In a disastrous technological breakthrough, vape device manufacturers have found a way to package gaming and vaping together in one multi-addictive experience. A video on Instagram shows a vaping device with a built-in slot machine game.

Screen capture of a video showing a vape pen with a built-in slot machine game. Used under Fair Use: Commentary.

This multipurpose addiction machine caught the attention of doctors Prue Talbot and Man Wong at the University of California Riverside, who sounded the alarm with an article in the BMJ Journal, Tobacco Control. The article includes a screen capture of a tweet on the social media platform X showing a vape cartridge displaying a Pac-Man-like game. The tweet racked up 11.7 million views in three days.

As you can see in the screen capture below, these game-playing vape cartridges are readily available for purchase online. There are several YouTube videos of these vape pen game cartridges in action. A user comment on one video states, “I just started to vape and this was my first device i bought, knowing nothing about vaping and was very happy with it.”

Screen capture from an online retailer offering the Craftbox V-Play 20K Disposable Vape with Built-in Gaming System. Retrieved July 20, 2024, and used under Fair Use: Commentary.

An article about vaping and gaming devices in MedicalXpress summarized the concerns with bundling the two together: “Because the products are user-friendly and attractive to youth, they may couple nicotine addiction with gaming disorder.” The researchers say that digital gaming helps broaden the market for e-cigarettes by making them more attractive to kids who like gaming, while possibly making them harder to quit.

The researchers are particularly concerned about device design that makes vaping more interactive and entertaining. They cite features such as animations that change when the user is inhaling, games that require vaping to advance, and devices that allow users to customize their cartridges using a Bluetooth connection to add media. They are hoping for greater regulation of the devices:

[S]mart vapes prey on three potential addictions: nicotine dependence, gaming disorder, and screen time obsession.

Some vaping devices include gambling-like components that generate rewards the more the user vapes. Rewards, or loot boxes, have a long history of addictive gaming disorder. To attach them to an addictive product such as e-cigarettes is insidious. Already, the combination of unrestricted sports betting and ubiquitous smartphone use is causing an epidemic of gambling addiction. Now add devices that encourage substance use disorders, and it’s a prescription for disaster.

Gaming addiction, unlike smartphone addiction, is recognized as a mental health disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). Indications of gaming disorder include:

• Too much time spent gaming.
• Withdrawal causes restlessness, anger, anxiety
• Unsuccessful attempts to limit gaming
• Loss of interest in other activities
• Lying about gaming

Lots of children could exhibit all those problems and still not be considered to have a gaming disorder. It is only when the consequences reach the level of “clinically significant impairment or distress” that they become a disorder.

A recent survey of 221 high school counselors found that 81% reported working with a student problem involving gaming in the previous year and the same number, 81%, reported dealing with a student problem involving vaping. Nearly 15% of high school counselors surveyed said that vaping was a “major concern,” yet one-third felt unprepared to address student issues in this area. 

Wait until they start dealing with “smart vape” devices that combine all the worst features of gambling, gaming, and social media on a single, supercharged addiction machine. Coming soon to a school near you. 

Written by Steve O’Keefe. First published July 24, 2024.

Sources:

“Digital games on vaping devices could lure more youth to nicotine addiction,” MedicalXpress, July 19, 2024.

“Pac-Man on a vape: electronic cigarettes that target youth as handheld multimedia and gaming devices,” Tobacco Control, July 2024.

“School Counselors’ Experiences with Student Vaping and Internet Gaming: a Report from the Field,” International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling, June 29, 2023.

Image Copyright: panyamail.