56% Of Pinoy Gen Z Youth See Gaming As A Stress Or Anxiety Reliever – Study

Some 56 percent of Filipino youth belonging to Generation Z or Gen Z consider gaming as a means to alleviate stress or anxiety, a study from a marketing and media platform showed.

TotallyAwesome, a “youth-first” media and marketing firm, released its Youth-first Digital Insights for 2023 on Wednesday, Aug. 16, which highlighted the impact of gaming on youth mental health in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.

Among the Southeast Asian countries covered, the Philippines tied with Malaysia on the second spot. Vietnamese Gen Z youth were most reliant on gaming, with 60 percent of them using it as a stress or anxiety reliever.

Forty-nine percent of South Korean Gen Z youth consider gaming as their reliever, while those Indonesia and Singapore were tied at 47 percent for the same demographic and purpose. 

“When it comes to forging a sense of community and self-expression, young people are increasingly looking to gaming as the most important space for social bonding. Gaming

is no longer just gaming – it’s their new social,” Will Anstee, TotallyAwesome‘s executive chairman, said in a press statement.

Mobile video games were most preferred for the age group in the region at 63 percent.

Online video games followed at 61 percent, while a mere 18 percent preferred console video games. Only 10 percent did not play any video game, and one percent preferred other gaming mediums.

Fifty-one percent noted the stress and anxiety relief gaming provides, but 69 percent also play video games for fun. Another 50 percent said gaming helps them feel better, while 46 percent revealed they liked playing with their friends.

While seen as a stress and anxiety reliever, majority said they play video games for fun at 69 percent. Stress and anxiety followed at 51 percent, while another 50 percent said gaming helps them feel better.

Vast potential

Including Gen Alpha, gaming was a preferred stress and anxiety reliever over communication. Fifty percent of Gen Alpha noted this, along with 43 percent from Gen Z.

Gen Alpha, or Generation Alpha, is the demographic succeeding Gen Z or those born between 1997 and 2012. The term refers to people born, or to be born between 2010 and 2025.

Only 28 percent of Gen Alpha respondents preferred talking to family members, and 21 percent from Gen Z. Another 28 percent of Gen Alpha respondents preferred their friends, along with 32 percent of Gen Z respondents.

Gaming was also seen as a means of connection. Fifty-two percent of Gen Alpha, and 48 percent of Gen Z respondents said it was a way to feel more connected with friends and family.

“If you want to capture the hearts and minds of youth and build meaningful and long-lasting relationships – you need to get into gaming. It’s their now and their future,” Raja Kanniappan, TotallyAwesome’s chief executive officer, noted in the press statement.

TotallyAwesome aims to connect brands to the youth in a safe, relevant, and effective way. It offers youth-first and youth-safe engagement across “thousands of YouTube channels, applications, games, and websites.

Despite access to multiple media platforms, youth in APAC are increasingly placing more value in gaming compared to other channels when building social connections. However, TotallyAwesome said the commercial gaming growth does bleed into streaming platforms, highlighting increasing levels of engagement for young people who are looking across the gaming ecosystem for content. The research revealed that the big players are still dominant – across APAC, 77 percent of Gen Alpha and 76 percent of Gen Z cite YouTube as their most used streaming channel, compared to only six percent and eight percent going to Twitch, respectively.