Mental health benefits of online gaming revealed in Pure Telecom research

The world of online gaming has exploded over the last few years, to the point where half of the adult population of Ireland is now reporting to play online games. So, if you yourself are not an online gamer, it is likely that the person you last spoke to is.

As a provider of high-speed broadband in Ireland, at Pure Telecom, we know that with this growth of online gaming, our service is paramount to gamers across the country. Online games are unforgiving when it comes to slow internet – and that means we need to ensure we are giving our customers the fastest internet speeds that are available to them.

Given the role we are playing in this area through the broadband connectivity that we provide, we wanted to find out more about the prevalence and perceptions of online gaming in Ireland. To do this, we surveyed 1,000 adults in Ireland as part of our Connected Lives survey. We found a significant proportion of gamers across all age groups – from 70% of Gen Z adults (those born in 2012 and before), to 20% of Baby Boomers (born from 1946 to 1964).

Our survey also revealed that many gamers are prepared to spend big on their hobby. The average gamer in Ireland spends €180.30 per year on online gaming. That includes money spent on new games, add-ons, in-game purchases and consoles. The research found that male gamers are also more likely to dig deep to fund their online gaming than female gamers are, spending €260 versus €132.50 per year.

This theme continues when it comes to the amount of time being spent on online gaming. On the average day, male gamers spend two hours and 20 minutes playing their favourite online games, compared to one hour 26 minutes for female gamers. The average among the entire online gaming community is one hour and 47 minutes per day – significantly more than the average of one hour, 10 minutes per day in our 2022 survey findings.

What we found most interesting of all in our survey were the reasons adults gave for being online gamers – and why they are dedicating significant proportions of their days to it. We found that 35% of online gamers say that it is good for their mental health as it provides stress release. On top of that, 21% of gamers enjoy the social aspect of online gaming, while 19% believe it enhances their problem-solving skills.

Commenting on this, Paul Connell, CEO, Pure Telecom, said: “The findings from our research demonstrate the significant and multifaceted impact that online gaming is having on our society. Online gaming is not only an outlet for entertainment, but also provides a space for people to build connections, have a chat with other gamers and look after their mental wellbeing. These findings are consistent with recent research which shows that gamers can perform better and faster at cognitive challenges.”

Despite these benefits, we found that the majority of gamers are just in it for the fun, and most aren’t clinging on to desires of being world champion esports athletes. While recent research we conducted found that a significant proportion of adults would like to be online influencers, just 8% of gamers have aspirations of becoming a professional streamers or esports athletes. However, 6% of gamers said that they are already earning money from live-streaming their online gaming pursuits. With almost one in 10 (9%) of adults aged 35 to 44 saying they earn money from online gaming live streams, we found that this is the most likely age group to cash in on their hobby.

Ireland’s best high-speed broadband for online gaming

Paul Connell concluded: “Whether people are earning a living from online gaming or simply enjoying it as a hobby, they need an internet connection that they can rely. Knowing the growing popularity of online gaming, at Pure Telecom, we are dedicated to providing the fastest broadband speeds available in Ireland so our customers can enjoy the multitude of benefits they experience from online gaming – uninterrupted.”

Want to know how our high-speed broadband can help you, or those in your household, to enjoy uninterrupted online gaming? At Pure Telecom, we can give you the best quality broadband for your online gaming requirements at the best available price. Find out more about our unlimited broadband deals and get in touch with us today.