The impact of video games on young people’s well-being

Abstract

Video games, nowadays, are part of our subculture and are quite popular amongst young people in Malta. Thus, this study aims to obtain in-depth information and understandings of how video games impact the well-being of young people. This study also looks into whether video games can be used as a possible tool in youth work. It explores whether there are ways to implement this medium to make youth groups an appealing place where young people would be more interested to attend, to enable themselves to develop holistically, and reach their full potential in their environment. The study targets young people between the age of 18 and 30 and a qualitative research approach was found to be an appropriate tool, since the participants’ perceptions on how video gaming effects young people’s well-being were analyzed and discussed. Ten participants were identified through random snowball sampling, however, it was important that there was a balanced number of participants who considered themselves gamers, and those who considered themselves as non- gamers. This balance was crucial in this research in order not to prejudice the outcome of the findings by having homogeneous perspectives and views. What has emerged from this research is that there is a correlation between gamers and non-gamers on the impacts of video games on young people. The study has not only found that young people play video games to enjoy their time and to relax when playing video games in their leisure time, but it also found that video games are an effective tool when it comes to socialization, language development, cognitive processes and skills; and are also an educational tool. Furthermore, however, it has also identified that health problems may arise due to excessive gaming and these can be concerning matters. As a result, it has been observed that there needs to be more awareness and more digital literacy on this subject area so as to minimize any possible negative effects of gaming. Since there is an ongoing debate of those who favour video games and others who do not, this study sheds light and provides additional information on why there is this ongoing debate on this topic. Therefore, this study shows how youth workers can understand the importance of video games and the benefits that video games have when working with young people. This results in youth workers having a better insight on the effects that video games have on young people and therefore, they will be more aware and able to address and identify both positive outcomes and tackle possible concerns, in relation to the young people’s well-being.