Aaliya

What is it that makes people with mental health more confident on social media or video games?

Video games are very popular. People play with their friends, meet new people and just enjoy themselves. But what are they like for people who struggle with mental health? People who are introverted and might not know how to express themselves in the real world but in video games they’re a whole new person.

Some people have social anxiety which makes it hard to talk to people, same for introverts as well. They’re always overthinking about what other people see them as and they’re very anxious about everything they do in front of people. They have a low self esteem and they’re not that confident in the real world. However, when it comes to social media and video games they’re automatically a different person.

They’re a more confident person since they’re hiding behind a screen.They feel free and they can practically do whatever they want. Their confidence grows so much when people don’t know who they are and they can just make friends easily. For people with anxiety it’s also way easier to play online and be themselves because they're not overthinking about things e.g the way they look like or people staring at them thinking they’re weird.

In video games they can represent themselves by making a character and just be them. People can easily see what they like and want to be closer with them. In this way games can improve mental health by talking to other people and expressing themselves without people knowing who they actually are. For example, let’s say this person is suffering from depression and doesn’t understand how to communicate with people in real life.

When they play video games or even meet someone on social media it could make them feel a lot better. They could feel as if they’re finally making some friends. Obviously they’ve got to be careful about who they’re talking to which is why they’ve got to make sure they can fully trust the person. Other than that it’s a great way to make friends. These video games can make the person feel so comfortable.

However the thing that they shouldn’t do is become a bad version of who they already are. Even though that’s probably unlikely you never know what happens. They should be a person who is kind online because they never know what someone could be going through. Words can hurt sometimes and that’s why they have to be careful.

It could even be a person who is gay but is being treated badly by people in their school because the students don’t accept that person. That person can express themselves maybe wearing different kinds of clothes for their character or even saying that they’re gay in your bio. People could still chat to them, and it’ll make them feel better. These are the reasons why video games help people with mental health. It’s a safe space where they can do anything without feeling anxious about anything they just feel free.