Impact of Gaming on Mental Health
The gaming industry is proliferating, with new games and franchises coming up. More so, the demographic composition of players worldwide is changing fast too. It is now common to find young and mature players in various video games.
But one of the critical concerns of industry players, commentators, and even public health professionals is the impact of gaming on players' mental health. We examine the positive and negative effects of gaming on the mental health status of players in this brief article.
e-sport gaming competition Introduction
One of the hallmarks of video games is the level of competitiveness. It is common for professional and amateur players to seek assistance from third parties to enhance their performance. A good example is how players search for Call of Duty Modern Warfare camo boosting services by players, as they actively seek professional assistance to enhance their gameplay, expedite progression, and proudly exhibit their remarkable results within the game.
It is estimated that the more modern video games become engaging and competitive, the higher the number of players who face the pressure to win. Thus, more and more players undergo mental and emotional stress when playing video games.
Positive Effects of Video Games on Mental Health
Contrary to popular opinion, video games have many positive effects on the health of those who play them. Here are some of the most significant ways playing video games can benefit your mental health status.
1. Improving attention
One of the benefits of playing video games is the ability to concentrate on detailed information for a long time. Typically, people, both kids and adults, have short attention spans. It is also common for individuals to lose track of minute details while processing information.
Playing video games helps to improve your attention level and the ability to identify and keep track of minute details. Conventional video games require players to focus on many different information simultaneously. This nature of the games makes it easy for players to develop their abilities to concentrate on many details for a long time.
2. Improving cognitive abilities
Modern video games are designed to stretch the strategic thinking capabilities of the players. The most successful players are those who effectively plan for future scenarios and still maintain the ability to think on their feet.
Furthermore, players must be able to deal with new and unanticipated situations during play. The more a person plays games, the better they think fast and strategically.
The ability to improve one’s strategic thinking is akin to learning how to set smart goals. Good video game players repeatedly go through the process of identifying the things that matter most and devoting enough resources to getting them done. This skill is equally important in other spheres of life besides video games.
3. Motivation
Video games are highly competitive. Players must invest emotionally in them to win and progress to the high levels. Therefore, the more one plays video games, the higher they develop the motivation to compete and win.
This motivation can be beneficial to individuals in different spheres of life outside the gaming word. For example, students who play video games can develop the motivation to win even in the classroom.
Adverse Effects of Video Games on Mental Health
As you would expect, gaming has various adverse effects on the mental health of gamers. Here are some of the major ones.
Gaming and depression
There is a close relationship between excessive gaming and depression. First, the relationship can be causal; extreme gaming can lead to the development of clinical depression among players.
This causal relationship between the two occurs because of various factors. For example, players may quickly get addicted to gaming and ignore other important aspects of their lives, like forming social relationships. Such individuals may easily fall into bouts of clinical depression when they continue with gaming addiction.
On the other hand, gaming may exacerbate the symptoms of depression in some individuals. Players who resort to gaming when showing mild signs of depression may develop significant symptoms.
Anxiety
Anxiety is a feeling of uneasiness. Although we may experience this feeling during daily events, it becomes a severe problem when it reaches a certain level.
Social anxiety means the inability to cope with real life in society. A socially anxious person worries about everyday things like interacting with others and forming meaningful friendships.
There is a raging debate on whether gaming can cause social anxiety or worsen a situation that is already existing. However, it is essential to note that many individuals who become addicted to gaming are already experiencing episodes of social anxiety.
Such players turn to gaming as an escape from reality. Given that gaming creates a virtual world, individuals struggling to cope with the natural world end up sinking into social anxiety due to excessive gaming.
Emotional problems
It is important to note that most of the adverse effects of gaming on players' mental health are interconnected. A person who develops depression and anxiety as a result of being addicted to gaming is likely to fail to control his emotions.
Emotional control is an essential aspect of human life. However, addicted gamers often lose the ability to understand and control their emotional states.
One explanation for this phenomenon relates to the competitive nature of gaming. The feeling of winning at all costs may spill into the social lives of the gamers. Thus, they may need help understanding how to negotiate in real life.
Furthermore, gaming may contribute to the loss of emotional control because of some games' violent nature. It has been argued for a long time that exposing kids to violent content in video games may predispose them to violent behavior.
Similarly, some young players may inadvertently express violent behavior when interacting with others due to exposure to the same in particular video games.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there is a complex relationship between video games and the mental health of those who play them ardently. The positive effects include improvements in cognition and concentration. But apart from these, there are many other adverse effects of video games on the mental state of gamers. The most common ones include depression, social anxiety, and poor emotional control. These effects are related to the nature of modern video games, which encourage players to exhibit aggressive behavior and win at all costs.
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