Tech Digest daily roundup: ‘Gaming has little effect on short term mental health’ – study
The short-term mental-health impact of playing video games “is probably too small” to be noticeable, according to a major study by the University of Oxford published Wednesday. “Our study finds little to no evidence of connections between gameplay and well-being,” said Andrew K. Przybylski, a researcher at the university’s Oxford Internet Institute. The study surveyed 38,935 players from the English-speaking world, asking them to rate their mental well-being and comparing it with the amount of time they spent gaming in the previous two weeks. “Our results show that the impact of time spent playing video games on well-being is probably too small to be subjectively noticeable and not credibly different from zero,” the study said. France 24
The UK’s competition watchdog has found streaming has made the music industry challenging for many artists. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said more than 80% of recorded music was now listened to via streaming, with more than 138 billion streams in the UK last year. MPs had demanded a “complete reset” of the industry, amid “pitiful returns” for artists. They had called for the CMA to look into the power of the major players. Although the primary focus of the report was on consumers, the watchdog found a small number of high-profile artists enjoyed most of the financial success while the majority made no substantial earnings. BBC
Today we got a little bit more information about PlayStation VR2, Sony’s next foray into the world of virtual reality. A new blog from PlayStation has detailed the user experience features available upon its release. These include a very useful looking see-through view and a customisable play area set up, among others. See-through view is, as you may have surmised already, the ability to “see your surroundings while wearing the headset”. Which, if you are anything like me, will come in handy. “Thanks to PS VR2’s embedded front cameras, users can press the function button on the headset, or use the Card in the Control Centre, to switch between viewing your surroundings, or viewing the content on PS VR2,” Sony explained. Eurogamer
Google’s revenue growth during the past quarter decelerated to its slowest pace in two years as advertisers reined in their spending amid intensifying fears of an economic recession. The regression reported Tuesday by Google’s corporate parent, Alphabet, is the latest sign that the tailwinds propelling big technology companies during the pandemic have shifted. The array of new challenges facing the industry has already caused the tech-driven Nasdaq composite index to plummet by 26% so far this year. In Alphabet’s case, revenue during the April-June period totaled $69.7 billion, a 13% increase from the same time last year.That would be impressive growth for most companies outside of tech. But it marked Alphabet’s lowest growth rate since the April-June quarter of 2020. AP News
Russia has said it will withdraw from the International Space Station (ISS) after 2024 to focus on building its own orbital outpost. Yuri Borisov, who was appointed to lead the state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos earlier this month, said during a meeting with President Vladimir Putin that Russia would fulfil its obligations to other partners before it leaves the project. Mr Borisov said, “the decision to leave the station after 2024 has been made”. The US, however, says no such move has been communicated to NASA – amid continued tensions between Moscow and the West over the war in Ukraine. Sky News
