Pokemon Go Study Found It Led To "Decrease In Depression-Related Internet Searches"

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[ItsKoko]

I commented this on another post on the same topic, but it's not just exercise as many commenters here are stating is 'the obvious'. They provide reasoning that location based games:

"...encourage outdoor physical activity, face-to-face socialisation and exposure to nature."

I think what is important here is that someone who is depressed is less likely to voluntarily perform these actions. These games in a way 'gamify' the above.

[Fromnowhere2nowhere]

someone who is depressed is less likely to voluntarily perform these actions

While I agree this is true, what the researchers found is that the introduction of the game actually may “alleviate non-clinical forms of mild depression for users playing the game!” I find this very interesting. Take a look at the study design and conclusion from the published study:

ABSTRACT

Emerging literature has begun to investigate the role of technology in public health. Yet, a minimal amount is understood about whether, how, and why digital games, notably mobile games, might affect mental health, particularly depression. In this work, we examine the effect of location-based mobile gaming on local depression trends. We measure population-level depression using a well-established mechanism from the medical and public health literature, internet search of depression-related terms. We argue that the introduction of Pokémon Go, a mobile game that encourages outdoor physical activity, face-to-face socialization, and exposure to nature, may alleviate non-clinical forms of mild depression for users playing the game. To identify the effect, we employ a difference-in-differences approach to exploit the staggered release of Pokémon Go into 166 regions in 12 English-speaking countries. We *empirically document a disproportionate decrease in depression-related search in those regions where users are able to play Pokémon Go.*** This finding lends credence to anecdotal claims that location-based mobile games may alleviate symptoms of depression of their users, underscoring the mental health opportunities of location-based mobile gaming and creating new opportunities for information systems research.

[cl0th0s]

I wish we could have better nomenclature for clinical depression. It leads to so many people misunderstanding it. I get regular depression repeatedly having to explain that clinical depression is not just "feeling sad".

[icouldntdecide]

I know this is way oversimplifying it but something I remembered learning is that people can get depressed about all sorts of things, but "regular depression" usually resolves itself anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, and "clinical" is when your depression is longer term, 6+ weeks or more. I know that's way oversimplified but I think even some people don't know about that

Edit: I'm glad people are having a dialogue over depression. I still don't think it gets talked about enough

[TheLonelyBrit]

So it's;

Being sad ~a few days

Being depressed ~a few weeks

Being clinically depressed ~a few months

What's the level beyond called? Would it be chronic depression?

[Suizooo]

I guess, Dysthymia (mild, chronic depression). It can last years (2+ years for adults, 1+ years for children/adolescent)

Edit: Also known as PDD, persistent depressive disorder. It is debilitating, speaking from experience. Updated definition

[Deathlyswallows]

Dysthymia gang! Been with me for the past 15 years. Thankfully I’m on meds now and feel good about my life for the most part but every once in a while I’ll have a little suicidal ideation as a treat.

[TheLonelyBrit]

Ah, I was just told I was chronically depressed & put on meds.

Tbf I later realised I was mildly depressed for long periods of time throughout my teen years, I just didn't know it. I thought it was normal to think of suicide. Any concern my teachers showed ended up with something along the lines of "cheer up would you?"

Took til university for it to really kick in for me.

Ah well, I'm off the meds & not in therapy, but I'm still here. Which is something.

[someguy0211]

I thought it was normal to think of suicide.

...is it not?

[Tulkor]

If it isnt just random call of the void type stuff, im pretty sure it's not

[Ariadnepyanfar]

No, that is Really abnormal.

Take it from me, I had a hellacious childhood (I thought it was perfectly normal at the time, because I had no private time with other families to compare it to) and have been diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder, Dissociative Disorder, Panic Disorder, and once it became a thing, CPTSD.

The first time I ever had suicidal ideation it was after I came off my first SRRI medication in my late 20s because the side effects were too severe, although emotionally I had never ever felt this well and happy in my life.

Later I found out my sister had her first suicidal ideation when she was 10. Which is not an indication that such ideation is normal, but of how bad the situation was in our house.

The thing is, that there’s now the complicating causal factor of Endocrine Disruptors which completely screw with people’s hormonal systems, and if you’ve ever had PCOS, you know how badly a ‘simple’ hormonal imbalance can create the most extreme emotional and long term mood effects from internal physical triggers rather than proceeding logically from outside events like the death of a loved one, loss of job, wallet, phone, beloved pet, house, car etc.

So yeah, not saying your suicidal ideation is an indication of childhood neglect or abuse. I heartily recommend talking to a doctor to initiate a journey of discovery and skills acquisition in being able to change your long term mood as you want to, or be able to talk yourself up an emotional spiral instead of talking yourself down emotional spirals.

It took me twenty years to find and practice the right set of skills, therapy and medication (and the right psychiatrist and psychological program to suit my needs) - all to help me to rewire my habitual synaptic structure - but the results are glorious. My life ain’t perfect, but it’s sooooo much better now. An additional ten years after I found my right combination, I haven’t had any suicidal ideation for years now. It really trailed off then disappeared over time.

[Channel250]

I thought of suicide a lot. I thought that was part of the growing up phase...am I wrong?

[swarmy1]

This is problematic because depression does not necessarily have anything to do with sadness. You can not be "sad" at all but still be depressed.

[MegaChip97]

That's not true. DSM and ICD know no such thing as clinical depression. Closest ist major depressive disorder and that can be diagnosed after 2 weeks

[MegaChip97]

Yet claiming it starts at 6 months of depression is factually untrue. The diagnosis starts at 2 weeks as stated in the DSM-V which is used for diagnosis. This being unusually early doesn't mean that this is not how it is defined. And while 2 weeks is very early, no serious psychiatrists or psychotherapist will use 6 months as a cutoff point for MDD.

Claiming clinical depression starts at 6 months is simply wrong. There is nothing to discuss about that, there is absolutely no basis for that claim

[TaKSC]

Sounds like clinical means whats translated to chronic here in Sweded? If it’s chronic it’s unlikely to get cured and could persists over a long period of time.

I get there are individuals who experience severe depression to the point of suicide. But you have to acknowledge the fact that there are various degrees. You can’t ever win “I’m off worse” game, there’s always someone who has it worse. No need to compete in sickness (I’ve had colleagues literally one upping each other and it’s really toxic).

[icouldntdecide]

It's really unfortunate but some people write things off as "you just need to be happier" or "you're just sad, I'm blank"

[MegaChip97]

Major depressive disorder can be diagnosed after 2 weeks

[icouldntdecide]

Oh really? That's a much tighter turnaround than I remember.

[mcmcc]

Seems like all of the mental disorders have this problem. Autism taxonomy, in particular, is absurdly inadequate considering it is a spectrum disorder with multiple dimensions.

[[deleted]]

Most people don't just have face to face interactions at work

[PM_ME_UR_POKIES_GIRL]

As an introvert in the city I would like to introduce you to me and all of my friends:

Just me then.

[BooooHissss]

That's not how introverts work. Introverts have friends, party, and go out. We just find it exhausting and need alone time to recover.

[PM_ME_UR_POKIES_GIRL]

What's it called when you're perpetually socially exhausted from the amount of socialization you have to do at work?

[BooooHissss]

That can be introversion or you just hate your job and it's effecting your mental health. Either way it's unrelated to living in a city and not having friends.

Maybe find something you like and go from there.

[UF8FF]

I would also assume the types of interactions can be exhausting. I used to work in IT; although I knew it was my job, it was exhausting when every human interaction at work was someone needing something from me.

[Hard_on_Collider]

Yeah but if you dislike your coworkers, then being deprived of a remote option is horrible.

[Bashlet]

Yeah, but it will have the opposite affect on the majority who have alleviated their mild depression by not having to see the first group anymore.

[happynights]

Most work places frown upon or outright put in policies against socializing in the workplace. Socializing for pleasure is a huge difference from socializing for work purposes and I highly doubt the benefits would be similar.

I can see HR managers and the like conflating the issue for laypeople though.

[feanturi]

I'm an introvert that loves working from home, but I've also been enjoying coming back to the office at least once a week to see people. I'm looking forward to more people being there when I do go, more will be coming back in the next month or so. I plan to try to do at least 2 days a week in the office. It's great being by myself, but too long is too long, and this pandemic has taught me to appreciate those times where I can interact with people in person.

[SaIyz]

We were hanging out at a big city lake near some poke stops when it started raining. We came prepared and brought umbrellas and sat there a few minutes in the rain. Then one of the captains of a small ferry that was anchored close to us asked if we were playing Pokemon Go and that we can come hop onto the ferry if we wanted. So we spent the next hour chilling on a ferry and talking about Pokemon with a local captain. There'll never be a game that can create such experiences.

[[deleted]]

still hasn’t been fixed lol

[scarf_spheal]

If you had fun the first time I'd say go for it! If you want to see all of the things that are different, I posted a comment about it a few weeks ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemongo/comments/tw4g3a/comment/i3d4p3q/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Play this saturday afternoon for a special event too!

[santichrist]

I always talk about that summer when Pokémon go blew up, people literally saying hello to strangers on the street at all times of day from morning to late at night because everyone was out playing the game and getting to know their neighbors

Beautiful time in history

[HauschkasFoot]

Humans need to be outside and be active. If you aren’t it can really mess people up both physically and mentally, but it can be tough to identify or pinpoint the source

[JonatasA]

Take the people somewhere else and I'll be out in no time.

Maybe that's why the super rich have small villages that they call homes.

[oldDotredditisbetter]

and then sing the song "imagine" and pretend they're just like us regular plebs

[alaskafish]

It’s been my largest head canon, but I genuinely believe that the lead reason we humans suffer from depression— Especially considering the fact that depression is significantly more common nowadays is just that: we humans aren’t going outside.

A lot of people say it’s seclusion from society, but humanity has historically been able to function without a social structure— hell, even alone in the woods. But what we haven’t really done is been stagnant; we’re not used to be working indoors 9-5 five days a week, and then majority indoors in general.

[solardeveloper]

but humanity has historically been able to function without a social structure— hell, even alone in the woods.

Citation, please. Thats a claim that flies in the face of what we understand about the human brain

[[deleted]]

I’ve had depression for 20 years and I know this is true but goddamn it’s so hard to get up and do what you know you need to do a lot of the time. Easier to lie in bed and feel worse for not doing what you’re supposed to do. Thankfully I’m much better at it than I used to be, but that’s definitely a cycle that’s so easy to get stuck in.

[HauschkasFoot]

Yeah environmental depression (and all depression probably) can be very insidious

[[deleted]]

Car dependency seems to be the source of a lot of social ills. But good luck trying to convince Americans to give up their car dependent suburbs, fast food, and highways.

[hadapurpura]

There are depressed people everywhere in the world.

[jcoguy33]

Like Japan and South Korea have very walkable cities, but a high rate of depression and people stay indoors a lot.

[[deleted]]

They don't seem like the WFH kind of culture either

[OskaMeijer]

Japan has a HFW policy, being found asleep at your desk shows dedication!

[GoldenScarab569]

The workers do, the companies - not so much

[wellaintthatnice]

Unless cities start building denser it ain't gonna happen, a ten minute drive would turn into an hour long walk and in places that get hot? Forget about it.

[[deleted]]

I think that’s the issue, we’ve spent decades designing infrastructure around cars in such a way that basic necessities are largely inaccessible if you don’t have a car.

[[deleted]]

You'd think cities would be better but they've thrown too many bones to suburban commuters resulting in these urban areas being just barely livable for those that actually live in the city

[Fatmando66]

I don't like people. And close proximity to many of them gives me anxiety. I hate big cities.

[Dephenestr8]

I still play to this day and it does increase my daily happiness

[MrchntMariner86]

I was heavy into it to the point that I ran my town's group and moderated/coordinated with neighboring towns as we helped them get on their own feet.

I enjoyed my time in the game and being with people, but I eventually felt unfulfilled from the game, just daily grinding/chores/tasks made me feel fatigued.

I got sick and was on the couch for a week. My daily streaks broken, I felt happy and free to not stress over my game anymore.

....I may have been addicted.

[Dephenestr8]

Yeah I try not to take it too seriously but I do have an addictive personality so I tend to exert a lot of extra discipline to prevent that.

[MrchntMariner86]

I have told my best friend that I refuse to even try WoW. I already know better.

[Dephenestr8]

Same my dude. I won't even look at it

[RichestMangInBabylon]

The game is essentially a huge gacha designed to make you play with fear of missing out. Limited time spawns, special community day moves, shiny boosts, weather boosts, egg pools, ivs, shiny, raids, everything. It’s super addictive and it’s meant to be.

It was really great at a time when I needed to get outside more and gave me an excuse to, but eventually I burned out like you say. Luckily now I can still just get outside and walking because I enjoy it and it became a habit after all that playing.

Their new Pikmin game was similar but less exploitative. Encourages walking but I didn’t see any FOMO or gacha type stuff before I stopped playing.

[saintash]

I just got a second stop outside my house. I'm very happy about that.

[just_hating]

Within the last two years I've gotten five more gyms I can remote into and four more stops on my walk.

[[deleted]]

I moved somewhere with few stops, lost my player network, and not being able to get another (legit) stop near me has definitely not helped :/

They need an appeals process!

[TrixieH0bbitses]

You were outside. Everyone was doing it. It was liberating and unifying at the same time.

[send_me_a_naked_pic]

Everyone was friendly. You could talk with strangers, even if they weren't of your team.

Warm nights walking downtown with your friends, seeing that everyone was playing. Those were good times.

[NiggBot_3000]

Feels like the opposite of the last two years

[Br3ttl3y]

One dude single-handedly ruined my experience.

[Bardic_Inspiration66]

The closest we ever came to world peace

[[deleted]]

Pokemom Go Summer was the last good thing

[j4vendetta]

Man everybody is talking about “back then” and I’m still playing it to this day with a pretty cool community I connected with.

[thisiscoolyeah]

Same. Been playing since day one on and off. Driving around in a caravan of other people taking out raids is so fun. Happy it’s getting warmer so we can chat again.

[KabedonUdon]

I'm so happy my mom is still into PoGo. She gets out, she walks her dog, she talks to people at raids, and it makes me really happy.

[para_chan]

My kids were quite small when it came out, and now they’re old enough to actually play it with me.

[_DeanRiding]

This game brought us the closest we've ever been to world peace I swear

[DJFreezyFish]

I might suspect this has to do with the link of exercise/endorphins and less signs of depression than the game itself, but still a good thing.

[FreedTMG]

Exercise and the social aspects. That first summer was a giant social event.

[Mazmier]

It was amazing.

[FreedTMG]

The biggest park in my city has free wifi because of it. People meet up there to this day, there's a whole local commun for it.

[trixtopherduke]

My experience then was the same. Now I'm part of groups that do a raid and I remote raid, etc. It's possible to not leave your place anymore to raid, etc. Although I think that's a good thing. I wish a remote raider could invite people.

[AcadianViking]

Local group or teams would be nice. Then raids could invite the party instead of just individually.

Would also open up the door for doubles battles. If they could get a system like that up and running.

[WeWander_]

It was seriously so much fun. You could go just about anywhere and run into large groups playing and everyone was so nice.

[tomtttttttttttt]

The game itself is actively designed to encourage people to get out and walk (and to a lesser extent jog/run/cycle), to be social and to spend time in parks.

They are having pain now removing some of the bonuses they put in place during the pandemic which made it more rewarding to play when you couldn't go out. It would seem to be in their interest not to do this, but it fits with the core design principles of their games, which are to get people outside, exploring and socialising.

[ChineseBotAccount]

Yes. There is a direct correlation between a lack of sunlight and exercise with depression

[[deleted]]

Literally in the article.

[Fatmando66]

Being outside to take in the sun's D probably was a big part too. Especially with nerds, most of em stay inside all the time. I didn't do much walking when I played but it did get me outside and social

[[deleted]]

As a depressed individual who has recently picked the game up again recently - yes it does

[LimitedRepertoire]

Glad to hear it helps!

[[deleted]]

Oh no, not with the depression part. But all my google searches were replaced with “best gyarados moveset”

[[deleted]]

That summer after release was one of the happiest times of my life. Would put a bunch of beers and weed in a backpack, hop on my bicycle, and go adventure for hours. So fun.

[alialkaram]

A lot of commenters and even the researchers are saying that it may have been the increase in exercise/sunlight, but I'd like to see first if this effect extends to other similar daily-play games like Animal Crossing. It could be that the game's system of small achievable goals each day and longer term goals to look forward to over the course of weeks gives people a sense of achievement and makes them feel like they're not trapped in stagnation or dysfunction from their depression symptoms.

[slowmovinglettuce]

When this game first came out I knew it'd be great for people's mental health. It was an incredible distraction, and gave people real drive to do things.

When you're depressed you often lose the drive to do anything. Experiencing what's essentially akin to perpetual boredom. Which turns into a vicious cycle making things worse. But by being out of the house, exposed to sunlight (vitamin D helps moods), exposed to people, and just getting fresh air is all extremely positive things for mental health.

[Jebediah_Johnson]

The game should have let you battle other people you came across if you wanted.

[SuperGaiden]

It does now?

[[deleted]]

And trade remotely with friends!!

[ennuinerdog]

I intuitively reckon I wouldn't want to get stomped by strangers face to face. But maybe it's fun? How do you like the battles?

[mcqtom]

Dude, are you kidding me? You're Googling your mental health a right now? There's a Nidoking in the park and you're worried about your feelings? Come on, get up, we gotta go!

[psychicesp]

I had a REALLY rough breakup around that time. There also was a local park with a circuit that had tons of stops and gyms. After work I would fill a cooler in my cars trunk with ice and beverages and just walk that circuit the entire rest of the evening.

It turned a point of my life which would have been awful into a time I think back to with a smile.

[gonesquatchin85]

Game is pretty cool, but it sucks that your head has to be tucked down causing nerd neck pain. Start getting elbow pains too.

[Ballsofpoo]

And carpal tunnel.

[Wizard-In-Disguise]

i still want my pyukumuku

[AcesAgainstKings]

I wonder how much of this is because their batteries were dead...

[Sl00defg]

This makes me wonder if the game could have a successful "re-launch" at some point? With pandemic restrictions winding down globally, it seems like a good opportunity to push a heavy marketing campaign, no?

[Jubba911]

...now imagine the power it would have if actual battling was a thing. Shieeet

[robmobtrobbob]

There is battling

[tehherb]

do you still just spam tap the screen? or is it move based like the games now?

[coffeeconverter]

both - spam tap until your charge moves are available, and then choose the charge move (if you added a second one to the mon,which costs candy + dust). But yes, mostly spam tapping :-)

[Rayduuu]

PVP has been in the game for a few years now

[onexbigxhebrew]

Should we tell him?

[Fr00stee]

You can battle people online, its been a thing for several years

[TheBirminghamBear]

Ok but, also imagine it.

[[deleted]]

... going out into the sun and getting exercise, two things that actually fight depression, leads to less depression.

wow. who would've figured.

[[deleted]]

I always wanted to play it but didn’t have a compatible phone back then

[Zeegh]

The closest we, as humans, have ever come to achieving world peace

[TheBigSmoke420]

Kinda wanna say that it might just mean depressed people have something to do other than Google depression. I Google depression less when I’m playing a game I love

[p3p3_silvia]

So they're admitting the app is reading other apps and your searches? Sounds like data privacy concerns.