Are video games sedating young men?

Video games have flirted with controversy since their earliest days. Yet despite the medium being a mainstream pass time for over a decade now, the hobby continues to elicit side eyed glances. There’s one concern I’ve been seeing coming up a lot lately in both the mainstream and independent press. That’s whether video games are making young men lazy, unambitious, and sedated.

Normally I’d just write this off as more pearl clutching. As most moral panics over video games have been. Remember when they claimed games made people more violent, and correlated them to a whole bunch of mass shootings? Except the research showed that correlation does not equal causation, and that gamers were no violent than the baseline.

Now, it’s fair to say that there are games out there that are exploitative. Particularly online multiplayer and mobile titles, which heavily “encourage” players to spend real world money on microtransactions. As a recent thread on Reddit by a mobile developer pointed out, many of these games dynamically adjust rules in the back end, and even have psychologists on staff, to keep players in those addiction and payment cycles. Which in my opinion is unethical, even if players themselves have shown they actually like the monetization. But this is more a symptom of a broader social problem rather than a cause of it.

There’s been boatloads of research showing that young men are indeed doing worse than their female counterparts, and worse than previous generations in general. Indeed, just by anecdotal evidence, there are a lot of dudes out there in the Western world who seem more content smoking weed and playing Call of Duty all day, rather than going out and making a name for themselves. I think there are several factors behind this. Namely Western society’s focus on propping up girls, and recent rhetoric that has painted masculinity in a negative light. Economic opportunities have also become diminished. While I still think its possible to grind your way to success, the rewards for doing so have been shrinking over time. Men face more competition than ever in the workforce, and things such as buying a house are increasingly out of reach. Even six figures isn’t enough in some areas. Of course a lot of digital ink has been spilled talking about the dating market. And research has corroborated that the majority of women on dating apps, where most young people go to meet a partner, are only interested in the top 20% of men. Which leaves the bottom 80% swept aside. Unstable family lives also play a huge albeit unspoken role that contributes to a lot of mental health issues.

For a lot of guys out there, the carrot has been taken away and all they’re left with is the stick. So many just retreat into a minimalist lifestyle. Minimal work, minimal effort, and minimal reward. Effectively becoming The Dude, except at least The Dude left the house. These young men are content to while away the days jerking off, ripping bong hits, and fragging n00bs. And when it comes to video games in particular, I think they specifically offer a sense of agency, which they would not normally experience in their daily lives. Many are more content with this than they are the real world.

Now these things on their own, when done in moderation, aren’t necessarily good or bad. But, as South Park pointed out, they ultimately only serve to make you okay with being bored. They’re artificial substitutes for going out and actually dealing with life head on. Which is hard. Very hard. Especially in today’s social climate, where victimhood and the easier path are often encouraged. We men though aren’t designed to take the easy path. A sense of real agency, along with the feeling of being a good protector and provider, is what we need for our mental wellbeing. That’s hard wired into us.

So what’s my advice for young men? Well, I’ve had to deal with many of these issues myself, and it can certainly feel overwhelming in this day and age. My first word of warning is to stay away from radical politics. These groups exploit the frustrations of troubled young men for their own selfish ends that never result in a positive outcome for their members or society. What I suggest is becoming part of your broader community, and not an online one. Volunteering is one of the best ways to do this. Even if you can’t find a paying job, there are plenty of charities, political parties, and community organizations out there that are desperate for people. Most require no experience at all, just a willingness to show up and work. They’ll train you, and you’ll pick up valuable skills in the process. And many of these gigs tangible results you can see, giving you that real sense of agency. They can also lead to future opportunities. I got my current day job directly by volunteering in community television. There’s always something you can be doing to better yourself, no matter how small. Even if the deck seems stacked against you, the struggle and the grind is still better than living no life at all. And of course a little gaming is fine too, as long as you’re not neglecting living to do it. Just maybe switch to couch multiplayer instead of being terminally online.