ELC 501

ENGLISH FOR CRITICAL ACADEMIC READING

ARTICLE ANALYSIS:
DOES VIDEO GAME ADDICTION REALLY EXIST?
NAME STUDENT ID
FAIZAL BIN MOHD 2016447152
NUR RASHIDI BIN SELAMAT 2015735511

CLASS
NAMAF5B
NAME OF LECTURER
MADAM DIANE SIMA DOUGLAS TELAJAN
DATE OF SUBMISSION:
31ST DECEMBER 2018
 ARTICLE ANALYSIS

In the article “Does Video Game Addiction Really Exist” the author, Romeo Vitelli
Ph.D, discusses with the issue of whether video game addiction really exist or not. He
argues that gaming addiction is not a form of mental disorders. The author’s purpose for
writing this article is to let readers know despite the political pressure to declare video
game addiction a real disorder, the basic science still isn’t there. Words such as difficult,
backlash, stereotype, vague and lacking reflect bias language through which his tone of
concern is conveyed as he attempts to convince parents about his point of view.

He begins his case by giving a definition of addiction which is a supporting detail but
his reference is Wikipedia which is unreliable source of information. The author gives
his personal opinion when he states that the description about addiction fits well with
drug or alcohol addiction but can become more difficult to apply to problem behaviors
such as gambling or compulsive shopping. However he agrees that compulsive
gambling also one the type of addiction although there are no sign of disease and
certainly no tests that can be use to diagnose this kind of problem behavior.

The author did not deny that millions of young people around the world devote
countless hours to playing video games. However he did not elaborate more by giving
statistics as supporting details. He claims that the stories about negative aspects of
video game playing has sparked a backlash among parents’ groups. But this claim may
appear as the author opinion as he did not provide the source of stories. The author
then claims that there is not enough evidence to describe gamers as physically unfit
person who lacks social skills.

The author presents his counter-argument when he did mention suggestion from
some experts that around 10 to 12 percent of video gamers who spend 10 hours a day
or more on gaming can be considered addicts while the rest only show few problems.
He argues mental health professionals now facing an uphill task to define what a video
gaming disorder is.
 The author gives example of proposed symptoms for IGD (Internet Gaming
Disorder) which is listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5 th
Edition (DSM-V). Gamers need to show five or more of these symptoms over a 12-
months period to meet the IGD diagnosis. Some of the symptoms are as follows :

 Gaming becomes predominant activity

 Sadness when games is taken away (withdrawal symptoms)

 Loss of interest in previous hobbies

 Gaming to escape negative mood

The author argues about the validity of proposed diagnosis. He support his
argument by using a credible source which is a research article written by Anthony M.
Bean of Framingham University and a group of academic psychologist. Based on the
article, there are many problems surrounding IGD. Firstly, there are political battle to
include gaming disorder as part of DSM and in the next version of the International
Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) of World Health Organization (WHO). The
researchers have shown that the proposed symptoms for the new categories are even
more speculative than in the DSM. Secondly, the current IGD diagnosis is based purely
on certain behaviors that are treated as symptoms of an underlying mental illness. For
example, watching football on television excessively cannot be declared as mental
illness. Thus, the same situation should be apply for internet gaming. Finally, as Bean et
al point out, the risk of false positive when diagnosing IGD is unacceptably high
because of the current criteria proposed for diagnosing IGD are much too broad.

Having said all this, the author presents a counter-argument conceding that there
are certainly young people who may use video games as form as escapism. But he also
stresses that proof that this constitutes a disorder entirely separate from existing
diagnoses is still inadequate. He mentions an expert opinion from American Psychiatric
Association to support his claims that basic science to declare video game addiction a
real disorder still unavailable.
 In summary, the author’s argument is consistent where he maintains his stand from
the start till the end of the article. The author’s argument is objective because he
supports the facts with clear and strong evidence and all the evidence came from
professional bodies. The argument has credibility because all the facts can be verified
and also well-supported. His overall argument is valid because the author uses logical
and strong evidence.

(703 words)