To fill the boredom, be careful not to provoke an addiction!

Kill time on public transportation, wait before a meeting or be busy during a break: there are a thousand and one reasons to play games on your smartphone. While they are easy to have fun with, Canadian researchers have shown that there is a risk of addiction, especially when playing to combat boredom. Their works on this subject have been published in a special journal Computers in Human Behavior.

A vicious circle

The two authors of the study, Chanel Larche and Michael Dixon, recruited 60 people for the study: All played the game Candy Crush, Whose formula is based on colored candies, which must be combined to crash and accumulate points. People are playing at levels 77 to 3307. The higher the level, the more difficult the game becomes: “Challenge, Balance – There is an imbalance in skill, low intensity and low motivation“, Say the authors who studied the level of ease compared to the higher level, it was more exciting and you wanted to continue the game. Scientists wanted to know whether players want to play more. Continue when there is intensity or not. People who play are more immersed in the game than others. “Those who play to escape experience more intensity and positive effects compared to other players, forming a vicious cycle where video games become a cure for depression.“, Notes Michael Dixon.

Risk of addiction

According to him, playing games on the phone is a bad reflex: “Although it improves mood, it creates the need to keep playing.“He believes that prolonged and repetitive play time can lead to addiction and reduce the time available for other activities that are considered healthy.”This exacerbates the frustration“, He warned. Chanel Large recommends that developers of these smartphone games develop tools to reduce risk, as an option to limit game time.