The Complex Relationship Between Video Games and Mental Wellbeing

Strategic Insights -

Playing video games can have both positive and negative effects on a person's mental health, with research suggesting that it can relieve stress, improve memory, and even offer time and space for players to experiment with different identities. However, gaming can also lead to feelings of loneliness, obsessive behavior, and exposure to misogyny. Experts at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) have developed a framework to help understand the complex relationship between video games and mental wellbeing, outlining 13 ways in which playing video games might influence a person's mental health.

Key Takeaways:

  • Video games can relieve stress, but excessive reliance on gaming can lead to emotional dysregulation.
  • Multiplayer gaming can bolster bonds with friends, but playing online with strangers can expose players to toxic environments and suppress social ties.
  • Gaming can satisfy players' needs for autonomy, belonging, and mastery, but can also trigger feelings of coercion, failure, and loneliness.
  • Exercise games can lead to a short-term boost in mood and energy.
  • Gaming can help develop a healthy passion, but an obsessive passion can have negative impacts.
  • Games that support cognitive behavioural therapy can increase a player's motivation to engage with treatment.
  • In-game purchases have been linked to overspending and gambling-like behaviors.
  • Excessive gaming can lead to players neglecting work, sleep, exercise, or relationships, leading to feelings of loneliness, guilt, and fatigue.
  • Obsessive gaming can interfere with daily life and increase feelings of anxiety.
  • Exposure to sexualized content may lead to low body satisfaction in women and increased misogynistic attitudes, especially among men.
  • The 13 proposed impacts on mental health were developed by mapping out a wide spectrum of potential mental health impacts, exploring how these depend on the individual and context, and reframing these effects in explicitly causal terms.

Statistics:

  • 1 in 5 children in some countries have their lives seriously affected by video game violence (Source: Limit.org)
  • 75% of gamers play with others, and 57% of gamers report feeling connected to their gaming community (Source: Entertainment Software Association)
  • 58% of gamers have spent more than 6 hours playing games in a 24-hour period (Source: Entertainment Software Association)
  • The average gamer is 34.4 years old, and 53% of gamers are between the ages of 18 and 35 (Source: Entertainment Software Association)

Sources:

  • "Cutting through the Noise: A Framework for Understanding the Potential Effects of Gaming on Mental Health" (2023), Technology, Mind and Behaviour
  • The Oxford Internet Institute (OII), University of Oxford's Social Sciences Division
  • Entertainment Software Association
  • Limit.org