Today Fox News released the findings of a medical group states that “constant and or continual video gaming is now officially labeled a mental health illness”.
Ok, I have been asked several times about this.
Yes, constant and or continually video gaming is now considered an actual mental health illness.
I hear people both praising this move and bashing it and I have very mixed feelings about it.
First of all, if you play a “video game” for 2 or more hours in a 24 hour period with any degree of consistency, regardless if it is on a console, TV or phone, and it requires no physical challenges and no mental intake, you have a serious reality problem.
I have a huge issue with that because a reality problem generally will equate into an eternity problem. If your mind has to escape into a world different than the real one, you will lose your concept of what the real one is about. Namely preparing for the after one.
Now I made a statement about “no mental intake”. Some will say, “Oh but I am learning skills and developing hand eye coordination and memory”. That is not the same as mental intake.
Mental intake is learning useful information and or skills that are life applicable. How to save money, how to speak properly, how to build strong relationships, how to cultivate a garden, how to be a better person.
It is the difference between reading a book or playing Life or Monopoly with your kids as opposed to watching a Harry Potter series. One has interaction, life skills, relationship building, knowledge imparting, etc. and the other has been proven to dumb down and shorten attention span.
So for reasons such as these, I am glad that it is finally being acknowledged just how bad this behavior is. BUT, I know our current culture and we as a society tend to always do similar things with issues like these.
Mark my words, there will eventually be tax dollars used to come up with a medication to treat this “new illness”. Remember Ritalin?!
These people will actually end up getting “benefits” for their “debilitating condition”. They will then be able to go after the gaming companies in court. None of this will be good for the individual or society as a whole.
What I hope and pray happens to those who read this, is that you carefully and prayerfully stop and evaluate your personal leisure lifestyle and that which you allow and encourage in your children.
What are you watching? What are they watching? How much reality is involved? How much escapism? Is there useful knowledge gained?....or lost?
Are the things that you do in your “spare time” loving to others, does it build your physical, mental, emotional or spiritual strength? Do you gain true rest and strength from doing it? OR Is it more of a way to just “pass time”? Would the world, YOUR world, be no better off if you did it or not? AND perhaps most importantly, who around you is missing out on your interaction while you are escaping?
In my humble opinion, too much of this type of gaming activity is a very selfish a self deteriorating thing to do. God bless you. I will be praying for all!
Your humble servant,
Rev. D. Todd Sloggett 
