Gaming BBC: Gaming time has no link with levels of well-being, study finds

tom_mai78101

The Helper Connoisseur / Ex-MineCraft Host
Staff member
Reaction score
1,632
A study of 39,000 video gamers has found "little to no evidence" time spent playing affects their well-being.

The average player would have to play for 10 hours more than usual per day to notice any difference, it found. And the reasons for playing were far more likely to have an impact.

Well-being was measured by asking about life satisfaction and levels of emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger and frustration.

The results contradict a 2020 study.

Conducted by the same department at the Oxford Internet Institute - but with a much smaller group of players - the 2020 study had suggested that those who played for longer were happier.

"Common sense says if you have more free time to play video games, you're probably a happier person," said Prof Andrew Przybylski, who worked on both studies.

"But contrary to what we might think about games being good or bad for us, we found [in this latest study] pretty conclusive evidence that how much you play doesn't really have any bearing whatsoever on changes in well-being.

"If players were playing because they wanted to, rather than because they felt compelled to, they had to, they tended to feel better."

 
General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.

      The Helper Discord

      Staff online

      Members online

      Affiliates

      Hive Workshop NUON Dome World Editor Tutorials

      Network Sponsors

      Apex Steel Pipe - Buys and sells Steel Pipe.
      Top