Raw With Jay: Be Excellent to Each Other

Arrggh! A Video Game Podcast from The Waffling Taylors

Jay explores the effects of video games on our mental health and well-being. From the works of renowned psychologists like Dr. Brene Brown to the effects of gaming on hand-eye coordination and puzzle solving, he discusses why video games are not just for entertainment but actually can have a positive impact on our mental health. From exploring emotions in storylines to fostering healthy relationships with others, this podcast is a must-listen for video game enthusiasts and psychology buffs alike.

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Content Warning

This episode contains my thoughts on gatekeepers and those who offer unsolicited mental health diagnoses. As such, it deals with discussing mental health issues and how playing video games can help.

These topics may not be relevant to the ears of the young and innocent, as such please listen responsibly.

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This episode is yet another example of why we should ditch the gatekeepers, except this time I have some real-world examples of gatekeeping happening in the wild. And a form of gatekeeping that you might not have initially thought actually was gatekeeping. This time, we'll be talking about a specific series of tweets; these tweets were sent out in 2022, and have lived rent-free in my head for a while because of how infuriatingly horrid they are.

Series Intro

This is The Waffling Taylors Raw with Jay, a series of shorter episodes of indefinite length. These episodes will cover shorter topics which don't really fit well within the scope of the show, or topics that I want to cover in my own way. That's not to say that we won't cover these topics in the main show, but I'd like to take a whack at them here, first.

I can't guarantee that all of these shorter episodes will be as deep or technical as this one. But I wanted to start big.

Anyway, let's get to it.

Mental Health and Gaming

This episode is going to focus on a series of tweets (not sent by us or any friends of the show) which poke fun at both video gamers and those who suffer from mental health issues. Please note that I'm talking about the tweets, not those who suffer.

Because these tweets are so egregious in their language, I won't be linking directly to them - mostly because I don't want to drive any more traffic towards them at all. But I will be quoting them verbatim, so if you really must see the originals, you can type the quotes into your search engine of choice and you'll find them.

If you have concerns about your mental health, please speak to a professional. And if you know of someone who is suffering, please help them to find a professional who can help.

Mental health issues should NEVER be the target of ire and parody. Mental health issues are very real, and some of us content creators (myself included) are doing our best to take the stigma away from getting help. One of the best examples of those who are trying to remove the stigma is the fantastic podcast Capes on the Couch] - we had Anthony for Capes on the Couch on the show not that long back, there's a link to the episode in the show notes - I'd definitely recommend listening to our episode and then leap-frogging over to their show.

Because it's so important, I'll say it again: if you need help, please go get help. There is no stigma in getting the help that you need. And if someone you know is struggling, please help them to get the help that they need.

Background

On September 11th, 2022 a Twitter user posted the following:

As an adult, playing video games for long periods of time is a form of depression. If you don't believe me, ask yourself this. Think about the 100 greatest moments of your life. Do any of those moments include video games? Probably not. And this comes from a lifetime gamer.

Let me level-set here: I'm not saying that we should attack this person, or that people shouldn't necessarily consume their content. What I'm getting at is that this person (and people like them) continually use "hot takes" in order to drum up publicity for their content, and by responding to them and drawing attention to their content we give them legitimacy - even if what you're doing is proving them wrong or providing the opposite argument.

I fully realise the irony in what I've just said.

The was a lot of immediate backlash from this tweet, with lots of people quoting it or replying directly to it. Those people were fighting the good fight, for sure. But they were also giving that Twitter user what they wanted: engagement.

Social Media and How It Works

Before we get on to my opinions on this tweet and others like it, I wanted to give you all a quick primer of how social media sites work.

It's all about engagement: the more that people like, share, and reply to your content, the more people see it. And the more that people see it, the higher it will get in your "suggested" view. This is usually the default view for your feed, it's not chronological (it isn't showing you things as they happen) but it's "hand-picked" for you. You're seeing the things that fall into your interests which have the most engagement.

By replying, retweeting, liking, mentioning, whatever-ing a piece of social media content, you are telling that platform that this piece of content is important to those with a similar interest. In the case of the above tweet, it had viral-like views in the first 48 hours because people were outraged by it - and rightly so. The problem with this is that its negative message started to spread among video game and mental health Twitter very quickly. Which meant that more people saw it, and more people went through to the person's account to learn more about them; at which point they learnt more about the other content that they put out there.

Some of those people will have engaged with this user's content which is what they wanted in the first place. Granted, it wouldn't have been a large percentage of the people who were checking this user out, but it would have been enough for them to have seen this as a positive experiment. This "hot take" was used specifically to drive engagement to their content.

You may not have been one of the people who clicked through and checked out their other content, but there would have been a percentage of people who did.

Full Show Notes

A full transcript of this "raw with Jay" episode is available over in the full show notes - because there are loads of books you can read, and some web-based resources for you to consume.

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