Video Gaming Addiction and its Effects on Job Performance, Interpersonal Social Interaction, and Marriages
Western Governors University

Video Gaming Addiction and its Effects
Within society there are several addictions that plague us and are mainly associated with substance abuse. There are addictions to drugs, alcohol, food and multiple others that are too numerous to list. However, within this century we have seen the rise of video game addiction among the young, the old, male and female. Video game addiction is related to other underlying disorders such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorders, other anxiety disorders, and impulse control disorders (Oggins, 2012). The American Medical Association has considered adding this addiction to their manual of mental disorders (Northrup, 2014). There have been several studies on the addiction to video gaming. These studies correlate the negative effects of excessive time spent playing video games with the associated risks that result from this behavior. Research shows that video gaming has become one of the new addictions of the 21st Century due to the loss of interpersonal social interaction, negative effects on job performance, and the debilitating effects on marriages or relationships.
Video game addiction is a direct result of the great leaps that we have made in technology. With the invention of the personal computer and following the inception of the internet this has spawned a new addiction that now plagues the 21st century. In home gaming consoles were introduced in 1972 with the release of the Magnavox Odyssey. Within the last 15 years with the introduction of the smart phone and tablet the access to video games became more convenient and easy to access in any area that has a WIFI or cellular connection. As we increase our dependence upon technology not only in the business world but