Before turning 21, a teenager would typically play online games for 10,000 hours. That comes up to 10,080 hours, which is almost exactly how long the typical youngster in the country spends in middle and high school.
In the end, kids spend years of their lives online. (Nearly 9,000 hours make up a year.)
According to researcher Jane McGonigal, kids may be “virtuoso gamers,” refuting Daniel Kahneman’s popular claim that it takes 10,000 hours of diligent study to become an expert at anything. By extension, kids could also be receiving instruction in social resilience.
The social resilience of players can be improved by working together to achieve a common objective. Minecraft, World of Warcraft, Final Fantasy, and other massively multiplayer online (MMO) games may build meaningful ties between players and provide a feeling of purpose. These games are among the most widely played because they are collaborative by nature.
In addition, playing games is a low-risk way for people to vent when they’re angry about something at work or school. Even “play therapy” takes use of this trait, using online gaming as a psychological technique to encourage patients to be more forthcoming with their therapist.
A global lockdown typified by quarantines and virtual socializing may be fought off using video games. It may come as no surprise that the video game business is flourishing.
Sales of video games increased by 73% in only one year as more people turned to the internet for entertainment and socializing. Virtual worlds, according to some gamers, can provide a break from everyday concerns and improve coping skills in the face of seemingly difficult circumstances.
The social and emotional advantages come with a significant caveat, though: All the advantageous impacts are only associated with moderate playing behaviors. An internet gaming condition might develop through repetitive or excessive gaming (more on that later).
According to professor Kyle Faust, some gamers’ addiction to video games is similar to gambling. According to Faust, “Internet gaming disorder has been since the earliest arcade games.” The issue has grown dramatically as a result of increasingly engaging and rewarding game formats.
We must first examine the amygdala to understand the origins of escapism. This almond-shaped part of the brain is important for decision-making, information processing, and emotional reactions like fear.
In other investigations contrasting pathological gamers with adult males who were not gamers and with college students, researchers discovered that pathological gamers have less dense grey matter in the amygdala. In other words, video games can alter users’ brains’ neural networks, possibly for the better.
According to Dr. Alok Kanojia, playing online games may be an effective diversion from fear or worry. “Video games essentially provide us the ability to flee and stifle unwanted feelings.”
However, Kanojia warns that depending on video games for a prolonged period might be harmful.
“One of the best instructors for the human brain is a negative emotion. A youngster learns to never touch a hot stove after touching one. Because they stifle our negative feelings, video games also make it more difficult to learn from our failures.
According to one study, playing video games in moderation rather than excessively can help lessen rates of depression. Online relationships can thrive if a participant plays games in moderation.
A longitudinal study of over 3,000 children and adults who played video games in India defined excess as any play that lasted longer than 20 hours per week. 14 to 16 hours were typically played each week by adolescent gamers.