Good or Bad screen time?
Image by Ernesto Rodriguez from Pixabay
The other day, my son was playing Mario Kart on his 3DSXL in the sofa, and I sat down beside him to watch. It was quite enjoyable and relaxing. After a while however, I started thinking about screen time in general and why this experience was pleasant, whereas other forms of screen time are often downright annoying?
The first thing that comes to my mind when anyone mentions screen time is smart phones zombies. People mindlessly swiping up for the next fading dopamine hit in the virtual one-armed bandit. Most of the things presented are useless. And every now and then, the algorithm presents something semi-interesting in a perfect dose to make sure that the user’s attention is glued to the screen for as long as humanly possible. If every swipe generated quality content, we would perhaps saturate rather quickly and move on to something else. But with the impeccable mix of rare nuggets in a stream of boring stuff, the addiction is maximised. At least that is what it looks like to me.
Watching someone scratching the screen in the same way that a cat uses a scratch plate, is extremely boring. For an outsider, the intermediate nuggets are not nuggets. They are tailored to the specific user, which perhaps makes riding shotgun pointless and demoralising. It becomes analogous to playing the virtual slot machine but never winning even once.
Playing a video game on the other hand, feels much different as an observer. It isn’t too far off watching a sports game. You know what is happening and why. You root for the player, and it can be fun to see the reactions while the player occasionally create their own epic moments. Also, a video game usually has a defined end. A level starts and it ends. And in between levels you have some time of relief, where you clearly know that the player’s attention is not directed on the game. At those moments, you can connect with the person. Mindless scrolling, on the other hand is an attention grabber like no other. You never know when or even if the smart phone zombie will shift focus from the screen and listen to you. I have even read on the internet (so it must be true) that a smart phone can disrupt a conversation even if it is only lying untouched on a table, only visible. That, apparently, can be enough! That’s why I think it is a very, very bad idea to bring the phone to the dinner table, for example. They should be placed out of sight, not to disturb the crucial activity of family dinner.
Either way, gaming is a social activity. I also think gaming is a lot less addictive and damaging compared to mindless scrolling. There are video game addicts for sure, but my guess is that the number of smart phone addicts dwarfs the number of unhealthy gamers out there. Lately, I have picked up my old hobby of playing computer games. It can be so relaxing to play a game with the optimal challenge. Something that challenge you optimally; Not too difficult and not too easy. When playing a game you love, you rest your brain by closing out irrelevant thoughts in the spur of the moment. It is like the flip side of meditation, where you focus on nothing. With the games, you focus strongly on something until the rest of the world vanishes in your mind. And that is something I personally find very relaxing.
It is probably rather important to insert a gaming session once in a while. Give the brain some well needed play time with a well defined problem.