this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2026
869 points (99.0% liked)

Comic Strips

23030 readers
3857 users here now

Comic Strips is a community for those who love comic stories.

The rules are simple:

Web of links

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] FarraigePlaisteach@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago (1 children)

We disagree on whether (or where) there is a line between compelling engagement and engineered compulsion/addiction. If you or anyone else is interested in authoritative insights on this, here's a good starting point: https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/addictive-behaviours-gaming-disorder

[โ€“] bampop@lemmy.world 1 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

Yes, I don't believe there is a line such as you have mentioned because the difference between engagement and compulsion is only a matter of degree and varies from one individual to another. Indeed the link you gave illustrates how some individuals exhibit unhealthy compulsive behavior from overuse of an engaging product. Games are not generally considered to be "addictive" in the sense that it would warrant legal sanctions. The same could be said of social media addiction.

For clarity, I'm just talking about addiction here, not any of the other problems such as disinformation or active promotion of unhealthy or dangerous behavior. I think it's odd that the reporting is primarily focused on addiction, because it's the totality of these things that really makes it worthy of legal intervention.