A headline featured in today’s The Sun newspaper claiming that gaming is addictive as the class-A drug heroin is making waves for all the wrong reasons.
The Sun, a popular right-wing UK tabloid, has been quick to blame video games for a wide variety of unrelated offenses in the past, from terrorist acts to the tragic Sandy Hook shooting. However, their latest headline is a stretch even by their ridiculous standards.
The piece contains such “evidence” as Call of Duty apparently being “linked to three suicides” and Candy Crush Saga having a negative impact upon one woman’s life. The article claims that playing video games “increases dopamine levels” and that it “gives you a kick and a chemical buzz.” Of course, dopamine levels can also be increased by eating chocolate and having sex, but “SNICKERS BARS AS ADDICTIVE AS HEROIN” doesn’t have a very good ring to it, does it?
While problems can stem from playing video games too much (as they can from overdoing most activities), comparing an interactive medium to heroin usage is obviously ludicrous, and undermines the very real issue of addiction. This headline can and will be derided and laughed off as just another reactionary and attention-seeking article from a publication with a long history of misinformation and gutter-press antics, but as one of the UK’s most popular newspapers, this sort of reporting should be called out and rightfully slammed for the trash that it is.
