In an interview in the Boston Globe, Dr. Gerald Block talked about internet addiction. He is a psychiatrist that specializes in the treatment of gamers that can’t pull themselves away from the computer, and he says that these people are more ashamed of their World of Warcraft addiction than they would be of a porn addiction.
“The computer gamers tend to be harder to treat. People feel a lot of shame around computer games. Whereas, it’s socially acceptable to have a porn problem.”
“As a society we understand that porn is something people do, and you can see a psychiatrist and get treated for it. But gaming is hard to describe to anyone else.
“So these people can’t explain their situation to friends. In fact, it’s hard to give you an example of what my clients talk about, because gaming is enormously complicated.”
Block had recently published an editorial in the American Journal of Psychiatry, which argues the use of “Internet Addiction” as a diagnostic term.
I don’t see it. It may have something to do with my gaming background, but I feel like the porn addiction would be more embarrassing, especially when it comes to freaky fetishes like fur. Or worse, a combination of WoW and fur. What do you think?
I wonder what this guy would say about the Blood Elf fapper. That may be a whole new category of addiction.
[Via TechRadar]
