World Health Organization says video game addiction is a disease. Why American psychiatrists don't

A more recent study underscores that gaming addiction is probably a worldwide phenomenon, albeit an uncommon one. The analysis of close to 19,000 internet users from the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany found that among those who played games, just under 1 in 3 reported at least one symptom of internet gaming disorder. But very few -- between 0.3% and 1.0% of the general population -- might qualify for a diagnosis of internet gaming disorder, according to the 2017 report in the American Journal of Psychiatry.