Posting helps hardcore gaming teens avoid depression

Never log off

I am a longtime proponent of having fun posting online with friends, but new research led by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health suggests that posting online may help mitigate the depression-like symptoms typically seen in teens who game for more than four hours a day (you know who you are).

Just tell your parents: “while heavy gaming, particularly in boys, can be viewed as a warning signal for parents, not everyone who plays many hours a day is at risk for developing problems related to gaming.” If you also have a vibrant social life — including online, perhaps as a frequent poster here on Destructoid dot com — it “may mitigate symptoms of game addiction.”

The data comes from 2009-2012 school surveys of nearly 10,000 Dutch teens, but study leader Michelle Colder Carras, PhD and company believe the results would be similar in the US and other developed nations.

“While playing video games for four hours a day can be worrisome behavior, not everyone who does so is at risk of developing symptoms of addiction or depression,” Carras said. “If these adolescents are sitting around playing games together with their friends or chatting regularly with their friends online as they play, this could be part of a perfectly normal developmental pattern. We shouldn’t assume all of them have a problem.”

You heard it, folks. Either find some real-world friends or just never stop posting.

In Teens, Strong Friendships May Mitigate Depression Associated with Excessive Video Gaming [Newswise]