Video gaming addiction is now officially a disease: World Health Organisation

or many years, parents have raised concerns that their children might be addicted to video games.

The emergence of Fortnite and other online games has since seen gaming addiction in young children and teens spiral.

Now, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has officially added video game addiction — characterised by "a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behaviour" that "takes precedence over other life interests" — to their International Classification of Diseases (ICD) database.

Read the full article on NZHerald.

Square eyes: Half of Kiwis addicted to devices, many blame Covid pandemic

There's a new addiction in New Zealand - more than a third of Kiwis say they are hooked on their screens and many are blaming Covid for it. As the country enters its second week of lockdown, New Zealanders have been averaging five hours of screen time a day on top of using devices for work and school since the Covid pandemic started last year, a new NortonLifeLock study has found.‍

Watch

Addicted to Shopping App

Gloria Hunniford, Julia Somerville and Louise Minchin investigate the shopping app one woman found so addictive, she asked her bank to cancel her cards in order to stop her spending.

Research

Treating internet use disorders via the internet? Results of a two-armed randomized controlled trial

Internet Use Disorders (IUDs) are emerging as a societal challenge. Evidence-based treatment options are scarce. Digital health interventions may be promising to deliver psychological treatment to individuals with IUDs directly in their online setting. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a digital health intervention for IUDs compared to a waitlist control group (WCG).

Article