Teen gamers say games have both positive and negative effects

There’s been much debate on whether playing video games has a positive or negative impact on kids – and now teen gamers themselves have weighed-in.

A new large-scale survey of US teens found that around 40% of them played every day – with smartphones almost as popular a gaming device as consoles – and reported a mixed impact on their life …

85% of US teens play video games

Pew Research Center surveyed 1,423 U.S. teens ages 13 to 17, and found that 85% of them played video games.

Some 41% of them said that they did so daily, an almost perfect correlation with those who identified as gamers.

Unsurprisingly, there was a clear gender split here: 62% of teen boys describe themselves as gamers, while only 17% of teen girls do.

Smartphones almost as popular as games consoles

Almost as many teens play games on smartphones as on games consoles like PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch. Consoles were most popular, with 73% using them, while 70% play video games on smartphones (there’s obviously a lot of overlap between the two).

Two positive impacts described by teen gamers

Teen gamers reported two main positive impacts on their lives. More than two-thirds of them describe it as a social experience, and almost half say they’ve made at least one new friend through gaming.

The majority also say that playing games has improved their problem-solving skills.

Two negative effects too

But gamers also agree that there can be negative impacts, with 41% saying that it has led to sleep deprivation.

Additionally, online bullying is common with multiplayer games, with 80% describing it as a problem, and 41% saying they have experienced it personally.

You can read the full results at Pew Research.

Photo by Onur Binay on Unsplash