Video Games & Mental Health

As humorously depicted in the Netflix film <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/8-Bit_Christmas" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">8-Bit Christmas</a>, panic over video games is nothing new. From former New York mayor Fiorello LaGuardia, smashing pinball machines with a sledgehammer as far back as the 1940s (<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/01/the-mayor-who-took-a-sledgehammer-to-nycs-pinball-machines/267309/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">yes, really</a>) to the <a href="https://wickedhorror.com/features/editorials/doom-and-columbine-the-effect-of-the-columbine-high-school-massacre-on-the-video-game-industry/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">lawsuits filed against Doom creators</a>, <a href="https://www.idsoftware.com/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">iD Software</a>, following the tragic events at Columbine High School, video games have been highly scrutinized for decades by parents, politicians, educators, medical and mental health providers. Nearly <a href="https://truelist.co/blog/gaming-statistics/#:~:text=Over%20227%20million%20people%20in,than%2065%20play%20video%20games." rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">227 million people</a> in the United States (US) reported playing video games within the past year. While the World Health Organization included <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/addictive-behaviours-gaming-disorder" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Gaming Disorder</a> in the latest edition of the International Classification of Diseases, a similar diagnosis is yet to be widely accepted here in the US. While there is a reason for concern around <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-health-effects-of-too-much-gaming-2020122221645" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">excessive gaming</a>, there are equal, if not more significant, reasons to give a serious side-eye to some common myths floating around the internet and beyond. Let’s explore four common myths about video gaming and mental health. <a href="https://medium.com/illumination/video-games-mental-health-f8e0388f314c">Read More</a>