonder how many ppl is addicted to downloads, illegal or not. But no seriously i know a few ppl that d/l 4 - 5GB a day.

"So, good news, everyone: either 8.5 percent of youths are addicted to video games ... or they just think they are. Yay, statistics!"

More like: 8.5% of people who wanted to take an online survey about game addiction (which only represents a portion of those who are computer literate, let alone Americans at large) think that they're addicted to games.

Also worth noting that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV, the "bible" of mental problems) specifies that addiction is physiologically related to substances, if I remember correctly; the correct term to refer to repeated problematic use of video games would be compulsion, like a gambling compulsion, not addiction. So, in other words, people taking online surveys aren't necessarily even qualified to diagnose themselves as "addicted" to something.

Okay, end pedantic rant.

Am I the only one who read the title as; "ABC News polling guy rips apart [game] action figures"?

What this basically says is that the study isn't representative of the whole population of American kids, only those who are likely to take part in an online survey. It'd seem to me that common sense would say that kids wanting to do this survey would naturally have a tendency for technology, games included.

More like:

"8.5% of people addicted to online surveys are also addicted to online games."

it may be way worse than what he's observed. if only 8.5% of youth are EVEN WILLING TO ADMIT OR CONCEDE that they're addicted to video games, venture a guess as to what percentage of the other 91.5% live in a denial of that circumstance.

As a wise man once said:

86% of statistics are made up.

To say nothing of the fact that people who are easily addicted to stuff in general my ALSO be gamers.

?

Guys like Gentile are ONLY employable by biased educational organizations that don't care about true statistical significance or reliability of data.

We'd never put up with an idiot that used someone else's data for his study in the business world. We don't grind axes, we make money.

If you'd like to let him know how impressed you are with his data, by all means, http://www.psychology.iastate.edu/~dgentile/

Although it isnot be a true probability sample, it should be noted that they did not simply post a link on a website for people to click on. Rather they randomly selected participants from a pre-existing database. As such, claims that people who go online are overrepresented are valid - but claiming that people who are more likely to be addicted to games would self-select into the study are not really valid. If they had advertised it as a gaming study, then this claim would be valid.

Here is a selection from the method section of the paper (Gentile, in press)

"The sample was surveyed by Harris Polls with a national sample of 1,178 United States residents, ages 8-18. The Harris Poll Online (HPOL) youth panel was recruited through hundreds of sources using diverse recruitment methods in order to minimize selection bias. A stratified random sample of Harris Interactive’s online panel was invited through password protected email invitations to participate in a 20 minute omnibus survey. The sample included 588 males and 590 females. The sample included approximately 100 participants of each age between 8 and 18 (minimum N = 98 8-year-olds, maximum N = 119 16-year-olds). All regions of the country were represented, with 253 in the East, 369 in the South, 289 in the Midwest, and 267 in the West. The ethnic/racial makeup was 66% White, 17% Black/African American, 3% Asian or Pacific Islander, 1% Native American, 7% mixed racial background, 2% other race, and 4% declined to answer. Of these, 16% reported being of Hispanic origin. Instruments and
participants were treated in accordance with the code and standards of the Council of American Survey Research Organizations (CASRO) and the code of the National Council of Public Polls (NCPP)."

Just a quick note - It is doubtful that any person has ever done a study with a "true" probability sample as such a case would require that every single person in the world has an equal probability to be selected for that study. This is just not reasonable to expect. As such, scientists do their best job to open it up to as many people as possible. That being said, when you fall short of a true probability sample, information as to why (e.g. it was an online poll) should be presented in the paper.

I'm always encouraged at the existence of such articles on Joystiq, mainly due to its repellent effect on obnoxious idiots.

The DSM does not currently use the term "addiction" to classify people. Rather
it uses abuse or dependence for substances and compulsion/pathological for behavioral "addictions". Physiological addiction is not a required criteria for meeting even substance abuse or dependence. Also, physiological does not exclusively mean that the "addictive" stimuli has a chemical component. It can also refer to adverse physiological reactions the body has when abstaining from the "addictive" stimuli.

Additionally, this paper only refers to addiction as an abstract concept and includes quotes around the term addiction when referring to video game or internet "addiction". Rather Gentile uses the term pathological when referring to gaming "addiction". Addiction is the term that media reports of the study used.

While this evidence makes the overall claims of the paper less valid, I think the main point is still being missed.

The paper is not blaming video game companies for leading children to addiction, rather it is simply assessing whether or not children who play games can meet criteria for a pathological behavior. Although not all children will become "addicted" and the 8.5% is likely overinflated, the simple fact that 100 kids out of a sample of ~1200 meet criteria for pathological gaming is very disconcerting and suggests caution on the part of gamers and the parents of gamers. Additionally, pathological gaming was found to be related to several adverse situations including higher prevalence rates of ADHD and poorer school performance. While this is not causal evidence and it is equally probable that children who have ADHD or care less about school would be more likely to play video games to compulsive levels, it is still important information for gamers and parents of gamers to be aware of.

It is unfortunate the Dr. Gentile made such a claim about the strength of his findings and it is questionable as to whether he was aware of this. But I still feel that this report (and other similar reports) warrant caution on the part of gamers. I encourage you to think about your gaming habits (as well as any other habits that may be getting out of hand) and consider whether or not you feel it is having an adverse impact on your life. If you do, you should seek help.

Psychological studies are not meant to make or break public policy. They are meant to inform the public so that they can make their own decisions. So even though there are some problems with this study, realize that the findings are not completely invalidated by this report and the information is still useful.