WHO GAMING DISORDER LISTING A ‘MORAL PANIC’, SAY EXPERTS

LONDON - The decision to class gaming addiction as a mental health disorder was "premature" and based on a "moral panic," experts have said.

The World Health Organisation included "gaming disorder" in the latest version of its disease classification manual.

But biological psychology lecturer Dr Peter Etchells said the move risked "pathologising" a behaviour that was harmless for most people.

The WHO said it had reviewed available evidence before including it.

It added that the views reflected a "consensus of e[perts from different disciplines and geographical regions" and defined addiction as a pattern of persistent gaming behaviour so severe it "takes precedence over other life interests."

Speaking at the Science Media &entre in /ondon, e[perts said that while the decision was well intentioned, there was a lack of good Tuality scientific evidence about how to properly diagnose video game addiction.

Dr Etchells, who lectures at Bath Spa University, said: "It sets us on a potentially slippery slope.

"We're essentially pathologising a hobby, so what s ne[t" There are studies on tanning addiction, dance addiction, e[ercise addiction, but nobody is having a conversation about including them in ,&' ...

"I don't think policy should be informed by moral panics, which is what it feels like is happening at the moment."

Dr Etchells said estimates of those who are addicted range from fewer than . percent to nearly percent of players, which meant there was a danger of failing to identify who actually had a problem and who just enMoyed playing games.

"What we're doing then is over-diagnosing, we're sort of pathologising a behaviour that for many people is not harmful in any way."

The e[perts were also sceptical that screen time overall which also includes the use of things like smartphones and tablets - was harmful for children and adolescents, as some studies have suggested.

Such concerns have prompted the Commons Science and Technology Committee to hold an inTuiry into the issue.

Dr Etchells and Andy Przybylski, associate professor and director of research at the 2[ford Internet Institute, University of 2[ford, said such papers usually only showed weak associations between screen use and health.

Prof Przybylski said in such studies usually about 99 percent of a child’s wellbeing could be attributed to factors unrelated to screen time.

He said it also might be the case that lots of screen time was linked to other problems going on at home.

“New, good studies that add to what we understand about the effects of screen time over time on young people, they’re really few and far between,” Prof Przybylski added.

'r 0a[ 'avie, officer for health promotion for the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said there was evidence of a link between e[cess screen time and reduced sleep and obesity.

But he said the RCPH was unlikely to support the idea of restricting screen use in its upcoming guidance on the issue.

The American Academy of Paediatrics proposes a limit of one to two hours per day for young children.