Published on
updated on
Reading 2 min.
Often criticized, video games have a bad reputation among parents. And yet, according to a Japanese study, gaming has real benefits for players’ mental health, even if it’s all a question of moderation.
And if to find your smile again, you turned on your console? According to the study “Causal effect of video gaming on mental well-being in Japan 2020–2022”published by Nature Human Behaviour, video games could have positive effects on mental health. This is what this study conducted in Japan among nearly 100,000 people aged 10 to 69, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, reveals. The results show that playing video games, or even owning a console, can have a positive impact on mental well-being.
The Switch or the PS5?
The study, conducted between 2020 and 2022, used measures of psychological distress and life satisfaction to assess the impact of video games. The researchers asked Japanese people about their gaming habits during a period when retailers had to use a lottery system to sell two particularly popular consoles: the Nintendo Switch and the PlayStation 5. More than 8,000 of the study participants took part in the lottery.
The researchers compared the 2,323 lottery winners with those who were not lucky enough to buy a new console. The results revealed higher life satisfaction and reduced feelings of distress among the winners. Also, choose the Nintendo Switch over the PS5 for better family time, according to the researchers: “Switch games are often played with family or friends by casual gamers, making them more family-friendly. Conversely, a typical PS5 game is designed for hardcore gamers and intended to be played alone in a room. Therefore, it is possible that PS5 use may contribute to a relative increase in disagreements about video game use among family members, which would reduce the psychological benefits for adolescents.“.
Other studies have already demonstrated the beneficial effects of video games, particularly on the well-being of children, but also promoting greater awareness of the refugee crisis.
No more than three hours a day
While getting a console can improve one’s well-being, the study still calls for moderation. Starting at three hours of gaming per day, well-being scores decreased for the players concerned, a trend that increases with each additional hour spent in front of the screen.
Yet, while screen time is an important piece of data, it is not the only one to be taken into account when determining one’s well-being on any given day. The researchers do not hesitate to point out the limitations of their analyses, as the study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, a particularly difficult period for mental health and which has largely caused gamers’ screen time to explode. It is also difficult to know whether the participants felt happy because they could play video games or because they had won the console lottery.
The diversity of video games and devices used is also an element to take into account.Furthermore, the magnitude of the gaming effect was found to be influenced by various socio-economic factors such as gender, age, employment, and family structure. […] These findings highlight the need for further research into the mechanisms that explain the effects of video games on mental well-being and underscore the importance of developing policies that take into account the differential effects of screen time of different digital media for diverse populations.“, we can read in the study.