Rolling the Dice that the Screen Counter-Revolution is Underway
Mark Rodgers and Kate Perko discuss the resurgence of tabletop gaming and the common goods it has the potential to produce in our society.
“What happened in the early 2010s that altered adolescent development and worsened mental health? … I think the answer can be stated simply, although the underlying psychology is complex: Those were the years when adolescents in rich countries traded in their flip phones for smartphones and moved much more of their social lives online—particularly onto social media platforms designed for virality and addiction.”
– Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation
If you haven’t read about Jonathan Haidt’s most recent book, you, ironically, must not be on social media. His conclusions regarding the linkage between (phone) screen time and adolescent mental health have been a hot topic, with detractors ranging from challenging his research references to agreeing with them, but viewing his recommendations as unworkable.
The Wall Street Journal qualifies Haidt: " The argument that technology is creating mental-health problems for teens has become controversial, with skeptics describing the fuss over smartphones as a moral panic,” whereas Wired Magazine tries to bury him: “There is no undoing tech’s great rewiring of childhood.”
Covid’s consequences may contribute to this crisis as well. When his students began to show apathy and eventually failed his class, Arizona teacher Mitchell Rutherford became convinced the real culprit was phones. According to the Wall Street Journey, the school’s policy says phones shouldn’t be out during class, but enforcement is left to teachers. Students would usually put phones away when asked, before the pandemic. “Now, you can ask them, bug them, beg them, remind them and try to punish them and still nothing works,” he says.
One of the impediments to change, surprisingly, is parents themselves. Banning phones outright would require school board approval and parent buy-in. Parents in many districts have been pushing back against phone bans.
Rutherford has since decided to leave teaching in the public school system because of the school and parents’ unwillingness to take phone distraction seriously.
This is not a new debate, and Haidt is not the first to propose limiting phone (or other) screen time for young children, but what is possibly new is an organic counter-revolution, led by Gens Z and Alpha themselves. Haidt points out that unlike previous efforts to curb content deemed dangerous to our kids, such as comic books, this response is different: “Numerous youth-led organizations have spontaneously emerged in response to the harms that young people have experienced due to the design and nature of social media platforms. Today, members of Gen Z are teaming up with concerned adults to push back against companies so that they design their products in a way that will no longer harm them.”
One of the counter-revolutions is a return to play, but not necessarily online. We may be entering a new golden age of tabletop gaming as an outlet for connecting with friends and family in a way that restores relational capital and mental well-being.
Play is Good
What does it mean to really ‘play?’ Dr. Peter Gray, a researcher of the nature and value of play, defines play as “self-controlled and self-directed.” Dr. Gray primarily studies ‘free-play’ however, many of the same benefits are shown to be associated with tabletop gaming as well. For example, thinking innovatively and creatively, experiencing joy, problem-solving, and learning to work with others. Play opens the mind to original ideas and creations.
Think about your younger years. What worlds did you create? What did you invent? What did you discover? Who did you want to become? Did not many of these ideas begin through play?
Play is good for our society and has produced many common goods, even leading to one of the most essential inventions of all time. It also allows us to occupy common ground with others, even if for a short while, showing us how to work with others and see things from other points of view, developing empathy.
In his TED Talk, “The Decline of Play,” Dr. Gray discussed how play has declined in recent generations and how this is correlated with the linear increase in anxiety and depression among today’s youth.
Whether it is more school (which is what Dr. Gray’s research focuses on) or smartphones, we can see that kids are anxious and depressed rather than being creative, imaginative, and inventive (which is significant as the peak of inventiveness occurs during adolescence and young adulthood).
The sum of his research affirms the truth we want to acknowledge: play is good, and our societies need more of it.
You can read more on his Substack, “Play Makes Us Human.”
Tech Can and Should be a Bridge to Real
The way we play impacts the way we live in society. For Dr. Gray’s research, this idea was connected to the concept of ‘free-play,’ but it is also relevant to the world of tech and gaming. Some researchers, such as Dr. Jane McGonigal, a world-renowned designer of alternate reality games, would go as far as to say these games are designed to improve real lives and solve real problems. This may elicit a sense of skepticism since the narrative of technology and gaming is typically characterized as “brain-rotting” and negative for social and intellectual growth.
However, in her book “Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World,” she explains her belief that our reality is what’s broken and argues that by playing good games (defined by goals, rules, a feedback system, and voluntary participation) participants can be motivated to engage with society in a positive way.
She believes four major characteristics can be drawn by these ‘good games’ that should and can be adopted for the betterment of our reality:
Productive Work: Good games can teach us to work hard and accomplish a goal – sometimes under time constraints. For example, the cooperative game Pandemic is based on the premise that four diseases have broken out in the world, each threatening to wipe out a region. Players must work together to discover all four cures before any game-losing conditions are reached.
Fun Failure and Odds of Success: Research shows that peak feelings can occur during success and failures, users often believe that despite failure the end goal is still achievable, making the odds of success still probable. Settlers of Catan, for example, satisfies all players with their race to think strategically and build on their decisions.
Stronger Social Connectivity: This criterion challenges the common stereotype of socially isolated gamers. Games often provide new ways to connect with family and friends. We’ve recently seen how daily connectivity has been established through the New York Times Games, from Wordle to Spelling Bee to Connections.
Becoming Part of Something Bigger Than Ourselves: Games can satisfy the human need to be a part of something significant and bigger than ourselves. Although it is an online game, we are fans of Sky which was developed by our friend Jenova Chen to be non-violent collaborative and at an interpersonal level, but it facilitates massive shared “moments” that individual actions contribute to.
Official art from Sky
The Rise of Tabletop Gaming Tabletop Gaming is an Example of Felt Need Expressing Itself
Play is good and has the potential to positively impact society. How is this felt need expressed in tabletop gaming?
Tabletop gaming has had a resurgence in popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic, as people are looking for ways to connect with others again. Research, like Haidt’s, also shows that more people are transitioning to games as a digital and social detox. Market research from LAUNCHBOOM states that “in 2024, consumers want games that bridge generational gaps, build community, and act as the glue for social gatherings, reunions, and parties.” (trivial pursuit)
People are craving connection, and they are craving games that also reflect values that are important to our society today, like diversity and inclusion. It has grown increasingly important to consumers to engage with games that represent niche interests and themes, are inclusive for different ages, and reflect diverse cover art, characters, and messaging.
This growing social demand for games has led to more crowdfunding on platforms like Kickstarter (games are the most funded category) and the rise of public spaces to connect with others and play games like board game cafes and bars.
It’s not just moms and dads forcing kids into family game nights; rather, the young people are leading this charge. Thirty-eight percent of Gen-Z enjoy playing board games. Just poke your head into one of the trendy new board game cafes, and you will see a lieu of millennials and Gen-Zers with friends playing Ticket to Ride, Code Names, or Trivial Pursuit.
Being around the same table builds common ground, and has the potential to bring about social common goods. In an era where we have seen the decline of the family dinner table, we need something to bring us back together–and it seems like tabletop games are rising to the occasion.
Pizza Box Baseball Game
Clapham and Gaming
Several years ago, after our sister production company More Productions published its first graphic novels under Cave Pictures Publishing, we decided to experiment with what it would take to develop a tabletop game based on one of our titles. We approached a friend, Scott Smith, who, with his brother, had developed the successful Pizza Box Baseball game. Scott attends game designer/development conventions where hobbyists lock themselves in a conference center for 72 hours and test one another’s games. (You can attend a virtual one if you are interested.)
Scott chose to base his game on The Blessed Machine, a dystopian future in which everyone is locked in a city deep within the earth, a courageous few struggle to reach the surface...fighting not only against the minds and flesh of men, but against their man-made minders. Mark had a hand in writing it, and you can download chapter one for free.
Scott wondered what the next installment of the book might be, and designed a game to help us explore its next chapter. Scott chose to develop a cooperative game, in which the players are working alongside one another to outwit “the Machine,” which is determined to continue its deception. We’ve tested the game with Scott several times, and although we may not be ready to Kickstart it, we have developed an appreciation for the skill, science and art of game design.
As we have written recently, there are certainly other factors contributing to the mental health of Gen-Z and Alpha, including a decline in religious affiliation. As some parents move from helicoptering to free-ranging their kids, we may hope that in addition to taking them to church, temple or mosque, they will be setting aside game nights to instill in them the love for play.
Finally, we want to plant the seed that board games and play could be an antidote to polarization. Board games are shared experiences that invite joy filled play, and some are designed to be COOPERATIVE rather than competitive, which could foster the skills needed to navigate the disagreements and interpersonal tensions that we find ourselves in on a regular basis.
Jonathan Haidt’s crusade for screen-free schools is admirable, and we are supportive, but we are willing to roll the dice that Gen-Z and Alpha will see the harm that overdependence on screens (and polarization) is causing in their wellbeing, their families and society overall … and lead as in a counter-revolution back to family game night.
Photo from Scott Smith (the game designer) playing the game with his family