Categories: uncategorized
Date: 20 September 2007 13:58:52
I despaired about despair.
Today my newspaper had a long report about gambling. Apparently the number of `problem gamblers' is about the same as it was 8 years ago (about 0.6% of the adult population) when the last comparable survey was carried out. This is obviously not news, so the reporter dug a bit more to find a more interesting angle. Well, apparently amongst gamblers using the internet the proportion of `problem gamblers' is much higher, apparently around 7.4% depending on your definitions. Since 7.4% is clearly much higher than 0.6% (a tenfold rise as the report has it, cunningly using the word "rise" with its implication of increase over time to insinuate a worsening situation) there is obviously a huge problem, which explains the bold headline "Britain's gambling problem multiplies online". Now re-read that first statistic (0.6%, same as last time) and try and reconcile that fact with this headline.
Oh dear, oh dear. On the one hand I despair of such pathetic misuse (I could call it misunderstanding but I'm not feeling so charitable) of statistics. But on the other, and I think more prevalently, I despair of our tendency to want to hear how bad things are and how they are getting much worse. Recent comment on the wibsite and elsewhere has revolved around the prevalence of `lads mags', with their soft-core pornographic content. Well, I'm not a great fan of those magazines, but I recall equivalent magazines being available a quarter of a century ago. Those pornographic magazines are no longer available in most high street shops (which is surely a good thing) and the `new' lads' mags have taken their place (which is, admittedly, not such a good thing). This is no improvement, I agree, but it's no worse, so I really don't think it's a cause for despair.
And so it is with those gambling statistics. When you think for a second about what they could possibly mean you reach the only sensible conclusion which is that problem gamblers tend to use online gambling sites more than non-problem gamblers do. Well, what a surprise! And once you've filtered out that completely unsurprising piece of information you're left with the fact that the internet has not, in any measurable way, led to more gambling than previously. It's not getting worse. On the other hand, there are a number of things that really are getting worse and that we should worry about it. There are many interpretations you could put on this, but whatever the background, it's surely better that we worry about the things that really are worrisome, rather than getting distracted into worrying about things like this that really aren't.