Video games often get a bad rap, but the latest study suggests that playing games can have a significant benefit for mental well-being, as long as playing time is limited.
A behavioral study of nearly 100,000 participants may have found the golden window for playing games every day.
“We found that owning a games console and increasing gaming activity improves mental well-being,” says the abstract of the study, published in Nature.
The results of the study indicate, among other things, that while video games can have a positive effect on stress and mental well-being, it is better to keep gaming sessions relatively short.
It goes on to say: “The benefits of video games decrease with increasing duration of play. Playing video games for three hours or more is less beneficial than playing for a shorter period of time.”
It is also reassuring that the study did not find any major psychological disadvantages to gaming after three hours of play. It is just that the positive effects diminished.
However, the studies are subject to some limitations.
The study did not specifically examine the effects on those who play for excessive periods of time because they are just starting out in the hobby.
“Based on these results, we cannot make any statements about the effects on someone who has not played video games at all but has played for an extremely long time, for example ten hours,” the report continues.
If the results were collected today, they could be different and the location of the study must also not be ignored.
This study was conducted in Japan between 2020 and 2022, during the worst of the Covid pandemic when in-person alternatives to gaming were not an option for many of us. Console stock shortages were also still a factor, making owning a console more exciting than it may seem today.
At that time, people in Japan had to enter a lottery to even have a chance of buying a console.
Only data from Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 owners was used, not least because Microsoft’s Xbox range is not particularly popular in Japan. The Xbox Series X and S consoles reportedly sold around 600,000 units in the country, compared to more than five million PlayStation 5 consoles and more than 30 million Nintendo Switch units.
The study’s data was also based on self-reported data, meaning that reported play times may not be accurate. And the amount of data recorded per participant was not consistent.
Part of the study’s data was based on surveys of marketing firms conducted in “five rounds” from December 2020 to March 2022. Only 1.25 percent of respondents participated in all five rounds, and only 35.90 percent participated in more than one round.
So don’t necessarily change your gaming habits or your family’s gaming rules based solely on this study. But hearing that gaming can have a positive impact on mental wellbeing is a pretty rare treat for fans of the hobby.
