Rant #2,051: The Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu

The esteemed World Health Organization has made a monumental decision, sure to impact millions of people around the world.

They now list "excessive video game use" as a mental disorder.

The WHO will reportedly be adding "Gaming Disorder" to its International Classification of Diseases next year.

Symptoms include how and when you play these games, choosing games over other interests and pursuits in life, and choosing to play video games even when playing them leads to negative consequences.

The most important thing about this is that since it will soon be listed as a disorder, it will now be recognized as such by doctors and insurance companies.

You have to think that so many people--mainly younger people--probably have "Gaming Disorder," in particular during this time of year and the popularity of consoles like the Nintendo Switch, Xbox and PlayStation.

My son has Xbox, but happily, he doesn't sit around and play it all day. He got the Xbox One for Hanukkah--after having the old Xbox unit for years--and he has a couple of games, but as he has gotten older, his patience evidently has changed, and while he enjoys playing the games, he doesn't play them non-stop anymore.

We never liked it when he was younger and he did play them for extended periods of time, but I have to say that he never let the games get in the way of other things he wanted to do, to a point, as like with other things like this, playing video games makes you somewhat anti-social.

With other kids, parents have to monitor their usage, and kids do play with these things way too long at one sitting.

Personally, I never got into these things, and quite frankly, I have other things to do, and if I want a gaming experience, I much prefer pinball machines anyway.

Yes, I am old school, even in this case.

Now, since the WHO has decided that excessive video gaming is a "disorder," what will they next go after for the newest malady?

How about excessive Facebook usage? Some people are on Facebook all day, not being able to detach themselves from posting messages or reading what has been posted by others.

They allow their lives to be governed by the social networking service, live through this service as if it were physically part of them.

I would call this "Social Networking Disorder," and I guess if excessive video gaming can be considered a disorder, then why not excessive social networking?

Heck, if I let my imagination run wild, maybe the WHO can even list excessive blogging as a mental disorder ...

I mean, it is right now 4:37 a.m., and rather than being in bed sleeping, I am writing this blog entry.

That can make me sick, right?

Sleep versus blogging ... what would you choose?

Some say that being a liberal in today's world is akin to having a disease, too.

I wouldn't go that far, but I think that some people may have something of a point: acting infantile, stamping your feet like a baby who doesn't get his bottle, and continually whining about what is wrong with the current administration must be, if not a disease, then some type of malady.

"Snowflake-itis," perhaps?

Oops, I went political, I really didn't want to do that, but it was too obvious a potential "disorder" to pass up.

I apologize for that. Onward and upward!