At the turn of the last century, maladaptive gaming practice was typically associated with solitary console gaming predominantly involving male children. It was rarely on the clinical radar as a cause or contributor to educational or behavioral difficulties for which psychological services were being sought (e.g., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder [ADHD], conduct disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, insomnia, and mood deregulation; Swingle, 2013, 2015a, 2015d, 2015e, 2016b; Swingle & Swingle, 2016).
Today all age ranges are at risk and the mode is all screen-based devices. The range of games has also now broadened, including pro and antisocial, solitary and group, as well as repetitive short and longer multilevel gaming cycles. Gaming choice and delivery method do not appear to grossly affect prevalence as the addiction is dominantly due to process, not content (see early works of D. N. Greenfield and Shaffer as...