Yea, video games can definitely end up being an unhealthy coping mechanism used to avoid addressing your real life issues. That said they are probably on balance a better coping mechanism than some of the other popular ones out there (Alcohol, drugs, porn, gambling) but definitely worth keeping an eye on. Especially because video games aren't restricted for children like all those others things are (at least in theory).
Why unhealthy? I've been using games as a coping mechanism for stress and personal issues for about twenty years and as far as I can tell I'm reasonably healthy. Most people my age that are clearly unhealthy it's because of drugs, alcohol or weight issues, not videogames. I'm somewhat prone to stress, and I find taking a few days off to play games helps in recovering from burnout, while something like travelling which helps some people, stresses me out.
You sound healthy! but you probably know someone who's unhealthily using them to cope and resorting to video games instead of life. some people take a few days off and forget to get back on
English is not my first language so maybe that's why it's strange to me to call something unhealthy that doesn't cause health issues. I could understand calling videogames "problematic" or "antisocial", but unhealthy seems a bit of a loaded term because I often shut myself in and forget about the rest of the world playing videogames and it rather improves my health. It's the stress that I find unhealthy, causing me eye strain, irritability and other problems. Meanwhile playing games helps, doesn't require a lot of time and effort, it's cheap, reliable and I enjoy it, so even if I know that sometimes I'm being antisocial and prioritising it over socialising with friends for example I still do it.
Gambling is roughly described as gaming with higher stakes, IMO. My totally unqualified, unsubstantiated guess would be the average gambler has higher cognitive performance than the average video game player. A dumb gambler goes broke sooner or later, which doesn't make them all quit but it does make some of them quit, which I would wager causes a selective effect towards the smarter ones.
Have you been to a casino? 95% of Blackjack players aren't even playing basic strategy, something that takes a single day to learn. Instead, mid-rank players in popular online games like Valorant and Overwatch 2 are quite formidable multi-level thinkers.
But what percentage of those people are playing as anything other than a lark? I might go to the casino one time every three years. I can guarantee I am utilizing a sub optimal strategy
I grew up in South Korea where kids are placed under immense academic stress and gaming is an established mainstream culture. In the last two decades or so, the instances of kids and adults suffering from severe gaming addiction have become increasingly common.
The issue is exacerbated by the fact that more gaming companies are embracing loot boxes, pay-to-win schemes, and other parlor tricks to not only keep the players addicted but to also extract as much cash as possible from its captive audience. When hearing the stories of people whose lives were ruined by video games, it's hard not to draw the similarities with gambling addicts who poured their entire life savings into casinos. Except the casinos now exist in the pockets of 14 year olds, accessible at all times.
I'm a long time gamer and a hobby game dev myself. I very much dislike the tendency for media to overstate the harms of gaming, but the reality is that gaming in its current form can be a very dangerous thing to become addicted to.
I don't know, I think a great number of previous video game players have grown up and become functional humans given the majority of children in the last few generations will have played videos games for entertainment in one fashion or another. There's always outliers who will have problems of course, but that doesn't mean it's bad for the rest.
I feel like I have the opposites of an addictive personality. I enjoy playing games but I struggle to stay interested in any game for more than 10 hours and then I need a few months to reset and play it again. The only thing I have become addicted to is Hacker News and reddit. Arguably worse for you than games, for reddit at least.
From personal experience I do agree that video games can be used as a form of distraction and escapism. but I think teaching mental awareness and moderation could change it from distraction to relaxation.
