How video games are shaping a generation of boys, for better and worse

In the last decade and a half, boys and young men ages 15 to 24 more than doubled their average time spent gaming, to about 10 hours a week, according to a major survey.

- Claire Cain Miller and Amy Fan

Some teachers say gaming has disrupted focus in classrooms. Some economists have linked it to the decline in young men's work hours. Other people have said it was a chief reason for the recent struggles of boys and young men.

Yet, video games also serve an important role in young people's lives. They have become a central way that young people socialise and provide them especially boys with a sense of belonging.

The increase in time boys and young men spent playing games was the biggest of any activity measured by the American Time Use Survey, the large federal survey that each year asks a nationally representative sample of thousands of people what they did every minute of a day.

The rise has coincided with technological changes that made games much more engrossing. Gaming went from an activity done at home on a console to one also done on phones, anywhere and anytime.

While parents have always worried about video games, a pressing concern now is about time spent playing. As it has increased, the fear is that video games have displaced other activities in boys’ and young men’s lives including physical activity, in-person socialis-ing, homework, jobs and sleep.

“Boys would rather sit in front of Minecraft or Fortnite than play outside,” said Ms Susan Donohoe, an elementary schoolteacher in Portland, Maine. “They are living a virtual life instead of real outside play and chores, which develop social skills and responsibility.”

Yet researchers, and teenagers themselves, said these virtual worlds were also a place to make and build real friendships.