A recent Japanese survey has highlighted the detrimental effects on work, study, and health of playing video games for extended periods of time.
The random nationwide survey was conducted by the National Hospital Organization Kurihama Medical and Addiction Center. It covered over 4,400 people between the ages of 10 and 29 who said they had played video games during the past year.
Asked how many hours they spent on gaming on weekdays, most of the respondents, or about 40 percent, said less than one hour. About 27 percent said between one and two hours, and some 14 percent said between two and three hours. Almost 3 percent said they play for six hours or longer.
The survey shows the longer video games are played, the more serious the effects on the players’ lives.
Nearly 22 percent of the respondents who play under one hour said they could not quit playing when they were supposed to. That number was 45 percent for respondents who play over six hours.
One-point-seven percent of those who play under one hour a day said they played even after their academic grades had fallen or they had lost their jobs. Nearly 25 percent of those playing over six hours said they could not quit even in such situations.
Two-point-four percent of those who play under one hour said they kept on playing even after they became depressed or had difficulty sleeping. Thirty-seven percent of those who play over six hours said they could not quit even after gaming hurt their mental well-being.
In May, the World Health Organization recognized such strong addiction as a disease called “gaming disorder” and urged the world to take action on it.
