Spotting kids drowning in video games

The National Health Commission released an expert consensus on curbing and treating gaming disorder, which repeated the World Health Organization's decision this May to list it as a new disease. China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang comments:

According to the WHO's definition, gaming disorder is the uncontrollable and persistent playing of video and computer games. Under the WHO definition, gaming disorder is a pattern of behaviour characterized by impaired control over gaming, increasing priority given to gaming over other activities to the extent that it takes precedence over other interests and daily activities, and the continuation or escalation of the pattern despite negative consequences.

When someone becomes "drowned" in video games, as the Chinese describe it, he/she can give up almost everything else, including sleeping, eating and drinking.

A browse through past reports shows that from 2006 to now, every year there are people who have died after playing video games for a whole night. In November 2017, even a 20-year-old game anchor who hosted video games online died after playing for more than 18 hours a day.

It is fair to say gaming disorder is a problem that must be addressed, especially since the majority of video game players are youngsters who are more susceptible to gaming disorder.

However, it must be stressed that video games per se are not the problem. Addiction to them is.

China is home to the world's biggest internet population with more than 800 million users, and the video gaming industry is estimated to be worth $30 billion a year in revenue. That means a lot of gamers. But not all of them have gaming disorder.

Instead of being an official move against the gaming sector, as some have claimed, the expert consensus this time has hit the point. By clearly defining gaming disorder and setting clear, unambiguous standards, it helps to distinguish ordinary video game players from heavy addicts. This will lessen the concerns of parents and enable those children who do have gaming disorder to receive help.