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© KYODOLong hours of gaming adversely affect daily activities: survey
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Chip Star
A survey wasn't needed to determine this for people with logical reasoning skills.
JJ Jetplane
I am curious what they call this "phenomenon" in regards to spending long hours at work. Especially when you are spending long hours at work and unable to stop even when suffering from health ailments?
Tmes have changed. When I was a kid, video games was something we played occasionally when friends came over or you were grounded and played secretly. Games were considered a waste of time as you couldn't make a future from it.
Now, it's a sport. You can make millions just by other people watching you play. A sport. The world has changed.
MarkX
Is that not the reason my old Nintendo Wii used to give me a warning after playing for more than 40 minutes to stop playing and take a break? I would like to know how this research got funded.
GrungeHamster
This survey doesn’t seem to go over the nature of the games being played.
Addiction and hours played may be correlated with whether or not there are “loot boxes”, basically gambling for kids in these games.
They feed gambling addicts and provide a small amount of dopamine for for little gains in a game.
They should be looking to ban loot boxes for minors just as they have in other countries and continue to discuss in many others.
Disillusioned
Just look around you on the train. Nearly everybody is playing games. I saw one poor soul playing games in two phone simultaneously the other day. He was playing baseball on one and pachinko on the other. Then there is the ever-present stream of zombies moving through the stations with their faces stuck to their phones. I saw a mid-30's woman walk straight off a train platform in front of an oncoming train while she was enthralled in Candy Crush. It disgusts me to see parents glued to their phones playing games while their children are being completely ignored.
Ask any high school kid what their hobby is and 99% will ay gaming. Ask them what they want to do in the future and 70% will say something to do with gaming and 30% will say they have no idea (because they are always gaming).
People do not realise just how addicted they are to games and just how detrimental to their physical and mental health it really is.
Speed
This is a pretty "Duh" article.
In 2019, is this info for real??
BeerDeliveryGuy
I’m not sure which high schools you associate with, but in between all the extracurricular sports team activities, juku, and waning interest in console gaming I’d put that number way lower. Sure pretty much everyone casually plays games on their smartphones as a way to kill time while on the train, waiting in line, etc, but the percentage of serious gamers who devote the same amount of time and energy to games as people do to other hobbies like fishing, or street dancing is nowhere near even 50%.
papigiulio
Nah its not only lootboxes, there are multiple factors at play here.
Do the hustle
@BeerDeliveryGuy
i think you have your beer goggles on. Playing games to ‘kill time’ is actually killing brain cells and waiting to die. I’m standing on a reasonably busy train right now and 7 of the ten people around me are playing pointless games on their phones.
ive worked in over 20 different high schools, both public and private. Gaming is the dream of most Japanese teenagers. This is because they can lose all reality in a game and don’t have to deal with the harshness of a teenager’s life in Japan.
kohakuebisu
To an extent, this has always happened, even with Pong and Space Invaders.
For me, the worrying thing is the modern way to monetize games. In the past, you'd pay 5000 yen for your Mario cartridge and get the whole game, which would be an entertaining test of skill. Many games now have pay gates built into them, forcing players to use power-ups and deliberately frustrating even skilled players into paying. Remember that it is well known that children are far more impatient and susceptible to frustration (are we there yet?) than adults. Online games in particular use paid customization of characters to further drive sales. Because the games are online, companies can track every click made by players and use extremely advanced psychological techniques to deliberately frustrate players and keep them coming back and buying more stuff to drive sales. This is way more manipulative than the innocent Mario cartridge game with the difficult levels.
This is all fully intentional by the gaming industry and is discussed at length on sites like Gama Sutra.
sir_bentley28
I could've told you that for free!
And what did the Japanese national health institute show to Wednesday ?
maxjapank
Doesn't matter what your passion is. If you let it affect your work, studies, or family life, it's a problem. But I find it funny how those who don't game much, have such a negative opinion of it. I'm an avid gamer. Love playing games, and have developed a pretty strong social network playing them. I also exercise nearly every day, work full-time, and am active in my family's life. It's all about priorities.
Madden
The problem is that games are too good now and are too well researched to keep the people playing by triggering senses of reward and progress, so players feel like they are accomplishing something by continuing to play the game. Especially if they do not get too much satisfaction or sense of accomplishment in their daily lives, games can be a good escape and to get the positive feelings that they so desire. It's almost like a drug in a way.
Wolfpack
For most of human history homo sapiens have spent every waking hour concerned with simply trying to survive the elements, scrounging for food, and fending off competing tribes and predators. Now people are worrying about people spending too much time on video games.
BeerDeliveryGuy
So the article on JT a few months ago, and numerous TV polls about YouTuber being the most desired profession is bunk? I understand that teenagers, and pretty much anyone for that matter admires a lifestyle that is free of the rat race, but most of the teenagers i speak to see the reality that less than 1% will ever be a celebrity, billionaire, successful gamer or YouTuber. They have more realistic goals like IT entrepreneur, civil engineer, veterinarian, etc.
Chill, dude. Just living and breathing is killing brain cells and waiting to die. There are numerous studies that show that puzzle games increase IQ and problem solving capabilities. NASA and the US Air Force incorporate puzzle games in their training.
For me, I haven’t played console games at all since PlayStation1, and only occasionally play free shoot’em-ups on my phone for 5 minutes or so. However, I do know a few people who literally spend more than $10,000 a year on in-game items and I think that’s silly. But they think me spending the same amount or more on fishing, travel, surfing, car parts, and bar-hopping is just as dumb. Different strokes, dude.
Kumagaijin
When I was a kid, video games had an ending, unless it was a game like Sim City or a sports game, you moved on to something else. Nowadays, games are virtually endless and the designers are making them more addictive by offering a reward or daily bonus every time you play. You might even get punished, like booted off a crew if you don't earn enough crew points in a season (CSR2). So basically, kids and even many adults are wasting their time, but lets face it, they could be costing society money by committing crimes, like rape, murder or using drugs. Maybe a society addicted to games is a healthy one.
rgcivilian1
Yeah, I have to agree with the article. It was hard to pull the plug at first, but now i'm back to enjoying the outdoors and life outside a screen.
gokai_wo_maneku
Another answer to the question: Why don't young Japanese get married and make babies anymore? You've seen it I'm sure. A young guy and girl at a table in a coffee shop or restaurant who stare into their smart phones instead of talking. For an hour. I once heard a girl once comment "Oh! I just knocked out the dragon!" Her date didn't even anwser.
CaptDingleheimer
I used to play video games.
Then I turned 13.
TheLongTermer
True but in the good ole days, we had to pay for it at the arcade. I can still remember when pac man came out. I used to go through allot of quarters, but that would limit your time, and addiction.
I think the games in those days were more interesting and less dark than what they are playing now
Do the hustle
I’ve just finished eating my lunch in the university cafeteria. From the 80 or so students in the room, at least half of them are playing games in their phones. The others are either sleeping or watching music clips. There are five students with books open, but their phones are in their hand. It’s pretty clear how this addiction effects education.
GW
When I first washed up on these isles in 91 everyone was playing Nintendo, especially Mario cart.
One guy would come into work looking like crap, I ask if he is ok & he says or rather hands his hands out like he is holding a game gadget & I shake my head, & then he says with bourbon sleeping from 3-4am & then into work by 9am....insane
And it is so much worse now, clearly there is massive problem, that survey shows 70% spends a lot of time gaming....
shogun36
And oh by the way, everyone and their mothers knew this information from when the first arcades opened up and home gaming systems were introduced.
I seriously hope none of this "survey" was funded by tax payers money.
Garthgoyle
Ha! That poor fella is not that dedicated, tho. Two nights ago a guy passed walking by with a tablet and two phones. I took a glimpse at what he was doing and in all three devices he was capturing Pokemon's. I'm guessing he was in his 40's or early 50's.
Callum Thompson
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JenniSchiebel
Not to determine it, but to confirm it and to provide scientific evidence for it.
Even when it comes to things that "everybody knows," studies still need to be done.
Otherwise, there would be no evidence when we're asked, "Where is the evidence of that?"
Such studies provide that evidence.
smithinjapan
And likewise, this survey I have no doubt adversely affected the ability of the 'researchers' doing useful things as they sought to state the obvious.
talaraedokko
We’ve lunar new year just entered the Dark Ages. When minds begin to break down then come families, society as a whole, etc. What’s become the norm comes a constant watering down of standards, business and competition to an extreme. Who has stood back and looked at the destroyed minds and world we’ve created, I don’t want to mention names but we know how they corporations prey on weak minds for a buck. The momentum is strong; there’s no going back. When we don’t have enough doctors to deal with mental problems, then we’ll really start having problems.