STUDY: 70% of Teens Regularly Play Online Games with Strangers

Nearly 70% of teens engage in online gaming with strangers on a weekly basis, underscoring how gaming environments can make youths vulnerable to mental health concerns and safety risks, the Ruderman Family Foundation has revealed in a new white paper. At the same time, gaming has the potential to be a powerful social platform for reaching youths who are struggling with mental health challenges.

According to Connected Play: Adolescent Gaming and Perceived Loneliness — the Foundation’s newly published white paper, conducted by the Digital Wellness Lab at Boston Children’s Hospital — one in five adolescents who engage in online gaming have encountered toxicity and safety issues.

Gameplay and in-game social interactions with others are often associated with increased levels of loneliness, especially for boys. While lonely adolescents may turn to gaming for social connections, they are more likely to report negative experiences, suggesting that these virtual environments are not providing the supportive and fulfilling interactions they need.

In another key finding from the white paper, while social video games are highly popular for both boys and girls, the two genders display notable differences in their gaming partners, how they experience gaming, and how they use the games when they are lonely.

The white paper’s findings were unveiled during a panel discussion hosted by the Foundation at TwitchCon — the prominent annual convention that focuses on live-streaming, entertainment, esports, and internet culture — on September 20 in San Diego. The “Gaming, Streaming, and Mental Health: Impact on Youth” panel brought together a licensed mental health professional and four leading gamers — Keeoh, Your Narrator, AlarmingAmber, and AussieAntics — who shared their unique mental health journeys with the broader gaming audience. The landmark panel was the result of a renewed partnership between the Foundation and Dignitas, the premier esports organization under New Meta Entertainment, Inc.

"I'm here to help spread awareness and information to everyone in the gaming community, because mental health is something we should all be able to get help with," said Your Narrator. Reflecting on how gaming offers him a key avenue for community-building and interpersonal connection, he continued, “There are always people you can talk to, and your friends who you play with are always there. They’re just a message away.”

The Foundation’s white paper analyzes survey responses from a diverse group of approximately 1,500 teenagers nationwide to explore the social dynamics of online gaming and their associations with perceived loneliness among adolescent boys and girls. These data begin to reveal a picture of how individual characteristics, particularly gender, relate to gaming behaviors and social dynamics. The results serve as a foundation for recommendations to young people, parents, and game designers who wish to maximize the benefits of video game play on social wellbeing and adolescent development.

The findings highlight significant gender-based variations in how adolescents engage with gaming. Boys are more likely to engage in extended communication with strangers, possibly to seek out new social connections through gaming. Girls tend to game more with known contacts, such as family members.

These patterns may expose boys to higher levels of risk from interacting with strangers online, while potentially offering girls stronger connections to family and friends. Additionally, boys view gaming interactions as more competitive, while girls are more inclined to see their gaming sessions as collaborative.

“When it comes to leveraging gaming’s potential as a social platform that minimizes loneliness, it is our hope that key stakeholders — including young people, their parents, and the tech industry — can utilize our white paper’s multifaceted findings to encourage positive, safe, and socially fulfilling online gaming experiences for adolescents,” said Jay Ruderman, President of the Ruderman Family Foundation.

Ruderman himself recently spoke to Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf on his “All About Change” podcast on the issue of online hate and harassment, with the famed gamer stating, “I truly think you just have to experience it and just kind of let it settle with yourself. These are just comments on a screen.”

Regarding how he manages his mental health in the face of trolls, Bugha emphasized how he surrounds himself with “people that are supportive and not people that are just trying to tear you down. Just lock in on what you want, set goals for yourself and just try to focus on those things. Just try to ignore these outside gaming, just things that will throw you off and try to have a good time, set these goals for yourself and spend time with family and friends, online, offline, whatever that may be.”

The new white paper confirms the deep-rooted popularity of gaming among youth, as an overwhelming 93% of respondents played digital video games during the month when the survey was conducted, with 79% starting before age 10. More than 50% of the teenagers reported frequently engaging in real-time communication with friends and family, while about one third actively engaged with strangers when they were gaming. Since real-time communication is often integral to online gaming, helping to facilitate tactical discussion and enhancing the overall experience, many online multiplayer games seem to encourage real-time interaction, even among players who do not know each other.

Additionally, the white paper found that while 62% of adolescents use in-game chat functions, nearly half also use other platforms to continue conversations. This trend brings to light the need for cross-platform safety measures to protect young gamers.