Thread by @DrKowert

Want to know why the moral panic around #videogames still persists 50 years since their popularization?

Because of articles like this. A thread.

wtxl.com/news/local-new…

This week a new article came out discussing a "new resource for #videogames and #mentalhealth started by a concerned parent.

While I am all for parental advocacy and education, this is more of the same moral panic, witch hunt we've grown accustomed with video games.

The opening line: 8% of kids and adolescents that are younger than 18 are addicted to playing video games.

Wonder why there is no source to this claim? Because there literally is no scientific evidence to support this.

Game addiction is hotly debated as to whether it is EVEN A THING. The WHO themselves noted it is "challenging if not impossible" to document gaming disorder

nme.com/news/gaming-ne…

Additionally, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence to suggest that problematic video game play is driven by something else underlying - depression, anxiety, etc. This is an important distinction in terms of diagnosis and treatment

As discussed by @oiioxford: Rather than being negatively impacted by gaming itself, it’s suggested that young people who engage in dysfunctional gaming may be doing so in a bid to escape “underlying frustrations and wider psychosocial functioning issues”.

videogameschronicle.com/news/study-fin…

...and that is just the first line of this article. Two more sentences later we see:

"I've seen a lot of anxiety and depression that has come from video games," said mental health therapist Julie Schuck.

While there are some relationships between poor mental health outcomes and games, overwhelmingly games have been found to alleviate anxiety, depression, loneliness, and other mental health challenges.

An overview of some of this work can be found here:

To say that games CAUSE these issues is completely overlooking all the various other factors that we know can contribute to poor mental health outcomes - family dynamics, family history of mental illness, peer relationships, personality factors, etc. etc.

....which is EXACTLY why moral panic thinking continues to thrive in and around games.

Look, IDK how much clearer I can say it: IT IS NOT THE GAMES. It is quite literally, everything else.

Can video games be used in ways that are problematic? Absolutely.

However, there is NO scientific evidence to suggest games are causing long-term mental health challenges of any kind (there is, however, a wealth of evidence to suggest a positive impact)

psycnet.apa.org/record/2013-42…

Literally I'm only three sentences in to this article and losing the will to go on, but I will make one more point.

CW: Suicide

The founder of this new resource was inspired after his son committed suicide, which he attributes to his video game addiction. However, in the article we are given a lot of exposition before which creates the context for which his son may have been struggling in other ways.

Prior to his death, his son was experiencing several significant disruptions in his life, a recent move, loss of a job, and girlfriend. These in and of themselves are incredibly stressful life experiences.

As discussed by his father, he turned to games to "distract himself"

Research has found that this kind of "distraction", or as we call it "escapism" can actually be quite therapeutic and helpful as a short-term coping mechanism.

However, his father describes his video game play as leading to a "delusional and impulsive" state and eventually, suicide.

While this story is heartbreaking, there is no scientific reason to believe that video games single-handedly led his son down the path to self harm.

And THIS IS IMPORTANT because for anyone who is not familiar with the real #science behind #videogames may take this story at face value and erroneously believe that #videogames are driving otherwise well-adjusted people to mental illness and, possibly, suicide.

This moral panic, complete-lack-of-nuance thinking about video games has kept us stagnant as a society, completely unable to move forward in our understanding of our broader relationships with technology.

Humans do not operate as media in -> behavior out... with any form of media, games included.

We are doing EVERYONE a disservice by continuing to feed this narrative with no scientific basis and zero nuance or consideration for the multitude of factors that drive human behavior.

To all the journalists out there: PLEASE STOP PUBLISHING THESE KINDS OF STORIES.

...or at the very least insist on scientific citations for bold claims of causality when it comes to media effects.

To all the concerned parents out there: You have every right to be concerned about video games, just probably not for the reasons you may think.

Here are some evidenced-based resources:

commonsensemedia.org
raisinggoodgamers.com
takethis.org

...and my YouTube channel was literally created for this purpose. To let parents, educators, and gamers themselves have access to evidenced based information around video games - what they are, and what they are not.

youtube.com/psychgeist

Lastly, to all you book agents and publishers out there - I've got a book I need write for parents. #callme

Thank you for coming to my #tweettalk