I once had a student that was obsessed with collecting discarded staples. He brought a large magnet to school and found plenty of staples as he walked from class to class. His hobby seemed harmless enough, but was it some sort of addiction or warning? I will never know as I lost contact with him once he left our school and entered high school. We always wondered what he did with the staples he took home. Maybe he is currently working on some great statues to sell for millions of dollars.
Some doctors and parents are starting to worry about video game addiction. Is it possible that some people could be addicted to video games just like others are addicted to alcohol? If so, some would like to see video game addiction considered a mental disorder.
"There is nothing here to suggest that this is a complex physiological disease state akin to alcoholism or other substance abuse disorders, and it doesn't get to have the word addiction attached to it," said Dr. Stuart Gitlow of the American Society of Addiction Medicine and Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York.
A committee of the influential physicians' group had proposed video game addiction be listed as a mental disorder in the American Diagnostic and Statistic Manual of Mental Disorders, a guide used by the American Psychiatric Association in diagnosing mental illness.
Such a move would ease the path for insurance coverage of video game addiction.
I am sure that many studies will be conducted to evaluate children and video games. PacMan was around years ago, and people didn't think much about it. My kids attached games to our ancient television set and had great fun with them. Obviously, the games weren't as sophisticated as today's games, but the kids still wanted to play them for hours. I only know that they could always beat me. I tried really hard too! Also, the first computer lessons at our school were very similar to video games. Does anyone else remember Turtle Logo? I ran out and bought a Commodore 64 computer just to keep up with my students. Now that's funny!
I do think that video games can be a big draw for kids. It is up to parents and teachers to make sure that children aren't hooked up all of the time. Video games should be the last thing on the agenda after a day at school. Homework, reading, playing with friends, and family time should come before video games.