Ani Tries to Chill Out: Are Video Games Relaxing?

I’m a  pretty high strung person. I tend to spend my time over-analyzing, thinking, wondering, memorizing.  It’s rare that I really truly let go, even in my leisure activities I tend to veer towards perfection and achievement. For example, my most current leisure activities are either writing/organizing for Polian or learning about wine; neither of which are exactly low-key activities. Several weeks ago I went to some hot springs with friends for a mini break from school on the long drive back to school I started wondering about how little I truly relax and then the role that electronics and games can play in relaxation and stress relief. When I get stressed out I revisit my thoughts from that drive, and wonder how I can help myself to better relax (kind of ironic that I have to put thought into how to relax isn’t it?).

One group of people will say that one must totally avoid electronics and get “unplugged” to really relax and rejuvenate.

For others I think “unplugging” isn’t necessarily the best way to to relax. I remember a time when I was much younger when my mom tried to limit the amount of time my siblings and I spent on the computer. She wasn’t very successful and ended up dropping it. Part of the reason (besides me rebelling against it) she dropped it is because she realized how much my older brother Alex lived for the computer, learned from it, created on it, and was inspired by it. I think she may have realized that time spent with electronics can be very meaningful and even relaxing for some.

When I think of relaxing games, I don’t think of games like Halo, COD, Grand theft Auto ect. I tend to think more of calm, creative, and inspiring games such as The Sims, Journey to the Wild Divine (my thoughts on it here), Sim City, Flower, ect. However, even when I play such games I find it difficult to relax. I touched on this a little in my Wild Divine post, and it may just be my personality, but I always have a focus, a goal, or an endpoint in mind when I play games. This quality makes it almost impossible for me to relax through games.

Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy being “plugged in” in my free time.  I’ve had people make fun of me because I’ll be texting, IMing, listening to music and researching/blogging entering data all at the same time, and it feels effortless. It’s like I get into a space of perfection and everything flows perfectly through all my electronic outlets. Being plugged in is fun, and actually pretty productive, but I don’t believe being plugged in is the ultimate relaxation for me personally. However, Alex is almost always in front of his flat screen monitor. He’s always coding, painting with his tablet, watching youtube, typing up a lab report, or playing games. I’m not sure if he ever does anything else for fun/relaxation that doesn’t involve technology on a daily bases.

I’m curious if (and how many)other people can get truly rejuvenated and relaxed from playing games, or if more people agree with me that gaming is a fun activity but that for true relaxation maybe our mothers were right and we should unplug, head outside and get some fresh air.