My colleagues and I are investigating this in connection with manifestations of eco-anxiety (or climate anxiety) in adults aged 18 to 35.
A $50 (CAD) prepaid credit card will be drawn amongst participants. 💳
We are completely independent in conducting this study and are doing so on a volunteer basis. None of the researchers are receiving funds nor a salary from any video-game or other company.
This study is approved by the Research Ethics Board of the Faculty of Literature and Social Sciences of the University of Sherbrooke. 🎓
Thank you for your help! 🙂
Can literally any day to day activity that distracts you from the existential dread that arises from thinking about the overwhelming ecological complexity and insane amount of political and societal momentum necessary to curtail the worse effects of the climate change?
Yes…yes it can.
Is it bad for the environment to very slowly cook a GPU to distract you from the coming climate catastrophes? Yes. Is it good for your mental health?
Ehh…maybe…but most of us are just partying at the end of the world cuz we might as well get ours (aka live a full life) while the very young get angry about how they never got theirs (aka lived a full life).
There is a difference between climate concern, where you desperately want to do anything to fix the climate problems, and climate anxiety, where you are so overwhelmed by the climate issues that it interferes with your ability to take any action.
I suspect this study is focusing only on the latter.
Concerned about anxiety? Try ignoring it with video games!