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Playing video games can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood

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Re: Playing video games can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood

#51

Post by si1entstill »

r3trohack3r wrote: post #44

I thought this was going to be an article about optimism ("geeking out" as in getting excited about things). I acknowledge that I'm responding to the headline and not the meat of the article. I've recently (past ~5 years) stopped viewing the world pessimistically. I don't believe it's because I'm blindly optimistic, but because I didn't have the perspective to understand our ancestor's problems and how good of a life…

I feel like I am and always have been a "day-to-day" optimist, but I struggle to apply that to larger, societal problems.

Our impact on the environment is measurable and the impacts look dire. Income disparity seems to be increasing locally and globally. The military industrial complex of the largest nation-states feels eternal, as if it is a fundamental part of neoliberal capitalism.

I can "half-full" almost everything day to day. Financial issues, medical issues, family problems... never easy, but doable. I can handle it, smile on my face, and tough it out. But when I'm left alone with my thoughts, its hard for me not to draw the conclusion that the world my children (or their children) grow up in will be worse-off, and they will live harder lives than we have.

Re: Playing video games can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood

#52

Post by unixgoddess »

mihaifm wrote: post #49

Stress response depends vastly on the game. A lot of games will actually increase stress levels. Take Elden Ring for example, that game will make you sweat at almost every encounter. But it’s possible that this kind of exposure might make you more resilient to stress in the long tun.

this. I tried playing a variety of retro console games as an adult; most gave me unbearable anxiety within a couple minutes, especially platformers, side-scrollers and racing games. With turn-based rpgs it came more slowly from the endless boring grinding.

Only non-timed puzzles were chill enough to play as a clinically anxious person.

Re: Playing video games can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood

#53

Post by JohnFen »

olvy0 wrote: post #48
JohnFen wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best dentist I ever had was as much a geek about all things dental as I am a geek about all things computers. He would happily describe, in great technical detail, every aspect of what he was doing, why, etc. It was pretty awesome, and I left every visit feeling very positive about the experience.

There was this one time I had a prolonged dental operation, I was fully conscious, the dentist talked himself through a delicate situation while hunting in my mouth for the right angle to do it. And I thought suddenly, hey, it's just like me when I'm debugging! Cool!

Yes!

What your doctor (and dentist, etc.) are really doing with you is exactly the same as what you do when you're debugging a program. Except that health care providers don't have the luxury of having a debugger or the ability to examine the "machine" state in accurate detail.

Re: Playing video games can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood

#55

Post by fauxpause_ »

si1entstill wrote: post #51
r3trohack3r wrote: post #44

I thought this was going to be an article about optimism ("geeking out" as in getting excited about things). I acknowledge that I'm responding to the headline and not the meat of the article. I've recently (past ~5 years) stopped viewing the world pessimistically. I don't believe it's because I'm blindly optimistic, but because I didn't have the perspective to understand our ancestor's problems and how good of a life…

I feel like I am and always have been a "day-to-day" optimist, but I struggle to apply that to larger, societal problems. Our impact on the environment is measurable and the impacts look dire. Income disparity seems to be increasing locally and globally. The military industrial complex of the largest nation-states feels eternal, as if it is a fundamental part of neoliberal capitalism. I can "half-full" almost everyth…

Is the military industrial complex really that big? I’m under the impression that it’s honestly pretty weak and fragile.

Re: Playing video games can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood

#56

Post by vlunkr »

si1entstill wrote: post #51
r3trohack3r wrote: post #44

I thought this was going to be an article about optimism ("geeking out" as in getting excited about things). I acknowledge that I'm responding to the headline and not the meat of the article. I've recently (past ~5 years) stopped viewing the world pessimistically. I don't believe it's because I'm blindly optimistic, but because I didn't have the perspective to understand our ancestor's problems and how good of a life…

I feel like I am and always have been a "day-to-day" optimist, but I struggle to apply that to larger, societal problems. Our impact on the environment is measurable and the impacts look dire. Income disparity seems to be increasing locally and globally. The military industrial complex of the largest nation-states feels eternal, as if it is a fundamental part of neoliberal capitalism. I can "half-full" almost everyth…

The way that I stay optimistic is to think about how awareness of these issues is growing. As they say, knowing is half the battle.

https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2019/11/25/u-s-public-vi...

More people are concerned about climate change now, and the younger generations are more concerned than ever. Hopefully that leads to people in general making better choices, and more importantly, electing people who aren't deep in the pockets of the fossil fuel industry.

Re: Playing video games can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood

#57

Post by 411111111111111 »

r3trohack3r wrote: post #44

I thought this was going to be an article about optimism ("geeking out" as in getting excited about things). I acknowledge that I'm responding to the headline and not the meat of the article. I've recently (past ~5 years) stopped viewing the world pessimistically. I don't believe it's because I'm blindly optimistic, but because I didn't have the perspective to understand our ancestor's problems and how good of a life…

> Whenever I get a brief feeling of "this is bad," I remind myself that humans have conquered far worse than whatever "this" is and that we are likely to triumph over this thing too.

I do something very similar, though slightly different.

Whenever I notice something bad i rejoice that I've probably lived through the best times our western society likely ever have

I at least experienced a reality which didn't have [the bad thing] as the norm.

Society is not gonna get more equal from now on, so Gen Beta (people that are currently being born) are gonna have a massively worse life then I've had.

Re: Playing video games can help to reduce stress and anxiety, and improve mood

#60

Post by pathartl »

r3trohack3r wrote: post #44

I thought this was going to be an article about optimism ("geeking out" as in getting excited about things). I acknowledge that I'm responding to the headline and not the meat of the article. I've recently (past ~5 years) stopped viewing the world pessimistically. I don't believe it's because I'm blindly optimistic, but because I didn't have the perspective to understand our ancestor's problems and how good of a life…

There are a few people in my circle that are overburdened by conspiracy theories to the point where they think that humans are corrupt and everyone is out to get them. It's exhausting to live like that. My goal is to be my 13 yr old self's hero. Do cool stuff, be in a good relationship, and fix things that bother me to the best of my ability.
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