If you’re of a certain generation and a fan of video games, you probably heard flack from parents or teachers or some other authority that playing games for too many hours a day is bad for you. It usually doesn’t come from a bad place, they’re just concerned that spending that large amount of time playing could interfere with your social life and mental health compared to other activities. Well, a new European study is saying that you could play games for hours and hours and it wouldn’t impact any of that. Sort of.
A Royal Society Open Science published study is showing that the amount of time a person plays video games doesn’t impact their mood, mental health, or life satisfaction. In fact, in some cases, video games improved their well-being.
Researchers of the Queen Mary University of London, UK surveyed 703 American gamers that played 150 different Nintendo Switch games for collectively over 140,000 hours. The results found that the amount of time spent playing games didn’t impact their mental or social well-being, but how gaming fit into their lifestyle.
Since playing video games was a hobby, the players naturally enjoyed their time playing them and didn’t feel left out or that they were losing any opportunities while playing. Regarding social health, several games allowed them to play with friends either at home or online. It’s just something they like to do and they do it when they’re able to. Simple as that.
Video games have become more and more social.Photo credit: Canva
In fact, some may argue that video games might be good for you. There are studies suggesting that video games can help people improve and exercise cognitive functions. Aside from puzzle games, real-time strategy games such as League of Legends and X-Com 2 encourage critical thinking and problem solving skills, too. Certain sports games exercise hand-eye coordination. Much like with movies, narrative-driven video games can increase a person’s empathy as they embody the characters within a role-playing game or AAA epic.
Socially, gaming has become less and less of a single-player experience. The rise of online gaming has allowed communities to form, allowing gamers to make more friends to play with and even hang out with outside of the game. Playing video games online has also been credited with helping the social lives along with curbing depression and anxiety for millions of people during the COVID-19 lockdown.
As video gamers themselves get older and see the benefits for themselves, many of them turn to video games as a way to bond with their children much like how their parents bonded with them through sports, art, and other hobbies when they were growing up. This has allowed generations to come together and socialize, with parents strengthening bonds with their kids as they practice teamwork to take on a boss in a game or solve a puzzle.
The bottom line is that video games themselves aren’t bad for you and they can fit into a healthy lifestyle. But if you’re using them as a means to skip work, skip social activity, and other life enrichment then there’s an underlying problem, but it’s not video games themselves. There are people who shut themselves out in the name of sports, painting, and other hobbies, too. In the end, it is usually not the hobby itself that interferes with a person’s quality of life, but the choices in when, how, and why they do the hobby.
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A family makes heart shapes with their hands at sunset
Ketel Marte was brought to tears during an MLB game after facing a shameful fan taunt.
Baseball manager's poignant support for a player brought to tears after shameful fan taunt
Whether they’re expecting perfection from their favorite players or, worse, behaving callously toward opposing teams, sports fans often forget that athletes are human beings. But athletic competition has the ability to unify and uplift, even amid such painful and unpleasant encounters. Take, for example, a major-league baseball game held June 24, 2025 between the home team Chicago White Sox and visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.
A shameful low point occurred when Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte was at bat in the seventh inning. Per ESPN, a fan reportedly yelled out a comment regarding Marte’s late mother, Elpidia Valdez, who died in a 2017 car accident in the Dominican Republic. Team personnel, including manager Torey Lovullo, then requested the 22-year-old fan be ejected. (Though he was remorseful and admitted his actions were inappropriate, according to an ESPN source, he was nonetheless banned indefinitely from all MLB ballparks.) "We commend the White Sox for taking immediate action in removing the fan," the MLB said in a statement. Marte reportedly declined to comment.
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While the fan’s behavior is inexcusable, it did spark a powerful and inspiring moment. After hearing the comment, Marte was visibly upset, prompting Lovullo to walk on the field, put his arm around him, and offer some words of encouragement. "[I said,] 'I love you, and I’m with you, and we’re all together, and you’re not alone,'" Lovullo said in a post-game interview, as documented by The Rich Eisen Show. "'No matter what happens, no matter what was said or what you’re heard, that guy is an idiot.’"
According to Arizona Republic, Lovullo heard the fan’s comment but didn’t want to repeat it. “I looked right at [Marte] when I heard,” he said. “I looked right at him, and he looked at the person, as well. He put his head down and I could tell it had an immediate impact on him, for sure."
Elsewhere in the post-game interview, the manager called the moment "terrible" and reflected on why he stood up for Marte. "Fans are nasty, and fans go too far sometimes," he said. "I love my players, and I’m gonna protect them…I’ve known Ketel for nine years. He’s had some unbelievably great moments and some hardships as well and some really tough moments in his life. I know those. At the end of the day, we’re human beings, and we have emotions. I saw him hurting, and I wanted to protect him."
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The following day, the Chicago White Sox X account sent out a message in support of Marte, writing, "We’re with you" and "Baseball is family." On The Rich Eisen Show, the show's host addressed the need to eradicate this kind of toxic athlete-fan interaction: "I was hearing [people saying], 'There’s no place for this in major league baseball.' There isn’t. There’s no place for this in our society. I understand that people are saying the MLB has got to do something about this. Fans have a right to heckle players—this is something that has happened forever…But there is a line."
In another recent, depressing sports moment with a beautiful coda, let’s look to Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the eventual champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder. During the first quarter, Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton tore his right Achilles tendon—a devastating injury that could potentially sideline him for most of the 2025-2026 season. Following the game, in a lovely display of sportsmanship, Thunder point-guard and league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went to the Pacers locker room to check on his competitor. In a press conference, he said, "You just hate to see it, in sports in general. But in this moment, my heart dropped for him. I can't imagine playing the biggest game of my life and something like that happening. It’s so unfortunate."
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