ABSTRACT

Emerging literature has begun to investigate the role of technology in public health. Yet, a minimal amount is understood about whether, how, and why digital games, notably mobile games, might affect mental health, particularly depression. In this work, we examine the effect of location-based mobile gaming on local depression trends. We measure population-level depression using a well-established mechanism from the medical and public health literature, internet search of depression-related terms. We argue that the introduction of Pokémon Go, a mobile game that encourages outdoor physical activity, face-to-face socialization, and exposure to nature, may alleviate non-clinical forms of mild depression for users playing the game. To identify the effect, we employ a difference-in-differences approach to exploit the staggered release of Pokémon Go into 166 regions in 12 English-speaking countries. We empirically document a disproportionate decrease in depression-related search in those regions where users are able to play Pokémon Go. This finding lends credence to anecdotal claims that location-based mobile games may alleviate symptoms of depression of their users, underscoring the mental health opportunities of location-based mobile gaming and creating new opportunities for information systems research.

摘要

新兴文献已开始研究技术在公共卫生中的作用。然而，对于数字游戏（尤其是手机游戏）是否、如何以及为什么会影响心理健康，尤其是抑郁症，人们了解的很少。在这项工作中，我们研究了基于位置的手机游戏对当地抑郁趋势的影响。我们使用来自医学和公共卫生文献的成熟机制、抑郁症相关术语的互联网搜索来衡量人口水平的抑郁症。我们认为，Pokémon Go 是一款鼓励户外体育活动、面对面社交和接触大自然的手机游戏，可能会减轻玩游戏的用户的非临床形式的轻度抑郁症。为了识别效果，我们采用差异化方法来利用 Pokémon Go 在 12 个英语国家的 166 个地区的交错发布。我们凭经验记录了在用户能够玩 Pokémon Go 的地区，与抑郁症相关的搜索出现了不成比例的下降。这一发现证明了基于位置的手机游戏可以缓解用户抑郁症状的传闻，强调了基于位置的手机游戏的心理健康机会，并为信息系统研究创造了新的机会。