Candy crush and depression (the 3 links)

In this guide, we will look at the relation between candy crush and depression. But before that, we will explain what is candy crush to those who do not know what it is. In the next section of the blog, we will see if candy crush causes depression or wards off depression.

We will establish that it does not cause depression, but helps us with depression. Finally the last section of the blog will explain to us if Candy crush is addictive or not, if so, then why is it addictive. Here we will point to a few designing attributes that make the game addictive. 

Candy crush and depression, what is the relation? 

In this section, we are going to look at the relation between candy crush and depression. Does candy crush increase depression or the contrary? 

With the evidence that has been found, it is seen that candy crush does not increase or trigger depression at all. In fact, it does the opposite. It helps you reducing depression. Even after the game has a bad connotation because of its addictiveness, research saw that there is a good and positive outcome of the game. 

In general, it is believed that video games ward off the symptoms of depression. This was tested. An investigation initially distributed in 2010 by the American Association of Geriatric Psychiatry considered 19 members matured 63–94 years who had been determined to have Subsyndromal Depression (SSD). The members played dynamic computer and video games, for example, Nintendo Wii Fit, for under two hours out of each week all through the multi-week study. Specialists discovered a huge improvement in burdensome side effects for 86% of the enlisted members, referring to both better psychological wellness-related personal satisfaction and improved intellectual execution because of gaming. Later, in 2015 this investigation has been reviewed by 22 logical examinations distributed in the Journal of Aging and Health.

In addition to this, the addition of this game usually secures or increases the secretion of the happy hormone dopamine. This may sound like a bad thing, but it is the opposite. Dopamine contributes to our learning and helps us develop behavioral responses (both good and bad) as it retrains our brain behavior. The more dopamine released, the greater the pathway to forming good or bad behavior. 

The best benefit of dopamine is the effect on our cerebrum when we create solid propensities. Monotonous, steady, positive reactions are the keys that open the advantages of this substance. Keep in mind: The brain doesn’t see the conduct as great versus awful – just you do. The brain possibly reacts to the conduct when redundantly performed and delivers dopamine when our reaction is positive. How we see the result as great versus awful advises our brain on whether to proceed with the conduct. In the event that we discover joy through the thing we are doing, at that point, the mind will keep on delivering this chemical because of our discernment. Insight is shaped for the duration of our life and reflects extraordinarily upon our past encounters.  Playing a game like Candy Crush is essentially only one greater freedom to encounter the dopamine rush through what is apparently an innocuous propensity.

What is Candy crush? 

If you have been commuting, traveling, or even waited for an appointment you must have seen people playing Candy Crush. Everywhere you turn, in trains, hotels, waiting rooms, airports, doctor’s office, in fact, some people play this game in their own offices while working. So to be very honest there is no need to introduce what is candy crush. 

But for those who say they do not know what candy crush is, here is a brief about it.

 The Candy Crush games were created by King, a studio now owned by gaming giant Activision. Candy Crush is the most popular game of all time on Android smartphones challenging various others like Angry Birds, PokemonGo, etc. Out of the entirety of the applications of 2018 (counting Tinder and YouTube) that expect you to sign in, three adaptations of Candy Crush made it to the best 10 rundowns. That is 30% of the world’s 10 most-mainstream applications. No other application on the planet can guarantee that sort of predominance for our consideration and time, not even  Facebook.

Candy Crush is, in short, the greatest boredom-killer in human history. It’s perfectly engineered to be easy to get into, satisfying to stick with, and addictive as hell. The game requires passing levels by attaining the given task. You are allowed to make combinations of three four and five using the candies on the screen. 

Is candy crush addictive? 

Yes, candy crush is one of the most addictive games introduced to the human world. It pulls in close to $200 million in revenue per quarter. According to market analyst Sensor Tower, players of Candy Crush games spent an average of $4.2 million per day in 2018, up 6.5 percent from 2017. The franchise has made King $1.5 billion so far, and 230 million people jumped on the game in 2018—that’s a 17 percent increase over 2017.

Candy Crush eats up what Adam Alter calls “time slack”—five hours or more time per day that doesn’t need to be spent doing anything else. Some do not have these five hours. If you have a job, family, and kids, you might not spend more time with them. Candy Crush is known to be an isolating experience. 

As we saw earlier candy crush releases dopamine after every level is accomplished. This release of dopamine makes us want to continue playing the game. We forget all those things that give us a sense of stress and focus on the game. Just one more level is our thought after every level, because of the dopamine rush that is caused. 

However, it is an addiction, only if you are spending most of your day on the screen playing the game, waiting for most of your money on the game, and finally, if the game hinders your social, personal and professional life. 

If done in a limit, even a bed and stigmatized activity might be good. The problem with humans is that we cannot stop when needed. We are greedy people. Therefore, if you have the ability to differentiate between good and bad behavior, you can easily stop the addiction to this game. 

While playing the game dopamine is released within us. And now your brain looks for this activity that has released dopamine, therefore, creating an addictive behavior. It is here when you need to be smarter than your brain and decide if the behavior is healthy or not. If you realize that the behavior causing the release of dopamine is not good for you, you need to change and look for a productive behavior that might have the same result. On the other hand, if you fail to notice and the behavior continues you might be addicted to Candy Crush. 

What makes candy crush addictive? 

It is believed that humans hate when their goals are left incomplete. Keeping this in mind think about the times you have done something even if you do not like it. Completed a book that you disliked? Similarly, we tend to play games for a huge amount of time to complete the games. We believe that if we have completed something it gives us a sense of mastery. 

When it comes to games like Candy Crush, your goals are rewarded and this makes you feel better than ever. And these goals are never-ending. The designers have smartly planned that as you accomplish one goal, another pops up. 

Candy Crush’s moving objective plan mirrors Zeno’s paradox: regardless of how frequently you push most of the way toward an objective, you won’t ever arrive at it. As players draw nearer to the objectives of Candy Crush, for instance, the designers simply add more levels, or they push players to another, very much like a game that presents a totally different arrangement of objectives.

In addition to the moving goal, the game also has a unique reward system. If you have ever noticed while playing the game, you get rewards at random intervals without any specific or fixed period. In psychological terms, this is known as a variable ratio schedule of reinforcement something that is used in slot machines. This uncertainty of when you might receive the rewards keeps you from doing anything else but play the game. All you want to do is gain those rewards. Therefore making you hooked to your screen swiping candies. 

Therefore one needs to understand that the game was designed in a way so that all those who play it once are hooked for a long time.

Well to be unbiased, Candy Crush is not a bad thing. It becomes a bad thing only when used in excess. It is just like the internet. If the internet is used within the limits, every teen would be doing good. But when we forget where to draw the line, problems come to existence. It does not make anyone a bad person to play candy crush. All humans need to do is to make sure they know how it works and when to stop. 

Conclusion 

In this guide, we have looked at the relation between candy crush and depression. But before that, we have explained what is candy crush to those who do not know what it is. In the next section of the blog, we have seen if candy crush causes depression or wards off depression. We have established that it does not cause depression, but helps us with depression. Finally, the last section of the blog has explained to us if Candy crush is addictive or not, if so, then why is it addictive. Here we have pointed to a few designing attributes that make the game addictive. 

If you’ve enjoyed the Candy crush and depression mentioned above, I would recommend you to take a look at Darks souls and Depression too.

FAQs: Candy Crush and depression 

References 

observer.com

https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2014/apr/01/candy-crush-saga-app-brain

https://www.pilotonline.com/blogs/article_0e05c407-3eea-5da0-9bfd-b814ce913752.html