Video game addiction and its affect on millenials

Jeffrey Pittman, Staff Writer

According to CNN, roughly 8.5 percent of children who play video games in the United States are addicted. Researchers and scientists are curious to what triggers children to become so addicted to these games. When students at Utica College were spoken to, it was surprising to see the diverse opinions on video game addiction.

Student Ryan Desveaux says video games have been a part of his life for as long as he could remember.

“Ever since I was young I can remember playing some type of video game, I can’t remember a time when I didn’t have video games.”

Desveaux expressed how he loved to play video games and how it was exposed to his at a young age. Though he never admitted to an actual addiction towards video games, his position was clear that he agreed with CNN and their article.

Though the statistic proclaimed by CNN was aimed at children, some students had great insight towards video game addiction.

One student in particular, Mitch Sobilo, was noteworthy because he claimed playing video games was “mind-numbing.”

“Video games were fun when I was young, now that I’m older, video games don’t have the same significance as they did in the past.”

When asked his opinion on CNN’s article he said, “I agree with the concept that children are addicted, but I don’t think students in college are as addicted or willing to admit their addiction.”

UC student Dwayne Matson expressed that he was exposed to video games at a very young age also. Having a large family, video games were seen as a form of spending time and having fun together.

“I have always been a competitive person, so playing video games brings that side out of me. I can say without a doubt that I am addicted to video games,” Matson said.

When discussed with UC students, video game addiction seemed to not be a major concern. When CNN published the article, their statistics only related to children. Although there are students who play video games and some who don’t, it is interesting to see how students react to this topic. It’s apparent that video games are exposed to all individuals when young but not all adapt in similar ways.