Japan study shows positive mental health effects from owning video games

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Originally published at: Japan study shows positive mental health effects from owning video games - Boing Boing

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I am curious how video games will effect things like dementia and Alzheimer’s in the future. Lots of older people watch TV to pass the time, which is a passive use of your brain, vs playing games where you have to actively use it in one way or another. Gen X I think is the first generation that will have a significant number of people still gaming into their old age.

I hope if I move into a home we have massive LAN parties.

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This is really the interesting and unique part of the study to me. It’s normally extremely difficult to disentangle factors like the demographics of people who seek out and can afford high-end game consoles vs. the population at large, and I would be pretty skeptical of any sweeping conclusions made from a study of gamers. But if this description is accurate then it’s really a random distribution in this case.

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Yeah, that’s why I found it interesting! It wasn’t a self-selecting group of video game enthusiasts or something. It’s still a correlation, and not a direct relationship, but it’s interesting!

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Is it sufficient to own some, or do I actually have to play them as well?

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It works via osmosis, just like falling asleep on your textbooks.

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Brilliant! I’m good, then.
Yes, I feel better already.

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I can’t be the only one thinking that winning a lottery is likely to have positive mental health effects as-is.

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It works as a placebo for owning a home.

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You’re not the only one thinking that. It’s pretty significant. Winning a lottery is so positive feeling that it masks the fact that they’re winning the opportunity to spend money.

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