Carmel Divine Grace Foundation Secondary School

Secondary VI English Language 2018-2019

SBA (3) Part B Group Interaction Social Issues
Topic 2 --- Addictions
*** The following texts are for your reference only. To enrich your ideas in

the group interaction on the topic, do good research on your own.

Text A

Text B
Properly diagnosing gaming addiction will yield better treatment
Classifying addiction to video game playing in a
Text category
similar C to cocaine, as the World Health Organisation
aims to, may seem extreme, but the thinking involved makes
the decision justified. The draft of the latest edition of the
United Nation body’s “bible” of recognised diseases and
illnesses refers to the problem as a mental health disorder.
For people worried about the excessive screen time of
children, friends and work colleagues, the move could not have
come at a more timely moment. The digital and video game
industry is booming and the more players who get hooked on
its products, the greater the need for help.
Most game players can moderate their screen time.
But some put their gaming ahead of family and work. The
WHO’s updated International Classification of Diseases, to be
presented to member states at the annual World Health
Assembly next May for adoption in 2020, describes the
problem
problem as “a pattern of persistent or recurrent gaming
behaviour” that becomes so extensive that it “takes
precedence over other life interests”.
Such recognition is important to ensure the WHO,
governments and health professionals acknowledge the
existence of the condition. An estimated 2.6 billion people
in the world play video games and the annual revenue of the
gaming industry is expected to grow by 31 per cent over the
next three years to US$181.1 billion.
Game-makers reject the WHO’s classification as
“deeply flawed”, contending their products have
educational, recreational and therapeutic value. With so
much at stake, the lobbying of governments by both sides
ahead of next year’s vote will be intense. But the debate is
necessary; addiction exists and for those affected, health,
relationships and work suffer to the extent that lives are
being ruined.
 Text D
Hongkongers’ shopping habits among unhealthiest in the world
Hongkongers have some of the unhealthiest
shopping habits compared with other consumers around
the world, a new Greenpeace survey revealed, ranking at
the top or second in 10 out of 12 indicators showing a
tendency to spend excessively on material goods as well as
an unhealthy reliance on shopping.
The non-profit group conducted the survey
involving over 5,000 people in Hong Kong, mainland
China, Taiwan, Italy and Germany from the end of last
year to early this year to look at their consumption habits.
Hong Kong topped the charts in a number of indicators,
such as those admitting they owned more clothes than they
needed and that they had previously tried to conceal their
spending sprees. The survey found that 53 per cent of
1,000 polled Hongkongers owned clothes that were still
tagged, compared with only 51 per cent on the mainland,
46 per cent in Italy, 41 per cent in Germany and 40 per
cent in Taiwan.
While the survey did not touch on the reasons why
Hongkongers scored higher on such habits, Greenpeace
campaigner Bonnie Tang Man-lam said the city’s values
and way of life centred on consumerism. “Most
Hongkongers said their feelings of satisfaction from
shopping only lasted a day, and they would then shop
again just to fill that empty void. The more they shop, the
lonelier they get.”
Some 110,000 tonnes of textile waste were sent to
landfills in 2015, official figures showed, and only 4 per
cent of such waste was recycled. That’s equivalent to
1,400 t-shirts being thrown out per minute.
The results showed it was time for Hongkongers
to reflect carefully on their shopping habits and
differentiate what they needed from what they wanted.