I'll stop once I get my shiny KOS-MOS in Xenoblade 2, I promise, mom.

In both my own and my mothers opinions, my little brother (at 10 years old) spends an unhealthily large amount of time gaming. Case in point - two minutes ago, he asked me if he could play a few matches of Fortnite on my PS4. I said no, but lo and behold, a minute later he has turned on my PS4 and started a match. Excessive gaming (both my own and my little brother's) has been the source of a tremendous amount of conflict in my family. The fact that a diagnosis can be misused is not a good argument against said diagnosis' existence.

If it weren't for us imposing restrictions on how much time he gets to spend gaming, he probably would barely do anything else, and I know for a fact that is basically the case for many of his friends that don't have as many restrictions on gaming.

Younger me would call this ridiculous and/or an outrage. I'm not a mental health professional by any stretch so I'm not prepared to make a rigorous argument, but people have literally died in extended gaming sessions so it doesn't seem to me to be coming out of nowhere. However it's probably likely that such habitual reliance on games is indicative of problems elsewhere in life. I don't think games are inherently the issue here, just what people come to rely on to deal with their actual issues. Or at least that seems more likely to me. I disagree with ESA's statement though, I don't see how it trivializes either of those things, seems more to me like it seeks to widen what are considered signs of distress.

This is good news, this is a growing problem, especially among introverted kids and/or kids with neuropsychiatric disorders (high functioning autism most of all). Issues such as these are being drowned out in the sea of troubled kids who have much more palpable behavioral issues that result in outbursts and deviant episodes with threats, violence or self-harming tendencies. A significant amount of the kids I work with could easily be classified as having mild-to severe gaming addiction, but funds, understanding and realistic treatment platforms have been hard to come by as long as this wasn't a diagnosis in its own right. I intend to specialize in gaming addiction, partly due to it being a growing concern and partly due to a massive lack of competence and understanding on the subject.

It doesn't make matters any easier considering that the industry is actively pursuing gamers with risks of falling into addiction with their business models and overall design of games and gaming in modern times. This is fantastic news, and just because some parents will falsely assume that their child is suffering from this, doesn't mean it's silly or not worthwhile. This is a godsend for those of us who work with kids like this on a daily basis.

I think phone/tablet/social media is a bigger addiction that many kids and adults are hooked on and is more dangerous than video games.