Gaming: Heavy Play or Disorder?
What the ICD-11 criteria for gaming disorder actually say, next to what heavy but ordinary play looks like. This explains; it does not assess.
The ICD-11 definition of gaming disorder contains no number of hours: it requires impaired control, gaming taking precedence over other activities, continuation despite clear harm, and significant functional impairment normally evident over about twelve months.
Gaming: Heavy Play or Disorder?
Frequently asked
How many hours of gaming is too many?
No hour figure appears in any diagnostic definition. What the criteria describe is loss of control and functional impairment, which means a child playing four hours a day with school, sleep and friendships intact is described very differently from one playing two hours whose life has narrowed around it.
Is gaming disorder common?
Estimates vary by study and method, and most place it in the low single digits at most among young people who play. Parental concern is far more common than the condition, which is one reason the criteria are worth reading.
What if I am still worried?
Talk to a GP, and bring specifics: what has been lost, over how long, and what happens when play stops. Those are the things a clinician asks about, and none of them is an hour count.
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