The actual sources you gave are about internet addiction.* (Destiny)

by Kahzgul, Thursday, June 25, 2015, 21:37 (3438 days ago) @ iconicbanana
edited by Kahzgul, Thursday, June 25, 2015, 21:40

Video game addiction is real.

Kimberly Young's book is about internet addiction disorder. David Greenfield's book seems to be more of the same. The only actual study admits "there is no clear standard for how to measure pathological gaming or how to score symptom checklists of pathological gaming." It also admits "This study’s primary strength is that it is nationally representative within 3%. Nonetheless, it yields far more questions
than answers. We do not know who is most at risk for developing pathological patterns of play, what the time course of developing pathological patterns is, how long the problems persist, what percentage of pathological gamers need help, what types of help might be most effective, or even whether pathological videogame use is a distinct problem or part of a broader spectrum of disorders"

Technically, the source I gave is about video game addiction (it's a website specifically discussing it), but that website's sources include a book more broadly examining internet addiction as a whole. I haven't read the book, but if the government is going to claim it as a source, I think it's safe to say that it probably discusses games to at least an extent worthy of citation.

Also, the study does confirm that this is a real phenomenon, even though it may be part of a broader spectrum. I'd love to see it studied more in depth, but I hope that you can see that video game addiction is a scientifically observable phenomenon.