“Games turn us into depraved violent creatures.” “Games glamorize violence.” “Games should be treated in the same way we treat alcohol and tobacco.” Claims like these have come courtesy of all kinds of outlets, from President Trump to High Courts.
And yet, there has been no dearth of studies proving otherwise. Next in line is an interdisciplinary research published by experts in Portugal, claiming that gamers are actually pretty healthy normal human beings.
The study, published in the Computers in Human Behavior journal, found that “highly engaged games” spent around 3.5 hours on average each day, far from the image of a mortally addicted gamer hopelessly staring at an ultrawide screen and guzzling soda all day – and night – long.
Here is what the study concluded:
“Gamers seem to display a healthy lifestyle consisting of regular physical activity, a healthy diet during gaming time, and an unproblematic gaming behavior, as well as an emotionally healthy profile and state of well-being.”
Next, popular culture paints gamers as chips and Cheetos monsters, while also maintaining a paunch worthy of a Sumo wrestler. The study says a majority of the gamers actually didn’t gobble any snacks while gaming, with 64% of them adding that they get regular workouts and half of them making it clear that they are psychologically in good shape.
