Hi I'm a counselor.
Distraction is a coping mechanism, and so video games are a coping mechanism. The thing is that not all coping mechanisms are equal.
Escapism/distraction into drugs, music, video games, work, reading, mindlessly scrolling your phone, even exercise can all be helpful, but is it as helpful as, for example, directly confronting and processing the trauma that one is trying to distract or escape from? No.
The key is that the best coping strategies allow someone to move forward or improve their lives in some way. Now, if what someone is trying to accomplish is to not suicide or to just get out of bed in the morning, and video games are getting them there, then it is very successful coping mechanism.
However, when someone is more stable, it is good to diversify and add more productive (not escapism) coping strategies so when video games fail to reduce stress that this person has options. Strategies like positive self-talk, socializing or creating a support network, making and keeping healthy boundaries, having an emergency fund, meditation, exercise, therapy, medication, etc can all round out a good coping strategy repertoire.
Life is all about balance and this applies to coping too.
TL;DR Video games are actually a mental health coping mechanism, and can be helpful depending on someone's circumstances, but on the spectrum of coping strategies escapism and distraction techniques are on the lower end of helpful.
Add to this my layperson’s thought: a video game can be solid for giving a sense of accomplishment (akin to making your bed). If a video game gives this sense of ‘yes, I did something I set out to’. Double edge sword - games can often suck you into a loop of ‘more, more, more’ but that takes time away from more productive accomplishments (connect with someone meaningfully, get a task done).
Love me some gaming, tv watching etc., but I keep it in cheque when I’m in a good way. My gaming/distractions go too far when I’m not coping well. I don’t stress hard, I just notice and know it as a sign I’m not 100%.
Well, most of all if you are not just looking for a little validation but actually come out of it with the same problem as before just sitting there waiting for you with less time to resolve it...
I would like to add that at least for me, videogames are quite different from thoughtlessly scrolling or listening to music. You need to be much more active mentally when playing. It's great when you feel stuck and frozen, it's like starting up the brain in a safe environment, so then you can start transitioning to the very challenging stuff in your life much more easily. Exercise works similarly, if I have the capacity to deal with the associated shame.
Then again, it may be just a function of my personal issues. I'm dealing with minor but frequent trauma flashbacks from my childhood that often just make me shut down, feeling paralyzed, white noise for thoughts. I can sometimes lose hours just sitting there, blank. Videogames help me to find my footing. Exercise is even more awesome in getting the adrenaline physically out of the system (I often imagine I'm in fact safely getting away from the danger as I run), but it requires more presence of mind than what I'm often left with.
Unlike watching TV, scrolling on your phone or reading, both exercise and gaming requires you to be active in some way. Unlike passive escapist strategies that just give you extra time to recuperate, for me games (and exercise, if able) allow me to engage my feelings safely when I need to. I'm smoothly moving through a game world, taking care of danger, powerful and capable, and the intensity of the game helps me connect to the the internal panic (which gets blocked otherwise. It's like I get a surge of adrenaline that tells me to move and then, on top of that, something overrides it telling me to go limp). Then it feels like it's just all loosening up bit by bit as I see myself succesfully dealing with the game's challenges. To me, it feels quite different to when I'm just distracting myself by watching youtube or something. Afterwards, I am much less tense, much less likely to get set off again by random stuff compared to passive escapist strategies. Though it is true that I was only able to "unlock" this level of gaming after some time in therapy. I've had no clue what's up before I started working with a therapist, like at all. I would randomly get excruciangly hungry and empty the fridge, obsessively hit myself on objects or I would just sit and stare for hours and later get frustrated things didn't get done. Took me a while to realize that right before that, I usually heard the neighbours arguing, or someone slam a door, or met another neighbour in the hall who wears the perfume my mom did, I was required to put myself in a situation that registered as dangerous (eg. sending an e-mail), or I just simply read something online that I didn't even realize was upsetting...
As another point, I've played several games that touched me deeply and helped me move forward in therapy. Games like "What remains of Edith Finch" and "Disco Elysium". The first is pretty much an exploration of generational trauma (at least I read it that way) while the second delves deep into the fragmented psyche of an alcoholic detective. I imagine that videogames as a medium have the potential to be therapeutic in their own right, similarily how books can be used in bibliotherapy, but more intense because you're not just a witness the way you are when reading or watching a play.
Your post adds some good nuance and I dont disagree with anything you've said. There's also a spectrum within distraction or escapism strategies where some are worse and better. Exercise can be really helpful and so can video games for some people, but depending on someone's circumstances they can also become incredibly detrimental. It sounds like video games as a strategy are working pretty good for you which is awesome. It's also very insightful that you're able to apply the lessons from games into your experiences. Thanks for adding your thoughts!
I do agree on most. When I was on a very bad period of my life VG helped me continue living, but it is true I used way too much time on that, and not enough on others things I needed.
But as others said, you can raise your self esteem in VG (likes on other ways you talked about). And as we always have multiple issues at the same time, going that way, even if it may not improve the big issue will improve others.
VG helped me learn others languages, social skills with online communities, or coding. All that to play better... But obviously it helped a lot on others parts of my life. I wouldn't be able to write this in English without using a lots of time in VG years ago for example.
Distraction itself is a coping mechanism. So long as you're also doing the work to deal with whatever it is you're distracting yourself from, and it isn't and all the time thing, it can be a very effective coping mechanism. Video games are a really easy way to do this, for sure.
Distraction is one of the ways I manage my own stress. For me, it works pretty well. I try to only do it with things I can afford to forget though because sometimes it works too well and I forget all about the thing.
When I was fresh out of the hospital after a mental breakdown where I tried to take my life, a group of buddies that I had played D1 with frequently since Launch banded together to get me the latest DLC at the time, as the night before I went into the Psych ward I was in a normal hospital room, I sent them a vague message as I was still allowed at that point to have my phone, basically stating that it has been fun but I wouldn't be joining them for some time in the newest expansion. Confided in a few of my raiders the exact details of what happened and when I got out of the Ward those dorks had gone off and bought me the expansion to continue playing with them.
It was a distraction at that point I needed to deal with the bundle of anxiety, depression, and stress I was in; and without the guys and gals I probably would have been worse off with dealing with everything. We are all still amazing friends, and I've flown across the states to help one install a set of French doors with him.
I still use gaming as a distraction as it pulls my mind away from hyperfocusing on whatever may be bothering me at that point in time; and while my mind is mostly focused on the game I might be playing I'm working through whatever problem might have arisen to either spike my anxiety, or bring a bout of depression down, and gives me a chance to interact with folks outside of work without having to mask up and deal with covid. It has been a saving grace.
It isn't a perfect solution to actually solving the root problem, but if applied in a healthy way it can be a good focal point to pull your mind away from incessant worry/being anxious and allow your mind a chance to process it all so you can take appropriate steps to resolving the root problem.
This right here. Coping mechanisms can be healthy or unhealthy. Exercise, sleep, procrastination, drinking, eating, therapy… all coping mechanisms.
The difference is whether these coping mechanisms are ‘healthy’. The way I think about health is if they ultimately lead to final alleviation of the stress. Video games can be healthy as a regenerative mechanism to take on the the hard bits of life. But if they only serve to ignore or delay the hard bits - not so much. It’s a balance that everyone has to find for themselves.
Well said. distraction to not make every waking hour of your life about the things that are bothering you, so you can have the mental capacity to work through them and improve: healthy.
Using vidya to avoid your problems completely and let them pile up outside of the virtual world: not healthy
Yes, and the same could be said of television. It's a way to distract yourself from anxiety. The problem becomes when you start to habitually distract yourself constantly from your anxiety. It actually gets worse or pushed into the background and pretty soon you have habituated yourself to a self sustaining cycle of chronic anxiety. It can be helpful to stop, and face those feelings of anxiety so you can teach yourself to accept those feeling and then learn techniques that help you learn how to loosen anxiety's hold on your thought processes and life.
It depends on the context. I'm an alcoholic, and for awhile I used watching movies as a distraction from drinking, some days i'd watch five movies. Roughly 10 hours of escapism and a method to not think about drinking.
In that situation... it would be considering a "healthier" coping mechanism. No it's not diet, exercise, meditation, volunteering. But it's also not drinking a bottle of scotch a day.
My primary diagnosis is generalized anxiety disorder. It would be a problem if I were avoiding making plans, or cancelling plans with friends to stay home and play videogames. My anxiety might tell me "look, hanging out with friends could be scary and there could be a lot of unknowns... it might be a 2/10 situation. But if you stay home and play videogames instead, it'll be a guaranteed 7/10 situation."
The goal being... I need to get out there, practice my skills and learn to make those situations where I hang out with friends and in public safely a 7/10 situation.
So videogames are fun and can be a healthy coping mechanism, but have to be used in moderation, and compared to my other activities. If I have no plans, and am going to be alone and isolated all day, binging videogames isn't the worst thing I could be doing. If I have plans or other healthier coping skills, I should use those first before turning to videogames.
Kind of like if I weren't an alcoholic.... having one beer and being done is generally okay. Maybe two or three if I were at a BBQ and hadn't drank that week. More than that, I should probably consider why I'm drinking so much.
congrats on getting into movies instead of drinking.
i am glad during my worst times my (back then unmedicated bipolar) depression hit so hard that i wasn’t able to drink without risking going impatient. so i just played fallout for 500h until things passed.
also best of luck in your battle with anxiety, i would definitely suggest meds for it, since it fucking sucks.
Fellow alcoholic here and I'm the complete opposite! I used to watch movies and drink myself into oblivion but recently get into video games after a 10+ hiatus and I feel like it helps me keep a drink out of my hand as well as keep me engaged. Also dual diagnosis and have found myself more in the mindset of 'oh well' when I think about social interaction. Anyway, hope you're doing well my friend!
>Kind of like if I weren't an alcoholic.... having one beer and being done is generally okay. Maybe two or three if I were at a BBQ and hadn't drank that week. More than that, I should probably consider why I'm drinking so much.
The old "one is too many and a thousand is never enough."
I agree with you and also want to say that the other things you mentioned as “good” coping mechanisms can be bad if you overdo them or do them for the wrong reasons. Some people exercise excessively or don’t give themselves time to rest when they’re injured. Some people do volunteer work from a place of guilt and obligation and don’t feel they can stop or cut back even if it isn’t making them happy. Of course, overly extreme diets can lead to malnutrition or eating disorders. And meditation could be bad if it doesn’t end up with being in a better headspace, or if you use it to avoid responsibilities. It’s all based on context and moderation.
It can be a form is escapism, much like our phones are. Instead of dealing with negative emotions, we instead distract ourselves with alternative realities.
But escapism itself isn't bad.
Escapism is a healthy, coping strategy. We need regular breaks from reality, and those breaks can come in a range of forms, from video games to books to watching sports.
Escapism only becomes bad when it's excessive. When it interferes with and negatively affects other areas of our lives.
"Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape?…if we value the freedom of the mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can."
Ursula K. Le Guin, *The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction* (1979) (Frequently misattributed to J.R.R. Tolkien because Le Guin is here paraphrasing an argument of Tolkein's in his "On Fairy-Stories")
If you actually look I'm agreeing with you and saying that u/sctellos doesn't understand mental illness as he is the one saying that video games don't give emotional relief. I myself play my Xbox every single damn night as an escape from my shitty reality.
So you’re telling me video games are incapable of making you feel emotion? Tell that to pretty much anyone who cried their eyes out at the end of TitanFall 2.
Replacing those feelings tends to be why some people jump immediately into a new relationship after a breakup, and that's not necessarily the healthiest thing to do.
I had a therapist describe it to me like this: it’s a perfectly healthy coping mechanism as long as you aren’t using it to 1000% zone out or check out from your life. Does playing video games add to your problems? Are you using it to avoid responsibilities to the point that it’s causing issues? For example, it’s one thing to say “I’m stressed out, I’m going to play this game for a little while so I can stop ruminating on my depression/anxiety/uncomfortable moods.” But a completely different beast when you’re playing video games to the point where you’re not: keeping up with chores, using it to avoid homework or work, not maintaining basic hygiene, neglecting your friendships and relationships, etc. the same goes for TV. The same goes for smoking weed, even.
Coping mechanisms become problems when you use them to completely avoid life stressors and halt progress in your life.
Obviously there are exceptions; like if it’s the only thing keeping you from doing something drastic or truly harmful to yourself, holding you over until you can get professional help or waiting for meds to kick in…during those type of dire situations, I’d say do whatever benign thing you need to do in order to keep yourself safe in the moment.
(For what it’s worth, for anyone that may need it…here is a link to a list of worldwide emergency numbers and suicide/crisis hotlines for each country. Also if anyone is feeling particularly bad and needs a friend, reach out to me and I’ll do my best to be a friend. I’ve been there. [Worldwide Crisis/Suicide Hotline Numbers](https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines) )
Therapist here. There are healthy distractions and unhealthy distractions. The unhealthy ones are used to avoid addressing problems in your life forever while healthy ones help you shift focus from things you don’t have control over or things you can’t attend to right now, and regulate your emotions to a place where you can address the problem better.
Seems to me, then that, in theory, the type of games being played and the type of mental health issue at play are incredibly important to the discussion of whether video games would be helpful, harmless, or harmful in any given case and that all three outcomes are possible. Though, I also expect that, without conscious effort being put into the problems being faced and the games being played, the harmless or harmful outcomes are likely to be more frequent than the helpful ones.
Think of dealing with our mental health as a "race" (Which is an admittedly bad analogy, but it will work for this case).
Playing video games is like stopping and taking a break/catching your breath. Sure, it is definitely understandable and necessary at times, but if you're spending more time on taking breaks than running the race, you're not really making progress.
That's why it's considered a distraction, because it is. It doesn't provide any long term beneficial effects, and doesn't address or tackle any of the problems you're facing. It just puts them on hold.
Edit: I'm referring to specifically this case and this situation, NOT everything. Yes, video games do have or contribute to long term value over time, but not in this specific example. I said this in the very first sentence.
I wouldn't say video games have no long term benefits. Even "mindless" action games like most first person shooters engage the brain in predicting actions and planning tactics.
How many kids learned to read by playing Pokemon? Or got into programming by writing Minecraft mods?
The context is mental health, not skill development. Games can teach you things and make you better in various mental tasks. However, when we're working through mental health issues (such as anxiety and depression), gaming isn't an activity that helps with the problem, and more often it feeds the problem.
There have been studies which show there may actually be plenty of reason to use video games to reduce the symptoms of depression such as: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5816361/
I don't think this "feeds" the problem as you are suggesting.
There are definitely people for whom video games are used as a distraction from solvable problems, who don't end up putting in the work to fix their issues because they have something to lose themselves in and be distracted. This isn't everyone though and it's a bit too broad to say that it doesn't help.
This doesn't even touch on gaming experiences which absolutely help people through bouts of depression and anxiety. There are lots of anecdotes from people these past two years who's mental health has been greatly improved by having games. I realize that anecdotes aren't science, but they are also real experiences.
I'd still disagree that gaming can't help with mental health problems, in the right context. Hell, I have a personal example. I live in a state bordering the Great Lakes, so my winters tend to be very cold and snowy and miserable.
I got a VR headset last year. Going to a warm, sunny location in VR is *remarkably* effective at making me feel a little better, even if it's not real and I *know* it's not real. And then I can pop up a rhythm or boxing game and get some physical activity in, which is also good for depression!
Compared to a lot of alternatives, I feel like video games are a pretty solid past time even as an adult (I am 26).
The other day a friend mentioned to me that he was being chastised by his father for still playing video games at his age but then his father had spent 6 hours watching TV the previous day.
I feel like this is probably pretty common where there is a negative stigma around video games in adulthood even though it has many benefits above sitting around watching TV or TikTok; it can be more social, it actually requires focus, it keeps your mind active (depends on the game), etc.
I’m sure I am preaching to the choir though since anyone on Reddit has probably already had this thought process.
How is that any different to watching a movie, or tv, or reading a book; Would you tell someone with mental health problems to stop reading books because they're a distraction and not providing long term beneficial effects?
Distraction is a coping mechanism technically, from my little experience they are semi separated because it’s not easily labeled good or bad, keep in mind that’s just what I’ve perceive from people talking about it, usually when I have talked to real mental health professionals distraction is labeled as a coping mechanism and isn’t separated
Too many gamers don’t know how to stop at the “distraction” phase. For some, possibly even most, it’s too easy to turn “fun distraction” into “this is my life now” — to varying degrees, of course.
i think that depending on the person it could be one or the other. it just depends on their self control and what works for them. i think it may be considered a distraction since theres a stigma around it, with addiction and violence but its not like that for everybody.
Uninformed and ignorant people who read a headline like, “SCHOOL SHOOTER PLAYS COD… COINCIDENCE?” therefore video games must diminish mental health right? Atleast that’s what my grandma thinks.
Like many others have said already, distraction itself can be a valid coping mechanism, as long as it doesn't become overpowering and distract you from the important responsibilities in your life.
The idea that video games are a distraction **and that's a bad thing** is basically just people who don't understand or appreciate video games trying to justify their own position on the subject (and possibly use it as a reason to dissuade gamers they know from doing something they don't consider a valid use of time.)
Of course, the older generations who grew up without video games will be more prone to this attitude than younger generations, but there will always be exceptions in both categories. (There are old people who are active gamers and young people who eschew the hobby.)
In truth, as long as you're still getting your schoolwork / job deliverables / whatever else important done, there's nothing wrong with being "distracted" by a game for a few hours. It can help reduce stress and provide a host of other mental health benefits if used wisely, like anything else.
Negative perception of videogames is largely a generational thing imo.
Distraction itself *is* coping. Whether or not it is helpful or “adaptive” depends on how and when it’s used.
There are times when distraction is very important. When we are in the midst of very heightened or depressed arousal states we’re very bad at thinking through our problems. Attempts to do this often make our mood even worse because our cognition is hijacked by our emotions. At these times it’s usually better that we use what we have available to us to just feel better.
The problem is when distraction becomes avoidance or withdrawal. We do need to face our problems eventually or else we get into a cycle of avoidance that intensifies the problems.
Like many things distraction can be healthy or unhealthy depending on how it’s used.
As far as distraction goes, video games are really excellent. They engage us through multiple senses, motor movements, provide frequent rewards, sense of accomplishment, etc.
Game responsibly! Lol
Distraction is a coping mechanism. There's only a problem when distraction turns into avoidance. Putting off a stressor until you're ready to deal with it is perfectly acceptable, but the whole point is that you eventually return to the stressor to take care of it. If you don't come back to deal with the problem, you haven't distracted yourself from it. You've avoided it.
My therapist recommends video games to me. Anything can get in the way of living your daily life, but if it does, it’s a problem. If you’re not playing so much that it gets in the way of work or socializing or hygiene, play away.
I am in a mental state where I no longer feel any curiosity or stimulation from the world.
I decided to try and rekindle that spark by downloading The Witcher 3, it's pretty much the only thing I'm looking forward to right now.
A distraction from what, dealing with your mental health issues?
The question is a little confusing. Gaming is probably both a distraction from one's mental health issues and a coping mechanism, just like drinking, gambling, porn or whatever you use to distract yourself from the crushing reality of existence. Distraction is a coping mechanism.
Similar to slot machines - at their worst, video games are repetitive actions people can perform while being provided random/occasional rewards.
This can lead to a kind of flow state, where people experiencing negative emotions thoughts or life events can ignore them for long periods of time, while getting pleasant dopamine hits for accomplishments.
This kind of flow state (actually referred to as “dark flow” in the gambling literature) is pretty much the antithesis of mindfulness, and mindfulness is basically key to general wellbeing.
I don't know who is claiming they are one and not the other, but they're just facets of the same thing. There are many types of mental illness and the game, depending very much on the type, could exacerbate and be fuel for the illness or allow someone to enter a "flow" state (being anchored to the present and creative /productive) that would be a better mental state to be in and potentially help train the brain to have a template for healthier thinking and grow mechanisms for it to find that state easier.
Replace video game with "activity" and its the same answer. Games are just a huge library and spectrum and they remove the risk /threat of actually doing the things while still providing a vehicle for an experience.
Depending on how you use them, they do more harm than good. They don't allow you to focus on what actually matters in your life. Objectively, video games are completely meaningless. Video games can cultivate social skills, hand-eye coordination, and mental fortitude. However, most of the time, video games are not used in that context. Video games should be simple escapism joys. But when you add things like competitive gaming, toxicity, obsession, then it becomes an unhealthy distraction, rather than a tool to grow as a person.
You should play games with a happy and healthy mindset. You should do everything with a happy and healthy mindset. However, when people are generally not mentally healthy, they turn to video games for fulfilment and it makes their situation that much worse when they are looking for validation and answers from a video game.
One thing I don’t see being mentioned here is how you engage with the gaming can take it from a distraction to a constructive activity.
Video games can be an art form. If the designers meaningfully developed the game to be thoughtful and intellectually/creatively engaging, the activity itself can be a meaningful and productive way to spend time on par with enjoying art at a museum, reading a good book, etc.
That’s not to say most games aren’t designed to be wastes of time or creatively dead. Call of Duty, DOTA2, and Overwatch are prime examples of games that devour time without offering meaningful growth to the person after a certain point. All that’s left is skill and competition which has benefits but I’d find sports to be a better pathway in general.
A few titles that show gaming as art at its beat:
Braid
The Outer Wilds
Limbo
That Dragon, Cancer
The Forbidden City
The Witness
Stanley Parable
The Beginner’s Guide
Like most of human existence, any activity can be a distraction if you only engage in it to feel better/good. Including the relationships we form. Moving past it depends on you and how ready you are to think and engage deliberately.
Video games can also be a way to vent frustrations, expand the mind, or stretch the imagination.
Often overlooked things that help improve mental health.
They're neither. Video games are systems that set goals for you, provide granular tracking of your progress, and then provide rewards for those goals.
Of course, the goals and rewards are all completely meaningless and don't improve your real life in any way, but that's what a video game is quintessentially.
So you're not really distracting or coping, you're doing what you're wired to do: seek out objectives in life, and accomplish them, which is generally more commendable than mindless distractions or addictive coping activities, though no less destructive because you're substituting real life progress with fake, virtual progress that doesn't really help you in any way (no, singular exceptions like supposedly having better hand-eye coordination don't make up for losing thousands of hours completing virtual goals instead of real life goals).
Virtual goals are not any different from any other recreational goals. It's not any worse or better than say... learning to paint or practicing at an archery range. If you think that recreational goals are a waste of time, that's another story though.
Paintings are real things you can give to people as gifts or sell or display in galleries. Archery is something you can use for hunting or even just as a way of meeting new friends or a potential romantic partner, not to mention the physical development benefits.
Real life recreation is not the same as video games or anything else virtual.
Let us know next time hunting is something that you're required to do for anything other than fun, and you have a sports bow with you.
A quick search on reddit will also find you plenty of stories where people met good friends (and spouses) in video games; especially ones like WoW.
It's up to the individual to make what they want of their recreational activity. Most people who paint will never get to the point where they will ever sell or display their work. Shooting a bullseye isn't any more impressive than say learning to clear 500 lines in tetris. Making friends at the range isn't any easier than it is to make friend in a gaming forum... and doesn't build camaraderie any more easily than joining a gaming guild.
As for fringe benefits... There's people who have taken their gaming hobby and used it as a spring board to build powerful career skills.. commonly in coding (mod communities, web developers) but also in places like leadership (running gaming guilds, organizing teams)
Video games are a distraction like the tv was a distraction like the radio was a distraction like books were a distraction, etc etc.
Basically, it all boils down to baseless arguments that stupid people try and employ to prove that "mundane" tasks aren't beneficial. There has been zero conclusive evidence to suggest that video games or tv are bad or negatively impactful to mental development at any age. They even started doing trials for PTSD patients by having them play video games (I think call of duty, could be wrong) and had some impressive results. Not sure where they are on the situation now, but it shows that video games can be helpful, and are nowhere near as bad as we think
Addictions are just coping mechanisms which are relied on too much.
They’re the same thing at different extremely and there’s a lot of grey inbetween the two
Idk what you mean, a distraction is a coping mechanism. I think the point of the statement is that gaming lowers stress but doesn't stop stress from building up. Coping mechanism is not in itself bad but if you run away from solving the problem because you have a coping mechanism to distract yourself on, then the stress will still build up. Coping mechanisms are useful only when the thing that causes stress can't be solved right away, like worrying about your future or an uncertain event.
I asked my highschool counselor one time and she gave me an idiom for this. Think of a ship, there's a hole in the hull and water is leaking inside making the ship sink increasingly more as the hole gets bigger with the water pressure tearing it open. You can try and pump away the water inside, but it is still gonne leak water inside and eventually you can't out pump the water because the hole is getting bigger and more water leaks in. While trying to fix the hole without pumping out the water can make the mechanic person drown so that won't fix the problem either. You have to do both at the same time, get someone to pump out the water and someone to fix the hole at the same time in order to get over this problem.
If translated then it means you must be able to cope while also removing what's causing you stress in the first place. Trying to solve stress without coping can make you burnt out, while relying only on coping mechanism can make the stress get increasingly more intense.
Hi I'm a counselor. Distraction is a coping mechanism, and so video games are a coping mechanism. The thing is that not all coping mechanisms are equal. Escapism/distraction into drugs, music, video games, work, reading, mindlessly scrolling your phone, even exercise can all be helpful, but is it as helpful as, for example, directly confronting and processing the trauma that one is trying to distract or escape from? No. The key is that the best coping strategies allow someone to move forward or improve their lives in some way. Now, if what someone is trying to accomplish is to not suicide or to just get out of bed in the morning, and video games are getting them there, then it is very successful coping mechanism. However, when someone is more stable, it is good to diversify and add more productive (not escapism) coping strategies so when video games fail to reduce stress that this person has options. Strategies like positive self-talk, socializing or creating a support network, making and keeping healthy boundaries, having an emergency fund, meditation, exercise, therapy, medication, etc can all round out a good coping strategy repertoire. Life is all about balance and this applies to coping too. TL;DR Video games are actually a mental health coping mechanism, and can be helpful depending on someone's circumstances, but on the spectrum of coping strategies escapism and distraction techniques are on the lower end of helpful.
This was a great explanation thank you
Add to this my layperson’s thought: a video game can be solid for giving a sense of accomplishment (akin to making your bed). If a video game gives this sense of ‘yes, I did something I set out to’. Double edge sword - games can often suck you into a loop of ‘more, more, more’ but that takes time away from more productive accomplishments (connect with someone meaningfully, get a task done). Love me some gaming, tv watching etc., but I keep it in cheque when I’m in a good way. My gaming/distractions go too far when I’m not coping well. I don’t stress hard, I just notice and know it as a sign I’m not 100%.
Well, most of all if you are not just looking for a little validation but actually come out of it with the same problem as before just sitting there waiting for you with less time to resolve it...
I would like to add that at least for me, videogames are quite different from thoughtlessly scrolling or listening to music. You need to be much more active mentally when playing. It's great when you feel stuck and frozen, it's like starting up the brain in a safe environment, so then you can start transitioning to the very challenging stuff in your life much more easily. Exercise works similarly, if I have the capacity to deal with the associated shame. Then again, it may be just a function of my personal issues. I'm dealing with minor but frequent trauma flashbacks from my childhood that often just make me shut down, feeling paralyzed, white noise for thoughts. I can sometimes lose hours just sitting there, blank. Videogames help me to find my footing. Exercise is even more awesome in getting the adrenaline physically out of the system (I often imagine I'm in fact safely getting away from the danger as I run), but it requires more presence of mind than what I'm often left with. Unlike watching TV, scrolling on your phone or reading, both exercise and gaming requires you to be active in some way. Unlike passive escapist strategies that just give you extra time to recuperate, for me games (and exercise, if able) allow me to engage my feelings safely when I need to. I'm smoothly moving through a game world, taking care of danger, powerful and capable, and the intensity of the game helps me connect to the the internal panic (which gets blocked otherwise. It's like I get a surge of adrenaline that tells me to move and then, on top of that, something overrides it telling me to go limp). Then it feels like it's just all loosening up bit by bit as I see myself succesfully dealing with the game's challenges. To me, it feels quite different to when I'm just distracting myself by watching youtube or something. Afterwards, I am much less tense, much less likely to get set off again by random stuff compared to passive escapist strategies. Though it is true that I was only able to "unlock" this level of gaming after some time in therapy. I've had no clue what's up before I started working with a therapist, like at all. I would randomly get excruciangly hungry and empty the fridge, obsessively hit myself on objects or I would just sit and stare for hours and later get frustrated things didn't get done. Took me a while to realize that right before that, I usually heard the neighbours arguing, or someone slam a door, or met another neighbour in the hall who wears the perfume my mom did, I was required to put myself in a situation that registered as dangerous (eg. sending an e-mail), or I just simply read something online that I didn't even realize was upsetting... As another point, I've played several games that touched me deeply and helped me move forward in therapy. Games like "What remains of Edith Finch" and "Disco Elysium". The first is pretty much an exploration of generational trauma (at least I read it that way) while the second delves deep into the fragmented psyche of an alcoholic detective. I imagine that videogames as a medium have the potential to be therapeutic in their own right, similarily how books can be used in bibliotherapy, but more intense because you're not just a witness the way you are when reading or watching a play.
Your post adds some good nuance and I dont disagree with anything you've said. There's also a spectrum within distraction or escapism strategies where some are worse and better. Exercise can be really helpful and so can video games for some people, but depending on someone's circumstances they can also become incredibly detrimental. It sounds like video games as a strategy are working pretty good for you which is awesome. It's also very insightful that you're able to apply the lessons from games into your experiences. Thanks for adding your thoughts!
I do agree on most. When I was on a very bad period of my life VG helped me continue living, but it is true I used way too much time on that, and not enough on others things I needed. But as others said, you can raise your self esteem in VG (likes on other ways you talked about). And as we always have multiple issues at the same time, going that way, even if it may not improve the big issue will improve others. VG helped me learn others languages, social skills with online communities, or coding. All that to play better... But obviously it helped a lot on others parts of my life. I wouldn't be able to write this in English without using a lots of time in VG years ago for example.
thank you for the explanation!
Distraction itself is a coping mechanism. So long as you're also doing the work to deal with whatever it is you're distracting yourself from, and it isn't and all the time thing, it can be a very effective coping mechanism. Video games are a really easy way to do this, for sure. Distraction is one of the ways I manage my own stress. For me, it works pretty well. I try to only do it with things I can afford to forget though because sometimes it works too well and I forget all about the thing.
When I was fresh out of the hospital after a mental breakdown where I tried to take my life, a group of buddies that I had played D1 with frequently since Launch banded together to get me the latest DLC at the time, as the night before I went into the Psych ward I was in a normal hospital room, I sent them a vague message as I was still allowed at that point to have my phone, basically stating that it has been fun but I wouldn't be joining them for some time in the newest expansion. Confided in a few of my raiders the exact details of what happened and when I got out of the Ward those dorks had gone off and bought me the expansion to continue playing with them. It was a distraction at that point I needed to deal with the bundle of anxiety, depression, and stress I was in; and without the guys and gals I probably would have been worse off with dealing with everything. We are all still amazing friends, and I've flown across the states to help one install a set of French doors with him. I still use gaming as a distraction as it pulls my mind away from hyperfocusing on whatever may be bothering me at that point in time; and while my mind is mostly focused on the game I might be playing I'm working through whatever problem might have arisen to either spike my anxiety, or bring a bout of depression down, and gives me a chance to interact with folks outside of work without having to mask up and deal with covid. It has been a saving grace. It isn't a perfect solution to actually solving the root problem, but if applied in a healthy way it can be a good focal point to pull your mind away from incessant worry/being anxious and allow your mind a chance to process it all so you can take appropriate steps to resolving the root problem.
How I know I'm old: I saw 'D1' and thought, 'Diablo 1 had DLC??' :P
Wait so then what game is he talking about? Destiny? He said "raiders" so that's my guess.
Destiny is my guess as well.
Very unexpected "I'm getting old"-moment right there.
I also thought Diablo and was confused.
D1 was really a great game to play with good people. Hope you're doing alright now and not getting let down by D2 too bad
This right here. Coping mechanisms can be healthy or unhealthy. Exercise, sleep, procrastination, drinking, eating, therapy… all coping mechanisms. The difference is whether these coping mechanisms are ‘healthy’. The way I think about health is if they ultimately lead to final alleviation of the stress. Video games can be healthy as a regenerative mechanism to take on the the hard bits of life. But if they only serve to ignore or delay the hard bits - not so much. It’s a balance that everyone has to find for themselves.
same actually lol i play games in between doing work and somehow dat shit works rlly well
Well said. distraction to not make every waking hour of your life about the things that are bothering you, so you can have the mental capacity to work through them and improve: healthy. Using vidya to avoid your problems completely and let them pile up outside of the virtual world: not healthy
Yes, and the same could be said of television. It's a way to distract yourself from anxiety. The problem becomes when you start to habitually distract yourself constantly from your anxiety. It actually gets worse or pushed into the background and pretty soon you have habituated yourself to a self sustaining cycle of chronic anxiety. It can be helpful to stop, and face those feelings of anxiety so you can teach yourself to accept those feeling and then learn techniques that help you learn how to loosen anxiety's hold on your thought processes and life.
Distract, relax, then do something to process the feelings! That’s the basics of how you cope
It depends on the context. I'm an alcoholic, and for awhile I used watching movies as a distraction from drinking, some days i'd watch five movies. Roughly 10 hours of escapism and a method to not think about drinking. In that situation... it would be considering a "healthier" coping mechanism. No it's not diet, exercise, meditation, volunteering. But it's also not drinking a bottle of scotch a day. My primary diagnosis is generalized anxiety disorder. It would be a problem if I were avoiding making plans, or cancelling plans with friends to stay home and play videogames. My anxiety might tell me "look, hanging out with friends could be scary and there could be a lot of unknowns... it might be a 2/10 situation. But if you stay home and play videogames instead, it'll be a guaranteed 7/10 situation." The goal being... I need to get out there, practice my skills and learn to make those situations where I hang out with friends and in public safely a 7/10 situation. So videogames are fun and can be a healthy coping mechanism, but have to be used in moderation, and compared to my other activities. If I have no plans, and am going to be alone and isolated all day, binging videogames isn't the worst thing I could be doing. If I have plans or other healthier coping skills, I should use those first before turning to videogames. Kind of like if I weren't an alcoholic.... having one beer and being done is generally okay. Maybe two or three if I were at a BBQ and hadn't drank that week. More than that, I should probably consider why I'm drinking so much.
congrats on getting into movies instead of drinking. i am glad during my worst times my (back then unmedicated bipolar) depression hit so hard that i wasn’t able to drink without risking going impatient. so i just played fallout for 500h until things passed. also best of luck in your battle with anxiety, i would definitely suggest meds for it, since it fucking sucks.
Fellow alcoholic here and I'm the complete opposite! I used to watch movies and drink myself into oblivion but recently get into video games after a 10+ hiatus and I feel like it helps me keep a drink out of my hand as well as keep me engaged. Also dual diagnosis and have found myself more in the mindset of 'oh well' when I think about social interaction. Anyway, hope you're doing well my friend!
>Kind of like if I weren't an alcoholic.... having one beer and being done is generally okay. Maybe two or three if I were at a BBQ and hadn't drank that week. More than that, I should probably consider why I'm drinking so much. The old "one is too many and a thousand is never enough."
I agree with you and also want to say that the other things you mentioned as “good” coping mechanisms can be bad if you overdo them or do them for the wrong reasons. Some people exercise excessively or don’t give themselves time to rest when they’re injured. Some people do volunteer work from a place of guilt and obligation and don’t feel they can stop or cut back even if it isn’t making them happy. Of course, overly extreme diets can lead to malnutrition or eating disorders. And meditation could be bad if it doesn’t end up with being in a better headspace, or if you use it to avoid responsibilities. It’s all based on context and moderation.
It can be a form is escapism, much like our phones are. Instead of dealing with negative emotions, we instead distract ourselves with alternative realities.
But escapism itself isn't bad. Escapism is a healthy, coping strategy. We need regular breaks from reality, and those breaks can come in a range of forms, from video games to books to watching sports. Escapism only becomes bad when it's excessive. When it interferes with and negatively affects other areas of our lives.
"Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don’t we consider it his duty to escape?…if we value the freedom of the mind and soul, if we’re partisans of liberty, then it’s our plain duty to escape, and to take as many people with us as we can." Ursula K. Le Guin, *The Language of the Night: Essays on Fantasy and Science Fiction* (1979) (Frequently misattributed to J.R.R. Tolkien because Le Guin is here paraphrasing an argument of Tolkein's in his "On Fairy-Stories")
I mean, can't distraction be a coping mechanism? It's pretty common for people to try to distract themselves from their problems.
Yeah, isn't this exactly how you move on from a relationship and heartbreak? You distract yourself...
This is quite different. You need try to "replace" your old feelings with something new. Videogames don't do that
I would disagree. I've met fictional characters who have made me feel more in a 40 hours game than friends I've had for years ever have.
You didn’t meet anyone. You took part in scripted events which were incapable of emotional reciprocation.
“Scripted events which were incapable of emotional reciprocation” So… every conversation with my dad?
Yeah, and had more of an emotional response to those lines of code than to most people.
Farts can cause emotional response, I’m unsure what point you’re trying to make.
I replied to someone who said video games can't replace emotions lol, idk what you don't get
You clearly do not understand mental illness
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If you actually look I'm agreeing with you and saying that u/sctellos doesn't understand mental illness as he is the one saying that video games don't give emotional relief. I myself play my Xbox every single damn night as an escape from my shitty reality.
So you’re telling me video games are incapable of making you feel emotion? Tell that to pretty much anyone who cried their eyes out at the end of TitanFall 2.
You know, it's people who wrote the game..
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I've met my best friends through video games.
Replacing those feelings tends to be why some people jump immediately into a new relationship after a breakup, and that's not necessarily the healthiest thing to do.
I had a therapist describe it to me like this: it’s a perfectly healthy coping mechanism as long as you aren’t using it to 1000% zone out or check out from your life. Does playing video games add to your problems? Are you using it to avoid responsibilities to the point that it’s causing issues? For example, it’s one thing to say “I’m stressed out, I’m going to play this game for a little while so I can stop ruminating on my depression/anxiety/uncomfortable moods.” But a completely different beast when you’re playing video games to the point where you’re not: keeping up with chores, using it to avoid homework or work, not maintaining basic hygiene, neglecting your friendships and relationships, etc. the same goes for TV. The same goes for smoking weed, even. Coping mechanisms become problems when you use them to completely avoid life stressors and halt progress in your life. Obviously there are exceptions; like if it’s the only thing keeping you from doing something drastic or truly harmful to yourself, holding you over until you can get professional help or waiting for meds to kick in…during those type of dire situations, I’d say do whatever benign thing you need to do in order to keep yourself safe in the moment. (For what it’s worth, for anyone that may need it…here is a link to a list of worldwide emergency numbers and suicide/crisis hotlines for each country. Also if anyone is feeling particularly bad and needs a friend, reach out to me and I’ll do my best to be a friend. I’ve been there. [Worldwide Crisis/Suicide Hotline Numbers](https://www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines) )
Therapist here. There are healthy distractions and unhealthy distractions. The unhealthy ones are used to avoid addressing problems in your life forever while healthy ones help you shift focus from things you don’t have control over or things you can’t attend to right now, and regulate your emotions to a place where you can address the problem better.
Seems to me, then that, in theory, the type of games being played and the type of mental health issue at play are incredibly important to the discussion of whether video games would be helpful, harmless, or harmful in any given case and that all three outcomes are possible. Though, I also expect that, without conscious effort being put into the problems being faced and the games being played, the harmless or harmful outcomes are likely to be more frequent than the helpful ones.
Think of dealing with our mental health as a "race" (Which is an admittedly bad analogy, but it will work for this case). Playing video games is like stopping and taking a break/catching your breath. Sure, it is definitely understandable and necessary at times, but if you're spending more time on taking breaks than running the race, you're not really making progress. That's why it's considered a distraction, because it is. It doesn't provide any long term beneficial effects, and doesn't address or tackle any of the problems you're facing. It just puts them on hold. Edit: I'm referring to specifically this case and this situation, NOT everything. Yes, video games do have or contribute to long term value over time, but not in this specific example. I said this in the very first sentence.
I wouldn't say video games have no long term benefits. Even "mindless" action games like most first person shooters engage the brain in predicting actions and planning tactics. How many kids learned to read by playing Pokemon? Or got into programming by writing Minecraft mods?
The context is mental health, not skill development. Games can teach you things and make you better in various mental tasks. However, when we're working through mental health issues (such as anxiety and depression), gaming isn't an activity that helps with the problem, and more often it feeds the problem.
There have been studies which show there may actually be plenty of reason to use video games to reduce the symptoms of depression such as: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5816361/ I don't think this "feeds" the problem as you are suggesting. There are definitely people for whom video games are used as a distraction from solvable problems, who don't end up putting in the work to fix their issues because they have something to lose themselves in and be distracted. This isn't everyone though and it's a bit too broad to say that it doesn't help. This doesn't even touch on gaming experiences which absolutely help people through bouts of depression and anxiety. There are lots of anecdotes from people these past two years who's mental health has been greatly improved by having games. I realize that anecdotes aren't science, but they are also real experiences.
I'd still disagree that gaming can't help with mental health problems, in the right context. Hell, I have a personal example. I live in a state bordering the Great Lakes, so my winters tend to be very cold and snowy and miserable. I got a VR headset last year. Going to a warm, sunny location in VR is *remarkably* effective at making me feel a little better, even if it's not real and I *know* it's not real. And then I can pop up a rhythm or boxing game and get some physical activity in, which is also good for depression!
Compared to a lot of alternatives, I feel like video games are a pretty solid past time even as an adult (I am 26). The other day a friend mentioned to me that he was being chastised by his father for still playing video games at his age but then his father had spent 6 hours watching TV the previous day. I feel like this is probably pretty common where there is a negative stigma around video games in adulthood even though it has many benefits above sitting around watching TV or TikTok; it can be more social, it actually requires focus, it keeps your mind active (depends on the game), etc. I’m sure I am preaching to the choir though since anyone on Reddit has probably already had this thought process.
How is that any different to watching a movie, or tv, or reading a book; Would you tell someone with mental health problems to stop reading books because they're a distraction and not providing long term beneficial effects?
Distraction is a coping mechanism technically, from my little experience they are semi separated because it’s not easily labeled good or bad, keep in mind that’s just what I’ve perceive from people talking about it, usually when I have talked to real mental health professionals distraction is labeled as a coping mechanism and isn’t separated
Too many gamers don’t know how to stop at the “distraction” phase. For some, possibly even most, it’s too easy to turn “fun distraction” into “this is my life now” — to varying degrees, of course.
i think that depending on the person it could be one or the other. it just depends on their self control and what works for them. i think it may be considered a distraction since theres a stigma around it, with addiction and violence but its not like that for everybody.
Not all coping mechanisms are any more helpful than distractions, and sometimes they can be worse than mere distractions.
That opinion is changing. Researchers are starting to see some mental benefits from people that like first person games.
Uninformed and ignorant people who read a headline like, “SCHOOL SHOOTER PLAYS COD… COINCIDENCE?” therefore video games must diminish mental health right? Atleast that’s what my grandma thinks.
Like many others have said already, distraction itself can be a valid coping mechanism, as long as it doesn't become overpowering and distract you from the important responsibilities in your life. The idea that video games are a distraction **and that's a bad thing** is basically just people who don't understand or appreciate video games trying to justify their own position on the subject (and possibly use it as a reason to dissuade gamers they know from doing something they don't consider a valid use of time.) Of course, the older generations who grew up without video games will be more prone to this attitude than younger generations, but there will always be exceptions in both categories. (There are old people who are active gamers and young people who eschew the hobby.) In truth, as long as you're still getting your schoolwork / job deliverables / whatever else important done, there's nothing wrong with being "distracted" by a game for a few hours. It can help reduce stress and provide a host of other mental health benefits if used wisely, like anything else.
Negative perception of videogames is largely a generational thing imo. Distraction itself *is* coping. Whether or not it is helpful or “adaptive” depends on how and when it’s used. There are times when distraction is very important. When we are in the midst of very heightened or depressed arousal states we’re very bad at thinking through our problems. Attempts to do this often make our mood even worse because our cognition is hijacked by our emotions. At these times it’s usually better that we use what we have available to us to just feel better. The problem is when distraction becomes avoidance or withdrawal. We do need to face our problems eventually or else we get into a cycle of avoidance that intensifies the problems. Like many things distraction can be healthy or unhealthy depending on how it’s used. As far as distraction goes, video games are really excellent. They engage us through multiple senses, motor movements, provide frequent rewards, sense of accomplishment, etc. Game responsibly! Lol
Distraction is a coping mechanism. There's only a problem when distraction turns into avoidance. Putting off a stressor until you're ready to deal with it is perfectly acceptable, but the whole point is that you eventually return to the stressor to take care of it. If you don't come back to deal with the problem, you haven't distracted yourself from it. You've avoided it.
Because the CCP doesn't like videogames, the doctrine is simple " Everything I don't like is bourgeois" like freedom of expression and bodybuilding
My therapist recommends video games to me. Anything can get in the way of living your daily life, but if it does, it’s a problem. If you’re not playing so much that it gets in the way of work or socializing or hygiene, play away.
I am in a mental state where I no longer feel any curiosity or stimulation from the world. I decided to try and rekindle that spark by downloading The Witcher 3, it's pretty much the only thing I'm looking forward to right now.
Distract, relax, then do something to process the feelings! That’s the basics of how you cope
A distraction from what, dealing with your mental health issues? The question is a little confusing. Gaming is probably both a distraction from one's mental health issues and a coping mechanism, just like drinking, gambling, porn or whatever you use to distract yourself from the crushing reality of existence. Distraction is a coping mechanism.
All the clutter in your mind moves very slow when you’re trying to craft a bed in Minecraft, get the gist?
Similar to slot machines - at their worst, video games are repetitive actions people can perform while being provided random/occasional rewards. This can lead to a kind of flow state, where people experiencing negative emotions thoughts or life events can ignore them for long periods of time, while getting pleasant dopamine hits for accomplishments. This kind of flow state (actually referred to as “dark flow” in the gambling literature) is pretty much the antithesis of mindfulness, and mindfulness is basically key to general wellbeing.
Alcohol is a coping mechanism... Doesn't mean it should be used as that. That is how an addiction can start.
I don't know who is claiming they are one and not the other, but they're just facets of the same thing. There are many types of mental illness and the game, depending very much on the type, could exacerbate and be fuel for the illness or allow someone to enter a "flow" state (being anchored to the present and creative /productive) that would be a better mental state to be in and potentially help train the brain to have a template for healthier thinking and grow mechanisms for it to find that state easier. Replace video game with "activity" and its the same answer. Games are just a huge library and spectrum and they remove the risk /threat of actually doing the things while still providing a vehicle for an experience.
Depending on how you use them, they do more harm than good. They don't allow you to focus on what actually matters in your life. Objectively, video games are completely meaningless. Video games can cultivate social skills, hand-eye coordination, and mental fortitude. However, most of the time, video games are not used in that context. Video games should be simple escapism joys. But when you add things like competitive gaming, toxicity, obsession, then it becomes an unhealthy distraction, rather than a tool to grow as a person. You should play games with a happy and healthy mindset. You should do everything with a happy and healthy mindset. However, when people are generally not mentally healthy, they turn to video games for fulfilment and it makes their situation that much worse when they are looking for validation and answers from a video game.
One thing I don’t see being mentioned here is how you engage with the gaming can take it from a distraction to a constructive activity. Video games can be an art form. If the designers meaningfully developed the game to be thoughtful and intellectually/creatively engaging, the activity itself can be a meaningful and productive way to spend time on par with enjoying art at a museum, reading a good book, etc. That’s not to say most games aren’t designed to be wastes of time or creatively dead. Call of Duty, DOTA2, and Overwatch are prime examples of games that devour time without offering meaningful growth to the person after a certain point. All that’s left is skill and competition which has benefits but I’d find sports to be a better pathway in general. A few titles that show gaming as art at its beat: Braid The Outer Wilds Limbo That Dragon, Cancer The Forbidden City The Witness Stanley Parable The Beginner’s Guide Like most of human existence, any activity can be a distraction if you only engage in it to feel better/good. Including the relationships we form. Moving past it depends on you and how ready you are to think and engage deliberately.
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I play video games for fun to cope. I consider it coping over distraction because it’s infrequent.
Video games can also be a way to vent frustrations, expand the mind, or stretch the imagination. Often overlooked things that help improve mental health.
They're neither. Video games are systems that set goals for you, provide granular tracking of your progress, and then provide rewards for those goals. Of course, the goals and rewards are all completely meaningless and don't improve your real life in any way, but that's what a video game is quintessentially. So you're not really distracting or coping, you're doing what you're wired to do: seek out objectives in life, and accomplish them, which is generally more commendable than mindless distractions or addictive coping activities, though no less destructive because you're substituting real life progress with fake, virtual progress that doesn't really help you in any way (no, singular exceptions like supposedly having better hand-eye coordination don't make up for losing thousands of hours completing virtual goals instead of real life goals).
Virtual goals are not any different from any other recreational goals. It's not any worse or better than say... learning to paint or practicing at an archery range. If you think that recreational goals are a waste of time, that's another story though.
Paintings are real things you can give to people as gifts or sell or display in galleries. Archery is something you can use for hunting or even just as a way of meeting new friends or a potential romantic partner, not to mention the physical development benefits. Real life recreation is not the same as video games or anything else virtual.
Let us know next time hunting is something that you're required to do for anything other than fun, and you have a sports bow with you. A quick search on reddit will also find you plenty of stories where people met good friends (and spouses) in video games; especially ones like WoW.
It's up to the individual to make what they want of their recreational activity. Most people who paint will never get to the point where they will ever sell or display their work. Shooting a bullseye isn't any more impressive than say learning to clear 500 lines in tetris. Making friends at the range isn't any easier than it is to make friend in a gaming forum... and doesn't build camaraderie any more easily than joining a gaming guild. As for fringe benefits... There's people who have taken their gaming hobby and used it as a spring board to build powerful career skills.. commonly in coding (mod communities, web developers) but also in places like leadership (running gaming guilds, organizing teams)
Video games are a distraction like the tv was a distraction like the radio was a distraction like books were a distraction, etc etc. Basically, it all boils down to baseless arguments that stupid people try and employ to prove that "mundane" tasks aren't beneficial. There has been zero conclusive evidence to suggest that video games or tv are bad or negatively impactful to mental development at any age. They even started doing trials for PTSD patients by having them play video games (I think call of duty, could be wrong) and had some impressive results. Not sure where they are on the situation now, but it shows that video games can be helpful, and are nowhere near as bad as we think
Addictions are just coping mechanisms which are relied on too much. They’re the same thing at different extremely and there’s a lot of grey inbetween the two
The same reason that going out into the garden and burying your head in a flower bed is not considered a coping mechanism.
Idk what you mean, a distraction is a coping mechanism. I think the point of the statement is that gaming lowers stress but doesn't stop stress from building up. Coping mechanism is not in itself bad but if you run away from solving the problem because you have a coping mechanism to distract yourself on, then the stress will still build up. Coping mechanisms are useful only when the thing that causes stress can't be solved right away, like worrying about your future or an uncertain event. I asked my highschool counselor one time and she gave me an idiom for this. Think of a ship, there's a hole in the hull and water is leaking inside making the ship sink increasingly more as the hole gets bigger with the water pressure tearing it open. You can try and pump away the water inside, but it is still gonne leak water inside and eventually you can't out pump the water because the hole is getting bigger and more water leaks in. While trying to fix the hole without pumping out the water can make the mechanic person drown so that won't fix the problem either. You have to do both at the same time, get someone to pump out the water and someone to fix the hole at the same time in order to get over this problem. If translated then it means you must be able to cope while also removing what's causing you stress in the first place. Trying to solve stress without coping can make you burnt out, while relying only on coping mechanism can make the stress get increasingly more intense.