What is Stimulus Addiction?

When you play lots of action-packed video games, you increasingly need more powerful images in order to respond emotionally to the game. This is called stimulus addiction. The term "stimulus addiction" describes the habit that is formed as kids seek out more and more violent games to hold their interest. All video games, including those that are nonviolent, can become addictive. For example, a simple game like Tetris can get us "hooked" for a longer period of time than we'd like. However, violent video games magnify these characteristics by requiring the part of our brain that reacts, rather than reasons, to focus on the constant need to destroy in order to stay in the game.

Who's affected? Boys, in particular, are vulnerable to this call to battle. Recent studies indicate that boys' moods are elevated when playing violent video games and that they feel satisfied after playing. Girls, on the other hand, feel less comfortable after playing and are less likely to choose to play again.

Current research indicates that our brains are affected by what we play. In a 2002 study on video's effects on teens, researchers at the Indianna University School of Medicine concluded that the brains of teenagers with certain behavior disorders and a history of aggressiveness react differently from healthy teens when they play violent video games.

What's the message? Violent video games send the following messages:

• Problems can be resolved quickly and with little personal investment.
  
  
• The best way to solve a problem is to eliminate the source of the problem.
  
  
• Problems are basically black or white, right or wrong.
  
  
• It is acceptable to immerse oneself in the video game's rule-driven reality without questioning the rules.
  
  
• Use instinctual, rather than thoughtful, responsible behaviors to react to problems.
  
  
• Personal imagination is not an important problem-solving skill.

Contrast what children learn playing violent video games, with what they learn playing maze games, puzzles, and simulation or treasure hunt video games:

• Problems are solved through patience, personal initiative, perserverance, tolerance, and flexibility.
  
  
• Gathering information requires work, and information must be carefully analyzed in order to be of help when making informed decisions.
  
  
• Defining and solving problems involves using complex skills.
  
  
• A solution in one instance might not work as a solution in another instance.
  
  
• It is important to use critical and creative thinking skills such as planning actions, organizing information, predicting outcomes, experimenting with trial solutions, evaluating ideas, and analyzing solutions and their consequences.
  
  
• Use imagination and thinking abilities to co-create, with the game's writer, inventive situations.
  
  
• Use personally-generated, thoughtful responses to solve problems.

Adapted from Screen Smarts: A Family Guide to Media Literacy, by Gloria DeGaetano and Kathleen Bander © 1996.