Today the Associated Press released a story about the first videogame addiction detox center set to open in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Aside from the irony of a city known for easy to access illegal drugs being the center of concern for videogame addiction, there is a bit of controversy over the use of the term addiction when it comes to things like videogames, pornography, or sports.

Some would argue that anything that a person uses heavily to the point that it interferes with other aspects of their lives, and that they seem unable to quit it on their own, is an addiction. Others base addiction more on biology, our own guide to alcoholism and substance abuse, Buddy T., has an excellent article on how addiction disrupts brain activity.

Personally, I think a gaming detox center is an immature and socially dangerous approach to an issue that has practically no scientific research. Working in academia and focusing on videogames, the reports of violent behavior and videogames have a tenuous link. The thinking behind the people behind this clinic seems fundamentally flawed. "We have kids who don't know how to communicate with people face-to-face because they've spent the last three years talking to somebody in Korea through a computer," Keith Bakker, director of Amsterdam-based Smith & Jones Addiction Consultants, said. "Their social network has completely disappeared."

First, lets be honest about the center. Private detox centers are a big money business. This does not mean they do not serve a noble purpose, anyone who has suffered from an addiction and lost the livelihoods, or worse, would testify that one cannot put a price tag on successful treatment. However, there is a difference between driving into a building while drunk, and playing videogames for endless hours. The statement that "Their social network has completely disappeared" shows a bias towards a traditional culture that would claim that people who choose to make the internet their social lives are somehow "broken".

There are plenty of people who are good at face to face interaction and use the skill to rob or con people. Oddly enough, we do not try to help these people with medical treatment, we imprison them. But when someone plays videogames or lives an online lifestyle it is threatening to the culture at large. Opportunistic medical entrepreneurs seem more than willing to prey on families who are worried about their child's videogame "addiction".

If your child has social problems, there are plenty of great therapists out there who can help with adjustment issues. The label of "addict" is not an easy social stigma to overcome, hence the anonymity requirement of many treatment options. I would think that I would treat an addiction center as the last resort, and that would only be after asking myself who has the problem, my loved one whose friends exist primarily in cyberspace, or me.
[Source: AP via Yahoo! News]