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FarmVille on Dr. Phil!
| Posted on Sun ,24/01/2010 by FarmVille Freak Dr. Green Thumb Share this post with your friends on Facebook  |
FarmVille and specifically the addiction it causes was discussed on a segment of Dr. Phil television talk show. The episode topic was “Trends for 2010: The Good, the Bad, The Ugly”. The FarmVille segment focuses on Teresa, a mother who is addicted to FarmVille and neglects her children and family to tend to her virtual farm.
You can watch a mini clip below and you may watch the rest of the video on Dr. Phil’s website.
Some highlights from the Dr. Phil:
“Dr. Phil points out the extremes Teresa has gone to so she doesn’t have to share the PC with her family. “She unplugged the routeer, so you would think the Internet had gone down, and as soon as you went away, she plugged it back in and went back to tending her crops,” he tells Jennifer.”
“Part of the reason is because of her attitude when I do ask to get on the computer,” Teresa begins.
“No, it’s not,” Dr. Phil interrupts. “You unplugged it because you have a ridiculous addiction to a ridiculous computer game that’s interfering with your ability to be a mother. You needed a fix, and she wouldn’t get off, so you had to create the opportunity.”
Click continue reading to see the video!
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Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
hahaha
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 1:27 pm
what ev dr. phil
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
i no her she is my neighbor
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
Wait. I don’t understand. Which part of my addiction is ridiculous? And which part of Farmville? I’ll cut those parts out today.
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 1:36 pm
is this game really that addictive? hahaha.
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
hehe ^^
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 1:39 pm
I’ll send her a friend request. LOL
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 1:43 pm
I don’t understand what is so addictive. Farmville is fun but I just plant my stuff and walk away… this game has maybe an hours worth of play in it per day. wtf else is there to do? lol
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
i definitely need her on ma neighbour list
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Where did the banner contest thread go?
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
you may watch the rest of the video on Dr. Phil’s website.
where is the rest? cant find it
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 2:21 pm
he is so right! start a garden for real!!!!!!!!!!
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
^^ “HINT: Your friends won’t notice when you find it in their crops.”
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
lol ,who is this doctor?, give me a dollar for the purchase of a life
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Wow great advice, Dr Phil! She should start a REAL garden, get obsessed with that, and then instead of neglecting her family for Farmville she’ll just be neglecting them for her garden! Her problem isn’t Farmville, it’s her underlying psychological addiction problem. Dr Phil is such an idiot!
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
MAn!! i know her She’s Ma nEighbor LOl
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
I hate Dr. Phil! He doesn’t want to help people on his show he just shames them to make his viewers feel superior. Nobody who wants real help with real problems should go near that fake. He is a bully and he makes people who really want help less likely to open up and get it.
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 2:32 pm
I just signed onto my mom’s farm to adopt the penguin I found for her and ended up planting some crops while i was there… am I addicted?
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
Terri, I agree with you! He’s also really homophobic!
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
I agree with Terri. Dr Phil is all about publicity, and not about truly helping people.
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
whats her full name? I want too add her =]
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 3:13 pm
people like her are the reason other people see farmville bad. its just the same as alcohol and drugs. shes abusing it neglecting her family – wtf
dont people know not to overdo things otherwise they lose it?
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
also i agree i want her as a neighbour – she would be a magnificent gift sender!!!
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
I don’t trust bald people
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 3:26 pm
HAHAHAHAHA LMAO! I put this on the gone crazy video!!!!!
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 3:28 pm
lol,
I don’t care about Dr. Phil so much. But it is all true, I haven’t been addicted to anything in my life before, but now I am so addicted to Farmville, I tried to quit so many times, but as soon as something new would come I would get back on, I am losing so much time and more, I am actually considering going for help. lol. Maybe we should do a Farmvile anonymous and 12-step programs for it haha.
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 3:31 pm
i never liked dr phil…if she needs more neighbors sign me up….my kids say i am addicted to fv too….
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 3:32 pm
just kill all your crops, waste all your money and FV$ and then you’ll have nothing to go back too ^^
and hide notifications etc haha
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 4:00 pm
I’ll send her a friend request.. I need tons of mystery gifts! and helped with my farm and.. fertilized and collect items.. and harvest the trees .. and adopt lost animals.. LOL
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
I don’t see how it’s so addictive. If you have a lot of time (over the course of the day), plant things that grow short term. If you don’t have a lot of time, plant things that grow long term. Everyone has SOME downtime everyday, just make sure that you’re targeting that and get on with your real life.
Dr. Phil just wants to sound so superior instead of just stating it simply like that.
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
What is her full name I want to add her
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
This is messed up, first for the obvious reason that some mother neglects her kids because she is on the computer so much, and second, because it’s another person bashing on FarmVille.
I don’t understand why there is such a hatred for FarmVille. It’s no different than playing any other computer game. What about all the people addicted to playing WoW, or PS3, XBOX etc? I sure don’t hear as much negative talk about those as I do about FarmVille.
It’s as if FarmVille is hated because it’s an easy game that you can spend lots of time on. So what if I want to play FarmVille instead of reading a book? I’m not uneducated because of that decision. So what if I play FarmVille in the evening or all weekend? Don’t I deserve to do something I find fun and relaxing after a hard day’s work??
It’s just so strange to me that FarmVille gets the kind of hate that it does, and it seems like it’s a really strong hate, totally directed at the people who play the game, suggesting that we’re all stupid, lazy, wasting our time, etc. A person that I know hates FarmVille so much and ranted to me about it, all the while he is addicted to playing online poker, spending more time playing that than I do playing FarmVille. What’s the difference?
People need to just get over it and find something else to put their energy into besides ranting about how much they hate FarmVille.
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Start a real garden? Oh yeah that won’t take any time from your children…
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 4:56 pm
Yeah, when anything takes up so much of your time that it interferes heavily with your life, distracting you from your true responsabileties, that is an unhealthy addiction. Farmville or otherwise. Other than that, I only have one comment about Dr. Phil. “HAS YOU SEEN MAH BUCKET??!”
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
hey people add me plz i need alot more neighbors and dr. phil is ugly
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Lol @ Dr Phil… I play farmville and grow my all my own vegetables in reality and i tell you farmville takes up less time and effort. :p
Farmville and my husband get around the same ammount of time 1 solid hour and a few quick status checks.
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 5:29 pm
this is hilarious.
i only play once a day for 30 minutes and that’s enough to harvest my crops and plant, arrange things or buy new things, help a couple of friends etc and i send gifts tru the day when i’m browsing facebook or when my friends ask me for specific things. and i’m on level 40 which isn’t too shabby! What i did was arrange for most of my trees to be ready to harvest at the same time. same with most of my animals and my crops. I’m sure most people do the same. if you need to play more than two hours total a day i want to know what the hell you’re doing on this game! I jest, i don’t really care
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
I like FarmVille too, but there are some of my friends who talk about it ALL THE FREAKIN’ TIME! It’s kinda made me lose interest because I get bombarded with the obsession.
Don’t get me wrong, I still like playing, and I realize there is a reason why this site is called FarmVille Freak, but when personal relationships start to suffer because you absolutely can’t talk about anything else besides the latest mystery box, then yeah, there is a real problem.
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
This is ridiculous! Like most of you, I only play for maybe 30 min to an hour, and not even every day. I remember a friend through a friend telling someone she failed out of grad school because she was so addicted to it. That’s stupid! How can you play this game for hours? Do you sit there and watch your crops grow? I don’t get it!
If I got something to do in real life, I’ll just plant 3 or 4 day crops. I might not get back to my farm until they are ready. If I have a lot of time, like on the weekends when I don’t work, I might spend more time getting some 4 or 6 hour mastered crops, but I still go out. I still have a social life. I still read and exercise. Now I believe people can get addicted to video games – especially games like WoW, or my one friend who is addicted to Second Life – because you can waste a lot of time on those games. But how can you do that on this game…? Unless you are watching your crops grow which to me would be boring. I usually have way to much stuff to do in one day to have the leisure to do that. Go out and get a job or another hobby!
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 7:03 pm
Anybody notice how when you find a small pond in a gold egg the picture is actually of a large pond? Small pond has no lili pad.
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
i’m not addicted to farmville, i can quit anytime. as a matter of fact, i quit 6 times today!
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
hahahaha, this is hilarious. My friends (I mean my real ones) that farm are all well educated middle aged women with households and jobs, and last time I checked, we are all managing to maintain our households and families….this is really funny. I agree with one of the posts above: yes, this game is addicting (I drove by a real farm and for a brief second looked for the button on my steering wheel to shoo away the crows….hahaha) but it’s a GAME, and it’s fun, and it’s oddly compelling, but if you are neglecting your children and your life, you have much deeper problems than being a farmville freak!!!
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 8:19 pm
you only need 10min a day … ADDICTIVE??! REALLY?!?! Dr. Phill What that hack are you talking about!!!??
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 8:37 pm
Dr. Phil please chill. Your life has been far from perfect.
Wonder if he has is on Farmville himself..just a thought
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 8:55 pm
Notice how all the advice Dr. Phill gives is all the same, no matter what situation the person is in, it’s always the same. He’s full of sh……
There are worse things one could be doing on a computer and worse sites you could go on.
Farmville is good clean fun.
I’m on it and so are my two kids, atleast i know what they doing when they’re on the computer.
Get a likfe Dr Phil and find anoher topic for your show.
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 9:22 pm
i was never a fan of DR Phil but i don’t see how you can be SERIOUSLY addicted to Farmville. once you have everything set up the way you want it then all you have to do is plant harvest and plow… if whoever else is using that woman’s PC can’t get off it for long enough to do these things then maybe that person is the one with the internet addiction!
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 9:36 pm
I actually watched Dr. Phil just to see the part about Farmville….I laughed through the whole thing…OMG…That Lady NEEDS Real Help….and not the fake Dr. Phil help either. T.V. dinners for her kids….unpluging the router…get a second computer already if it’s that big of a deal already. Stop planting short crops and plant longer ones…Hell I have over 80 neighbors and I spend at most an hour and a half on my farm and my friend’s farm a day….and that’s only ‘ cause my 2yr old is watching Yo Gabba Gabba and Lord knows a person can only take so much of that show.
Posted on January 24th, 2010 at 10:28 pm
It’s the personality and not the game that is addictive. I don’t turn down social invitations over it, if I plant a 4 hour crop and then get a phone call to unexpectedly go out for the night, I go out and forget about it, and just suck it up and deal with plowing the withered crops if I am not home in time to harvest them or if I forget and go straight to sleep.
I think people presume my friends and I are addicted because we mention farm-ville to each other on occasion. But Its just something to do in the background during TV or while I’m on the phone. Not to be taken seriously…
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 12:38 am
Addiction really is becoming a problem. My mom actually had the same problem with Farmville (before that it was Mafia Wars and now it’s Evony). It’s something that has become a huge problem in our family, because she sees nothing wrong with sitting at her computer 24 hours a day playing online games. My mother has stopped cooking/cleaning/tending plants/feeding animals…basically my father and I both work 40 hours a week and run the household while she sits are the computer all day, and honestly the worst part is that I just miss my mom.
I love Farmville, but when you start letting internet games rule your life there is really something wrong. It is a real problem.
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 1:28 am
Hi, My name is Les and I’m a Farm-A-Holic….I should be the one that was on Dr. Phil instead of that lady hahaha
It all started one night at pool league when my teammates were talking bout this FarmVille game…so sure enough I came home and opened the app…planted strawberries and went to bed…checked the next night and they were withered…I’m liek wtf…didnt realize they were only 4 hour crops….lol….since that night approx 5-6 months ago…I’ve passed up my teammates in the game…got 200+ neighbors, mastered 15 crops, have over 1,000 tanks of fuel, got every blue ribbon released except cat-lady which will be soon and I’m on level 62…..
I can relate to that lady by playing it for hours cause I have and will continue to do so until someone else decides there gonna pay my bills for me
And yes it is possible to play the game for hours for those who don’t think it is….by using the live feed of FaceBook homepage to get collectibles, eggs, adopt animals, bonuses, etc. etc. also with as many neighbors as I have…there’s a good 2 hours itself just to fertilize all my neighbors crops
So if anyone wants to add me as a friend and neighbor I will gladly accept all invitations
Les Stitt
Latrobe, Pennsylvania U.S.A.
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 1:30 am
Ohhh and I’ve even bought FarmVille merchandise already….tshirt, sweatshirt etc etc
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 2:55 am
haha are we sure dr. phil does not play farmville himself under a fake FB id?? lol :p
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 5:56 am
I managed to go on a 7 day trip at Christmas and leave my farm alone. I set up a 4 day crop and headed out. (Now, my mother did decide to hop on and check out the presents but we all checked our gifts to compare notes. She also asked me to show her my chicken tricks.) Other than that though I just let it go. I do feel a little guilty whe I don’t help friends out but I figure they will understand that real life comes first. I only joined that game as cheap entertainment and a way to connect with some old friends and extended family who play as well.
I agree that addiction is going to happen based on the person not the outlet for the addiction. My husband plays a lot of WoW as it is his favorite way to unwind after a very hard day at work. I joke about being a ‘Warcraft Widow” but he also realizes that there is more to life than the computer and is a member of a motorcycle club and golfs. It is all about balance.
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 7:13 am
I agree about addictive personalities. If a person is addicted to something and they are able to walk away from it. Lest it be because other people talk/pressure them into it, or they decide they’ve given this addiction too much time. They will find something else. It’s part of who they are. It’s not going to be fixed by someone like Dr. Phil in a 15-30 min spot. grrr…
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 7:23 am
This lady should start a real garden, maybe she would lose some weight. Great lesson for her kids, ignore life and you will be a Farmville millionaire. Look on the bright side she is probably the oldest person to master all the berries because she does not have a job to go to. Farmville should make a 1 hour crop, this lady would do even less in her real life.
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 8:03 am
hahahaha u awsome dr.phil farmville is ridiculous! how can you let a pathetic virtual farm destroy your relationship with friends and family thats sad.
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 8:59 am
lol if you want to know her name (full) i will send you the link just pm me and ill give you my e-mail thanks every 10min she finds a golden mystery egg =]
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 11:26 am
He is not even a real Dr.
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 11:59 am
lol I so can not stand Dr. Pjil and his useless advise. SO is it better to watch Phil for an hour or play Farmville for an hour?
I play FV when the family is at school and work, leave it alone over the weekends gasp even forget about it on the weekends!
I feel bad for this lady she is an addictive personality and she will just go to another addiction if she leaves farmville. She is at least having a safe addiction and not out with gambling, drug, alcohol or sex addiction.
Thumbs down to Dr. Phil!!
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 12:07 pm
I dont like Dr. Phil, and I dont agree with him to start a real garden, because that does not always grow, lol. And it dies in winter. Anyway, but yes, I am addicted, not because of planting, but because of new stuffs, like this new mystery box. I wasted 2 months, and I thought after christmass there will be no christmass gift, i will be fine, now the mystery gift. I was about to plant everyday, once and harvest, just plant something that grow in one day, but because of this new mystery box, i am always waiting to see when I get a new mystery box and whats inside it, and praying when I open, “Please give me cash, please no white chicken or cow”, lol, If it wasnt the fact that you can gift and receive every 4 hours, I wouldnt come back that often. I just hope this feature ends soon, because I am unable to stop myself now.
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
HAHA I think that it is funny that she was on Dr. Phil talking about farm ville. I think it is an addicting game that some people do take a little to serious. Me I do use farm ville as an escape from the real world sometimes. I would never go so far as to neglect my 2 girls for this game. I would say though that I do play this game when I have nothing else to do, like waiting to give birth to my second child lol, and if by chance I can’t get to my farm i can count on my sister to tend to them, Is that counted as an addiction? Well If it is I can say I would rather do that and spend money every week when new mystery boxes come out then be high on some other drug and really neglect my family and my ability to be a mother. SO I say leave her alone as long as she isn’t snorting it up her nose she is fine…… LOL Now back to my farm.
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 4:12 pm
@Sarah
My mom is the same way with that World of Warcraft thing. She has over 100 characters (or “toons” I think) and plays each of them to the proper levels and does all the quests and goes to all the places to go and during X-Mas when there was limited time items she had to cycle through every single one so all her characters had things and complained about how time consuming it was. How do you think WE felt since we drove for 7 hours to visit her and Dad? Jeez, it’s not the game, it’s the player!! ((haha, I sound ghetto))
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
I saw that episode the other day and he was kinda rude, its just a game. Yeah she did let it control her life and she did have her family on the back burner but I don’t think she should have to completely cut out the game.. just plant a 4 day harvest LMAO. I’d definitely be her neighbor, she seems like a very dedicated one.
Just don’t know how to find her on here lol.
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 6:43 pm
Also I agree with Katie Murrish, lol. My sister also signs on my farm if I am unable to get on to harvest, likewise if she’s unable to get on I get on for her, it may be an addiction but I think I rather have a farmville addiction than to be in the streets trying to score some drugs. Atleast farmville is free. LOL. I don’t think its right that she is neglecting her family but at the same time I don’t think that Dr. Phil was right to tell her to stop playing completely. I don’t know if she’s anything like me but I don’t normally like games, actually this is the first game I have ever really played everything else has bored me, and he tells her go out and start your own garden, ugh. lol. It was funny that Farmville made it on TV though. Never thought it would get that far for anyone but I guess some people have a bigger problem with it than I do.
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 6:43 pm
HAHA! After seeing this and reading many other comments and posts – thank you Dr. Phil. Online video games and MMORPG’s are becoming a social neurosis in this country and around the world, meanwhile the economy is falling to pieces – America is collapsing before our eyes! But don’t let our Farmville crops wither!
The birth of a new conspiracy theory – the NWO is now engineering video games to turn the world into a bunch of drooling, video game playing troglodytes! Perhaps we should be spending our time working on how to fix this broken society and better our lives and the lives of future generations…
Just think of what could be accomplished with a better utilization of the aggregate of time invested in such activities! If it is community that we seek, maybe it is community we should work on rebuilding – thereby rebuilding this nation by numbers!
Something with a little more meaning is what is needed – have a watch (not a waste of your time). Plant your raspberries and watch the following – then if you’d like, go back and harvesting your crops.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7065205277695921912#
Enjoy!
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 6:50 pm
Love Daphne’s comment. I’d rather spend my time playing Farmville than watching Dr. Phil any day! She should tell Dr. Phil that her neighbors are her support group.
Do you think this lady will be on Oprah next, crying that she is a victim? Maybe her family will try to sue Farmville. She might settle out of court for FV$!
Gotta go, my husband says his crops are ready to harvest and I wouldn’t want him to miss out on any gold eggs!
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 8:16 pm
DrPhil is just riding the fame of farmville. He wants ya’ll watching his stupied show instead.
Posted on January 25th, 2010 at 11:41 pm
i don’t believe shes addicted her farm blows
Posted on January 26th, 2010 at 1:01 am
do you know when it’s time to take the fv 12-step program ?
when your in the middle of having sex and you have to say oh **** stop ! my strawberries are ready !
Posted on January 26th, 2010 at 5:31 am
straight from the zynga home office the top 10 reasons you know your addicted to farmville #10: you ask chic-fil-a if they used gold chickens for their chicken nuggets
Posted on January 26th, 2010 at 9:55 am
It’s an internet addiction. Before there were internet addictions people sat on their butts & watched hours & hours of TV. They’re trying to tune out of real life & distracting themselves by losing themselves in the internet & TV.
Telling her to plant a real garden… Typical of Dr. Phil who couldn’t advise anyone on anything….
well, when you drop out of life & join a virtual life instead, it’s clear that you’re depressed, something deeper is going on & you need to seek therapy.
Posted on January 26th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
If someone was addicted to watching dr.Phil would he say…you have a ridiculous addiction to a ridiculous tv show? Lol!
Posted on January 26th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
Oh boy~
Posted on January 26th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Didn’t anyone else see it was not just farmville in the video.( there was a flash of another farm game) S0 really she isn’t spending ALL her time on the one game.
Posted on January 28th, 2010 at 10:24 am
Farmville has WAY too much hatred directed towards it…there are several groups on Facebook that are against Farmville, and I found one that is asking people to hack Farmville player accounts, and sell everything…this NEEDS to stop.
Farmville’s just a game…how many other games have come out that are similar to Farmville in sense…the Tycoon games come to mind first. People just think it’s a waste of time, but how is it any different than spending hours playing a video game? You don’t need to spend countless hours on Farmville, just enough time to harvest, plant, gift, and fertilize neighbours’ farms…
People say Farmville is unproductive…THAT’S BECAUSE IT’S NOT A REAL FARM! It’s a game, for the purpose of adding something to your day. People just do it as a moment away from their normal lives, and just enjoy playing it.
It’s just for fun…I really don’t see why people are so bent-out-of-shape over it…
Posted on January 28th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
I find it interesting that no mention was made of the million dollars FV farmers raised to help the earthquake victims in Haiti. Dr. Phil basically tried to invalidate the existence of FV by calling it “just” a game. Let me tell you, I’ve been playing video games for 25 years. FV is more fun than any other. I have childhood friends, highschool friends, Navy shipmates, co workers, and family members as my neighbors, not to mention dozens of new friends all over the world. What is it that they say… Oh, right. Moderation is key.
Posted on January 30th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
Wow some one needs a life.
Posted on January 31st, 2010 at 10:13 pm
You can play it for free but have to spend a majority of your day leveling up and earning money the slow way to get something real nice like a villa, etc. unless you have the secrets of making it go by fast without needing that guide advertised all over Facebook. I think Dr. Phil was right on this game, it gets old after you’ve gotten the best house, etc and tired of harvesting over and over and over again, then wondering why your kids look so dang skinny and you can’t click that pink corn thingy over their heads (if it were only that easy…) What’s worse, you finally look up to see your significant other with a long gray beard and a cane, and he’s smacking you with it over and over and over again! And then those kids you thought were yours, are actually your great grandchildren… So anyway, what level are you on?
Posted on February 4th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Oh my GOOOOSH!!! I never knew that anyone noticed this crazyness that is going on…my MOM and Sisters are addicted to this farming crap the myspace gardening crap etc!!! They sit there and tend their gardens, farms, fish tanks, etc for hours on end and do little to nothing else!!! The house is dirty gross and they just sit on their butts that growing by the minute of computer use I might add and literally don’t sleep and stay up like a bunch of weridos!!! It is nutz!!! They are always trying to get me to get one so I can become a nut like them. I don’t have time for that crap I have way to much to do. Then to complain that the house is gross and nothing gets done and be embarrassed to have company over is just as crazy!!!!
Posted on February 20th, 2010 at 12:34 am
First of all, “Doctor” Phil isn’t even licensed to practice psychology. From the Dr. Phil wiki “Appearing on the Today Show in January 2008, McGraw said that he has made it “very clear” that his current work does not involve the practice of psychology. He also said that he had “retired from psychology.”[18] According to the Today Show, the California Board of Psychology determined in 2002 that he did not require a license because his show involves “entertainment,” rather than psychology.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Phil)
“Normal” people don’t simply get addicted to things. People who have a predisposition to addiction become addicted to things. Those things can encompas ANYTHING from video games, surfing the internet, clean, cooking, driving, drugs, alcohol – not just silly little games like FarmVille.
Any things can become an “addiction” when it meets a few main criteria, such as encouraging the addict to neglecting normal, life-requiring activities just to ease or appease your addiction. Once it starts to interfere with your daily life, it is time to seek help.
Could this woman be “addicted” to FarmVille – sure. Is “Doctor” Phil qualified to “diagnose” this “addiction” – that is debatable in my book. He is basically a shock-jock, but set in day time and on TV instead of radio.
One of the common threads among those with addictions is that they use the “addiction” to replace or compensate for something they feel is missing in their life.
I myself was once mildly addiction to Final Fantasy XI Online – back then, I HAD time (I was in college, and not working). But I used the game less as a “game” and more as a social network. I had a group of friends that I was “popular” with – something that I have always lacked in my life. When I finally gave up the game (which was actually LONG after I actually stopped playing regularly because I had graduated and got a real job), it was hard. Not because I loved the game so much, but I felt I was leaving behind the only place where I had ever been “popular”. The game was fulfilling my need to “fit in”, and until I overcame that psychological desire, it wouldn’t matter WHAT game or things I participated in, I would have kept up with it to the point of obsession just to fulfill that need.
Clearly this woman seems to be “missing” something in her life. Perhaps it’s a feeling of success (we all feel “successful” when we gain XP or earn “ribbons” or level up our farms). Maybe there is some other deeper psychological reason for her “need” for the game. But the fact is, it is an addition to her because she is filling the gap of something else in her life.
In order for her to recover from that (or any other psychological addiction – and I do differentiate here from physical addictions, like drugs and such), she will need to determine what it is she is missing in her life and come to terms with it. Until then, even if she stops playing FarmVille, there will be something else she will become “addicted” to in order to fill that gap.
It isn’t the games fault. It isn’t the video game industry’s fault. It lies in the personal psychological needs of the woman in question. If she can get to the bottom of the need that FarmVille is supplying her and try to either come to terms with that or find a positive substitute for that, she will remain addicted. It might not always be FarmVille, it could be FarmTown, Maffia Wars, Buddy Barn, WoW, FFXI, compulsive posting on forums – anything that fills her “need”.
To demonize the game is like pretending it is the needle’s fault someone has a heroin addiction. The game is just the tool, not the REASON.
I have never had faith in “Doctor” Phil, and I’m not surprised that he has chosen the bandwagon to jump on that demonizes the internet and video games. Yes, people can become addicted to all sorts of things, but (with the exception of drugs) they do so because they are filling some sort of gap with in themselves, not because of the game. Some REAL psychologist needs to examine this issue and explain the truth behind addictions before people start point fingers and laying blame on anyone.
And some people are simply predisposed to addiction. It is not surprise or secret that people raised by alcoholics tend to become alcoholics – but they often do so because of example. The alcohol they witnessed their parents (or whomever raised them) use was a method of escape. That is often taught to the child by example, leading the child to believe that drinking (or drugs or whatever) is the BEST avenue, or at least the easiest avenue, of dealing or not dealing with the real issues at hand.
Most people who play online video games, or video games in general, are not addicted. They set themselves limits (even if they are rather lax limits), and they have a LIFE beyond the game. If video games were SO horribly addictive, the world would come to a screeching halt. Only a small minority of people become addicted – the rest of us enjoy the games, but we let our real lives come first.
It is a shame that “Doctor” Phil has decided to demonize the tool rather than try to help the PERSON. I thought that was what psychologists were supposed to do – help the PERSON, not attack the tool. If someone was to take away FarmVille from her, she would simply replace it with some other unhealthy addiction. Treat the cause of the disease, don’t just complain about the symptoms.
Good luck to her. Maybe someday she’ll discover her issue and learn how to overcome it, then games like FarmVille can become to her what they are to most of us – a fun TEMPORARY distraction, but not a LIFE in and of itself.
Prayers to her, and to”Doctor” Phil. Maybe someday he can see that harm he’s doing some of these people on his “entertainment” show and get down to REALLY helping people, not just continuing being a day time shock jock.
-mk