A recent Telegraph article reignited an old diatribe regarding video game addiction. According to what we read in the article in the English newspaper, the consistent use of iPads and online texts by schools can contribute substantially to damaging the brains of adolescents, who could incur in the so-called screen addiction: entering into the merits of video games, compared by a real drug.
Screen addiction: The Telegraph lashes out against video games
The Telgraph calls it spiritual opium. This would be the effect that video games would be able to cause in the minds of young people according to the British newspaper, which recently revived the issue of video game addiction. The piece starts from a Chinese media statement, which they defined video games as real digital drugs and, as such, subject to limitations.
The author of the article, Abi Silver, had already raised this issue in the past, as we can learn from the book he published recently. In this fictional tale, Silver follows the story of a YouTube celebrity accused of killing a psychologist with strong anti-gaming positions.
In the Telegraph article, Silver recounts anecdotes about her son’s experience with video games during the time she was busy writing her book. Silver claims the son was obsessed with Fortnite, since, according to her, it is capable of creating addiction due to the stimulation of dopamine production. The author therefore complains about a lack of regulation by the government. Which is technically not true.
Although there is no regulatory authority dedicated to video games in the UK, industry is bound by classification bodies (PEGI), consumer and data protection laws, corporate regulations and soon OFCOM too will likely oversee the entire market as part of the online safety bill.
The gaming industry is also being investigated by various bodies, including the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) and the Gambling Commission (GC).
Responding to the Telegraph piece, UKIE, the trade association for the UK’s interactive gaming and entertainment industry, said: “a responsible and regulated industry that has shown that it takes concerns seriously. It is disappointing to see articles like these that widely misrepresent the phenomenon “.