 The World Health Organization just officially declared that gaming addiction is a mental disorder, but is it really? Let's talk about it right now. What is up everybody? This is Chris from the Rewired Soul where we talk about the problem, but focus on the solution. And welcome back to another video where we're taking a deep dive into the topic of depression, but I'm also going to blend in some addiction as well. And I wanted to talk about gaming. This morning, a buddy of mine, he's like, dude, have you seen all this stuff about gaming and mental illness? And we were talking about depression. I'm like, you know what? I'm going to make a video on that tonight. So do me a favor. If you are a gamer watching this video, or you just don't really think that video games are that big of an issue, do me a favor and share this video. Share it with the people out there who are unaware about how video games might actually be able to help you out with your mental health. Let's talk about that real quick. First and foremost, I want to share a little bit about my story when it comes to gaming. So and we'll talk about depression first, then we'll get to addiction later. All right. So those of you who are newly subscribed and you haven't met me yet, I used to be in the professional esports kind of area. It was for the game Counter Strike. This was many years ago. I have a video that I'll link up here about how my addiction kind of destroyed that. But anyways, like during high school, I was really into video games. I've been playing since I got my first Nintendo like way back in the 80s when I was like four or five years old. And like in high school, I was struggling with so much just mental health issues, right? So many mental health issues like from my depression to my anxiety to my anger issues. I was a son of an alcoholic bomb. And like I was constantly socially anxious. It was so difficult for me to just have conversations with people. It was hard for me to open up to people and I would isolate a lot. I had maybe one or two really good friends. I had a bunch of like acquaintances in school. But like, man, I was talking to my friend about this this morning. Like if it wasn't for gaming, like we would have been way more depressed. Like gaming was so beneficial to my childhood and my growing up. Like we used to have this thing here in Las Vegas. It was called LVGA. All right, Las Vegas Gamers Association. And it was a bunch of people from Las Vegas. It was a website with a forum. And we'd all played Counter Strike together. And like, man, like I started making these like strong connections and these strong bonds with people. Like my friend who I was talking to this morning, me and him have known each other for dang like 16 or 17 years now, all through video games. And he's one of my best friends. He's been my roommate and all that kind of stuff. But I met so many people through gaming. Like when people talk about how like gaming can like fuel like mental illness and depression, like it doesn't always like this was how I got my social connection. I met some of my best friends on there. Not only that, but I was able to pursue a career in it. I was able to travel to different countries. I went to Sweden. I went to Spain. I went to France. All expenses paid for gaming. Like I was able to make a name for myself in the gaming industry. So like it really bums me out when like the media out there or people who don't really understand gaming and how it helps people like it bums me out. Like here's what you got to think about. Like whenever I hear this argument, I think about the kid who has a disability. Maybe he's in a wheelchair. You know, every day he goes to school, he can't participate in like PE or play sports like other kids do. But you know what he can do? He can hop on the video game controller. He can, you know, hop on a PC and game there. He can do that and be very skilled at it. Like that's a beautiful thing about gaming is that it's it's so diverse. Like anybody can do it regardless of your your physical attributes. Like think about it. If you want it to be a professional football player, basketball player, hockey player, baseball player, you you got to be born with some good genetics. I truly believe that gaming has opened up so many opportunities to to so many people who didn't have that that physical those physical attributes and were blessed with good genetics. You know what I'm saying? So like can gaming cause depression? Yes, but I'll talk about that again at the end of this video. Now, as far as addiction, as I mentioned, World Health Organization, they classified it as an addiction. Okay, like this legitimate disorder. And here's the three symptoms that they listed. One, impaired control over gaming, frequency, intensity, duration. Two, increased priority given to gaming. Three, continuation or escalation of gaming despite negative consequences. So yes, like gaming can be addictive. I always tell people one of my first addictions before I even got into drugs and alcohol was video games. I would ditch class to play video games. My grades were slipping because of video games. I would play all night long. I took it to another level. My brain was obsessing on video games. But that's me. Now let's talk about the fact that I'm also a drug addict and alcoholic. Like I was genetically predisposed to addiction. So whatever I get into, I can get addicted to it. So like with drugs and alcohol, other people can do those things just fine. Me, I would get obsessed with them. You know what I'm saying? So like, I've seen people argue and say, Oh, gaming can't be an addiction. Gaming can't be an addiction. It absolutely can. Just not everybody is going to become addicted to it. You got to realize this is what we call a process addiction. So it can be as addictive as something like gambling, something as sex, something as spending money, something like eating, you know, these are all other addictions as well. But the things that people can do without an issue. So like, is everybody who games going to be an addict? No, I was watching Philip DeFranco today and something I don't know the exact source because I'm going to link some sources down below. But they were saying like, if you game for 20 hours a week, like really 20 hours a week, come on now, like that is not a good criteria. So here's the way I was thinking about it before I made this video. So like there's escalations of drug addiction, you know, first there's like substance use, then there's substance abuse, then there's addiction. So there might be people who casually play games, there might be people who play a little bit too much, and then there's people who are addicted. But yeah, it absolutely is an addiction like any other one. I was talking to another buddy. I'm actually going to link his channel and give him a shout out. His name is Trenton Marshall. He has a couple channels. If you're into drone stuff, or you're into like tech stuff, I'm going to link his stuff down below. Great guy. I love that man. Anyways, we were talking this morning and I was saying like, yeah, it can be addictive. I remember when World of Warcraft was out, there were stories where people were in land centers in China, and they were playing so much like some people died because they were so into the game that they became malnourished, fatigued and stuff like that. And they just died, right? I had a ton of friends, a ton of friends who flunked out of college because of World of Warcraft. So it definitely can be addictive. But now let's talk about depression and addiction when it comes to video games. One of my meditation teachers said this, okay? He said, you know, and this can be used for any type of technology. It's like a knife, okay? Now, a knife in the hands of a very skilled chef, it can make amazing things happen. But the knife in the hand of somebody who's not paying attention, they can cut their finger off. It's kind of the same with video games and technology and things like that. Like if you are developing unhealthy habits with it, yes, it can fuel depression. Yes, it can fuel addiction. But if you're using it for things that I mentioned like, you know, building friendships with people and things like that, like this can be very helpful. It's a great way to escape. I've been playing a bunch of Fortnite lately because I've been really, really stressed. And I have so much fun just playing with my friends. You know what I mean? But there's always just, there's just been this narrative about like games, games, games. And like, it's just, it's not true. The news is always looking for something to sensationalize and stuff like that. It's like, nobody's ever going to take, you know, mainstream media seriously until they just start being completely unbiased and not trying to blow things out of proportion. Like yesterday when I made the video about depression and things not to do, like don't watch the news because they look for things to blow up and be like, Oh my God, it's so crazy. Like no, it's not calm down. The last thing I'll say when it comes to gaming and when it comes to depression, when it comes to addiction, a lot of it comes down to the parents. A lot of it comes down to parenting, monitoring it. How much are you playing? What are you doing online, especially with young kids and things like that? So much of it involves the parents. Like the beautiful thing about gaming for me too is that it's something that my son and I can do and bond over. My son is a big gamer. We play a ton of Fortnite together when new video games come out. Sometimes we go out to like the midnight release over at GameStop and we just play like it's something that we get to connect over. And like, I love it so much. And like, so I try to teach him about the mental health aspects of it too, because sometimes he's just like, Oh, I just want to play by myself. I don't like having a team and stuff. But I tell him, I said, Listen, Dylan, like, if you're going to be playing games, like you should be playing with your friends or maybe meet new people. And don't worry. I taught him how not to be, you know, the victim of a predator. Okay, so calm down. But like, if he's going to be gaming, I want to make sure that it's kind of in a social environment because I don't want him to isolate and play games by himself. So I'm trying to help him improve his mental health while he's doing something that he likes doing. All right. But anyways, I would love to know your thoughts on this subject. So go ahead and leave your comments down below and don't forget to check in the description. I'm going to link some channels and some resources. All right. And again, please, please, please, if you know some people out there who don't understand mental health or gaming, share this video with them. All right. But anyways, that's all I got for you today. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up. And if you are new here, I'm always making videos to help you out with your mental health, click that little round subscribe button. And I just started a Patreon. So if you would like to support the channel and what I'm trying to do by helping people with mental health, you can click or tap right there. All right. Thanks so, so much for watching. Make sure you're educated about gaming and I'll see you next time.