Many parents already have concerns, but some may now have a new argument for limiting their children’s “screen time”: gaming addiction has been recognized by World Health Organization as a mental health disorder.
The WHO’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD), a reference bible of recognized and diagnosable diseases, describes addiction to digital and video gaming as “a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming behavior” that becomes so extensive it “takes precedence over other life interests.” The WHO’s expert on mental health and substance abuse, Shekhar Saxena, said some of the worst cases seen in global research were of gamers playing for up to 20 hours a day, forgoing sleep, meals, work or school and other daily activities.
He stressed that only a small minority of people who play digital and video games would develop a problem, but said recognition of early warning signs may help prevent it. “This is an occasional or transitory behavior,” he said, adding that only if such behavior persists for around a year could a potential diagnosis of a disorder be made.
Photo: AFP
照片：法新社
Responding to the decision to including gaming addiction, the Video Games Coalition — an industry lobby group — said their products were “enjoyed safely and sensibly by more than 2 billion people worldwide” across all kinds of genres, devices and platforms. It added that the “educational, therapeutic, and recreational value” of games was well-founded and widely recognized and urged the WHO to reconsider.
The ICD, which has been updated over the past 10 years, covers 55,000 injuries, diseases and causes of death. It forms a basis for the WHO and other experts to see and respond to trends in health. “It enables us to understand so much about what makes people get sick and die, and to take action to prevent suffering and save lives,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement as the ICD was published. The ICD is also used by health insurers whose reimbursements depend on ICD classifications.
This latest version — known as ICD-11 — is completely electronic for the first time, in an effort to make it more accessible to doctors and other health workers around the world. ICD-11 also includes changes to sexual health classifications. Previous editions had categorized sexual dysfunction and gender incongruence, for example, under mental health conditions, while in ICD-11 these move to the sexual health section. The latest edition also has a new chapter on traditional medicine.
The updated ICD is scheduled to be presented to WHO member states at their annual World Health Assembly in May 2019 for adoption in January 2022, the WHO said in a statement.
(Reuters)
許多父母對子女的「螢幕時間」憂心忡忡許久，不過現在他們對遊玩時間限制有了新的理論依據──電玩遊戲成癮已被世界衛生組織認定為一種精神疾患。
世界衛生組織所訂定的國際疾病分類標準（ICD），是醫界對於已辨認且可確診疾病的參考聖經，其中針對數位及電玩遊戲成癮的描述是「一種持續或一再復發沉迷於遊戲的行為型態」，影響生活範圍逐漸擴大，以至於「優先程度超過其他生活興趣」的地步。世衛組織心理健康和濫用藥物部門的專家薛卡‧薩克納表示，在全球研究中，有些最嚴重的成癮案例一天玩電玩多達二十小時，棄睡眠、正餐、工作、學業等日常活動於不顧。
薩克納強調，只有少數玩家會出現這類問題，但也表示，及早辨識警示的徵兆將可協助防止這類問題發生。他指出：「電玩成癮是一種非常態或相當短暫的行為模式，」並補充說，只有在這類行為持續一整年的情況下，才有可能被診斷為疾患。
面對電玩成癮被納入疾病分類標準的決定，電玩產業遊說團體Video Games Coalition表示，它們的產品跨越所有遊戲類型、設備、平台，「世界各地超過二十億人安全而合理的享受」電玩遊戲。該團體也補充說，電玩遊戲的「教育性、治療性，以及娛樂性價值」是有充分根據並且廣泛受到認同，他們強烈主張世衛組織重新考慮此決定。
國際疾病分類標準過去十年來持續增修，目前涵蓋五萬五千多種傷害、疾病，以及死亡原因，是世衛組織與其他專家學者觀察並回應世界衛生趨勢的基礎。隨著國際疾病分類標準發行新版本，世衛組織秘書長譚德塞在一份聲明中表示：「這份分類標準讓我們能深入了解人們生病與死亡的原因，並採取行動預防更多人受苦，拯救更多生命。」國際疾病分類標準也經常被健康保險業者採用，按其中分類核發保險理賠金。
最新的版本稱為ICD-11，是首次完全電子化的版本，為的是讓世界各地的醫生和衛生工作者更容易取得。ICD-11也包括性健康分類的修訂變更。舉例來說，之前的版本將性功能障礙與性別不一致分類到心理健康狀況的章節底下，ICD-11將兩者移到性健康的分類底下。最新的版本還加入一整段全新的傳統醫學章節。
世衛組織在一份聲明中表示：更新後的國際疾病分類標準預計在二○一九年五月的年度世界衛生大會上提供給世衛組織會員國，並於二○二二年一月開始採用。
（台北時報章厚明譯）
In an effort to fight phone scams, British mobile phone company O2 has introduced Daisy, an AI designed to engage phone con artists in time-wasting conversations. Daisy is portrayed as a kindly British granny, exploiting scammers’ tendency to target the elderly. Her voice, based on a real grandmother’s for authenticity, adds to her credibility in the role. “O2” has distributed several dedicated phone numbers online to direct scammers to Daisy instead of actual customers. When Daisy receives a call, she translates the scammers’ spoken words into text and then responds to them accordingly through a text-to-speech system. Remarkably, Daisy
Bilingual Story is a fictionalized account. 雙語故事部分內容純屬虛構。 Emma had reviewed 41 resumes that morning. While the ATS screened out 288 unqualified, she screened for AI slop. She could spot it a mile away. She muttered AI buzzwords like curses under her breath. “Team player.” “Results-driven.” “Stakeholder alignment.” “Leveraging core competencies.” Each resume reeked of AI modeling: a cemetery of cliches, tombstones of personality. AI wasn’t just changing hiring. It was draining the humanity from it. Then she found it: a plain PDF cover letter. No template. No design flourishes. The first line read: “I once tried to automate my
Every May 1, Hawaii comes alive with Lei Day, a festival celebrating the rich culture and spirit of the islands. Initiated in 1927 by the poet Don Blanding, Lei Day began as a tribute to the Hawaiian custom of making and wearing leis. The idea was quickly adopted and officially recognized as a holiday in 1929, and leis have since become a symbol of local pride and cultural preservation. In Hawaiian culture, leis are more than decorative garlands made from flowers, shells or feathers. For Hawaiians, giving a lei is as natural as saying “aloha.” It shows love and
1. 他走出門，左右看一下，就過了馬路。 ˇ He walked outside, looked left and right, and crossed the road. χ He walked outside and looked left and right, crossed the road. 註︰並列連接詞 and 在這句中連接三個述語。一般的結構是 x, y, and z。x and y and z 是加強語氣的結構，x and y, z 則不可以。 2. 他們知道自己的弱點以及如何趕上其他競爭者。 ˇ They saw where their weak points lay and how they could catch up with the other competitors. χ They saw where their weak points lay and how to catch up with the other competitors. 註：and 一般連接同等成分，結構相等的單詞、片語或子句。誤句中 and 的前面是子句，後面是不定詞片語，不能用 and 連接，必須把不定詞片語改為子句，and 前後的結構才相等。 3. 她坐上計程車，直接到機場。 ˇ She took a cab, which took her straight to the airport. ˇ She took a cab and it took her straight
RSS