You are stating this in absolute terms, which indicates to me that you have a solid source, or are an expert in the field. If so, can you please detail?
From my background working in psychiatry (in-patient) for six years, it is certainly not that clear.
> Real addictions have severe physical consequences like chemical withdrawals that can lead to death.
So the sex addicts I treated didn't have a "real" addiction?
The gambling addicts I treated didn't either?
Or the extreme adrenaline addicts?
Also, many experts in the field seem to disagree with you. See the proposed internet gaming disorder [1].
https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/internet-gaming
People don't seem to understand that drugs like cocaine flood the brain with dopamine and that's exactly what these video games are designed to do by the psychologists the game companies hire. I don't get why people don't seem to understand that it's alarming when video game companies are hiring people from the gambling industry in Vegas.
I don’t think it directly causes issues as much as it enables or locks in certain behaviorally patterns such as being a NEET or similar. It’s really more of a symptom of a lack of support system in a person’s life, the same way social media overuse or drug abuse comes about.
Real addictions have severe physical consequences like chemical withdrawals that can lead to death.
I find that Self-Determination Theory is a good model to look at this with. Modern school and work life provide little autonomy, little relatedness, and little (desirable/appreciated) skill for the vast majority of people whereas video games do the opposite by providing essentially an ideal playground.