As a gamer myself, I know that pulling yourself away from computer games can be a hard task sometimes. But can it get to the level of addiction? Some people think so.

In a recent broadcast by the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) Panorama programme, a reporter did a study to find out if gamers could indeed get addicted to computer games. He interviewed a number of different children and young adults from around the United Kingdom about their gaming habits, and some of the interviews came back with interesting results. One gamer got thrown out of university due to the fact that he got so behind on assignments because he spent all of his time (and money!) on the Xbox 360. It was only when his dad threw the Xbox away that he started to get his life back on track.

Another gamer who admitted that he was addicted to World of Warcraft couldn’t even talk to the reporter when he was trying to interview him because he was too busy “being killed too much on the game.”

This scares me because I used to spend nearly 12 hours a day sitting on my PS2 playing either Kingdom Hearts II or Final Fantasy X, but over the year and ever since I got the Xbox 360 I am spending much less time on the consoles. Does this mean that I used to be addicted to games myself?

How long have you spent on a game and, if so, do you think that you’ve ever been addicted to video games?

My name is Steven O’Shea. I’m a college student in the United Kingdom who is studying software development. I live in a town called Southend on Sea, and I create technology and gaming videos for my YouTube channel. I can be found on Twitter @yunamad10 and I also run a blog. I am a fellow gamer with an Xbox 360 and a PSP. I also have a disability that keeps me wheelchair bound and therefore I am interested in technology that gives disabled users access to the world.

[Photo above by Bryan Gosline / CC BY-ND 2.0]