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Teen gamers say games have two positive impacts & two negative ones

There’s been much debate on whether playing video games has a positive or negative impact on kids – and now teen gamers themselves have weighed-in.

A new large-scale survey of US teens found that around 40% of them played every day – with smartphones almost as popular a gaming device as consoles – and reported a mixed impact on their life …

85% of US teens play video games

Pew Research Center surveyed 1,423 U.S. teens ages 13 to 17, and found that 85% of them played video games.

Some 41% of them said that they did so daily, an almost perfect correlation with those who identified as gamers.

Unsurprisingly, there was a clear gender split here: 62% of teen boys describe themselves as gamers, while only 17% of teen girls do.

Almost as many teens play games on smartphones as on games consoles like PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch. Consoles were most popular, with 73% using them, while 70% play video games on smartphones (there’s obviously a lot of overlap between the two).

Two positive impacts described by teen gamers

Teen gamers reported two main positive impacts on their lives. More than two-thirds of them describe it as a social experience, and almost half say they’ve made at least one new friend through gaming.

The majority also say that playing games has improved their problem-solving skills.

Two negative effects too

But gamers also agree that there can be negative impacts, with 41% saying that it has led to sleep deprivation.

Additionally, online bullying is common with multiplayer games, with 80% describing it as a problem, and 41% saying they have experienced it personally.

You can read the full results at Pew Research.

Photo by Onur Binay on Unsplash

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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