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Jaden Maldonado

Instructor McCann

English 1302.231

12 April 2024

Positive Effects of Video Games on Teenagers’ Mental Health

In this modern age, video games have been popularized throughout the most recent years.

Video games have become an outlet for many young people and there has been increasing

speculation about the benefits of these games. Many debates have been sparked due to the effects

of video games on mental health effects especially on adolescence. Researchers such as Crucianu

et al state that video games have a positive effect on teenagers’ mental health. Video games

positively improve adolescents’ mental health by decreasing stress, anxiety, improving

motivation, and cognitive function.

Decreasing Overall Stress

To begin with, video games help teenagers distress from problems that happen in their

lives. Video games have become an out for many that do not have the ability to get rid of the

stress themselves. For example, Crucianu et al stated, “Video games can also serve as a form of

stress relief and provide relaxation for some individuals” (4). Many individuals use video game

as a way to distract themselves from their reality such as from family problems. With the use of

video games being introduced to a plethora of teenagers, many of these children have been able

to avoid disorders such as anxiety and depression. Because of how important video games are

and how important it is to maintain a positive mind many researchers have gone into depth to

find out the effects of how teenagers and how their stress is affected by videogames. Such as

how Bommer et al. stated “Moreover, in the area of digital health games that specifically focus
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on mental health, there have been some interventions that have been evaluated through

randomized controlled trials that focus on specific topics like stress, anxiety and depression, but

the PlaySmart g ame is the only intervention that addresses both mental health and opioid misuse

[78 –82] and recently was recognized as an important resource for youth mental health by the

Office of the U.S. Surgeon General [14 ]” (Bommer et al. 12-13). There have been video games

specifically designed to help individuals with their overall mental health and to better their

minds. Video games are a very good way to relieve and maintain a low level of stress.

Decreasing Anxiety

In addition to reducing tension, video games decrease anxiety in teenagers, which

improves their mental health overall. Anxiety is a crippling problem that many adolescences face

in this modern age; however, Gradi et al stated, “This study describes a 3-arm multi-site

randomized controlled trial that aims to evaluate the effects of two potential beneficial paths for

acting on anxiety using video games with adolescents” (11). Thus, it is stated that video games

have been proven to help teenagers overcome the effects of anxiety. Video games have the

potential to cure thousands of teenagers who have the chance to be diagnosed with disorders

such as anxiety which can cause a lot of problems. Because of how critical it is to understand

why video games reduce stress, many other studies were conducted to find out what and why

video games cause a decrease in anxiety. As such, Pallavicini et al. stated , “In addition to

exergames and casual video games, other genres of commercial off-the-shelf games helped to

reduce stress and anxiety” ( Pallavicini et al. 1). Because of this research conducted and

gathered, video games have been proven to reduce anxiety.

Improving Motivation

Additionally, computerized games are used to improve motivation in young adolescents.

Because of the internet and social media, teenagers are becoming less motivated to do anything.

However, researchers such as Santos et al stated, “Exergames promote increased self-efficacy,

intrinsic motivation, prosocial behaviors and continuous gameplay” (9). When playing a video

game, most games are littered with objectives that the player needs to meet which when met will

be rewarded with an in-game prize. Seeing as how video games, not only motivate a person to

continue on a game, playing video games after a certain amount of time will slowly start to

impact on a person’s motivation over time. For example, a video game could start going to the

gym, but the individual could see visible abdominal as an achievement or reward for being

dedicated to the gym. Other researchers as well wanted to know what effects of videogames had

on a humans motivation, such as Gkintoni et al. stated “Additionally , leaderboards can cultivate

a sense of healthy competition and community, thereby increasing motivation” (Gkintoni et al

11.). When a person playing a video game sees someone or something in the virtual world that is

more powerful than the player, it motivates the player to keep playing and to become better than

the superior opponent. This sense of competitiveness could also be translated into the real world

and be used as motivation. This competitiveness gained from playing video games as well as the

research gathered, suggest and show that video games are very good for improving the

motivation for video game players.

Improving Cognitive Function

Furthermore, video games improve cognitive function, which is how people are able to

reason, for teenagers with the use of in-game devices. Recently, video games have been

implementing projects into the code to help adolescents gain something from playing them. For

example, researchers such as Bommer et al. stated, “The results indicate that hybridization of

teaching personal and social responsibility and gamification strategies improved cognitive

performance but not academic achievement. These findings emphasize the significance of

promoting and empowering cognitive processes for improved academic performance” (12).

Aside from all the controversy surrounding how videogames are supposedly bad for children and

how they distract them from doing their best in school, studies suggest that it is actually the

complete opposite. Because video games are set up to always have the upmost attention from

their player, much of this focus is then put into many things such as school which helps students

achieve the best results. Other researchers also wanted to know the effects of video games on

cognitive function, as Hamed et al. went into depth. Hamed et al. stated “The results of PASAT

test also showed that response speed, sustained attention and mental health significantly

increased in participants after the game in comparison with before that. In addition, the longest

chain of wrong answers, index of mental fatigue, slightly decreased in volunteers after the game”

(Hamed et al. 1). The effects of video games are astronomical and can cause an almost

instantaneous change to the mind, as seen by the researchers. Because of these results and how

effective video games are towards bettering the mental status of the brain, video games should be

used more to better the cognitive function of the body.

Conclusion

In conclusion, researchers have had much debate on the benefits of video games on the

mental health of teenagers. Much of this research points out that video games are very beneficial

towards the development of teenagers whether it be physically or mentally. The decrease of

anxiety and overall stress of the body and mind is very beneficial, as it can prevent from

transforming into other mental disorders, this anxiety and stress is shown to decrease when

playing video games. When playing video games, many other benefits arise from playing such as

an increase in cognitive function which helps an individual in school and makes someone a

smarter person overall. Motivation is also formed from playing video games, which can help

someone achieve their greatest dreams. When playing video games not only does someone get a

distraction from their life, but this source of entertainment also comes with many benefits that

help the body and this is backed up by research. Lowered anxiety, lower stress, better cognitive

function, and more motivation are only some of the ways that teenagers benefits from playing

video games.
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