Through my COPE Campaign I’ve created a list of Stress Hacks for Adults and Stress Hacks suitable for kids, all of which are designed to distract you when you are struggling. Specifically, I wanted a list of ideas to try when you’re sat on hold for someone to help in a crisis because hold times have been increasing astronomically since the pandemic.
As with everything in life, this isn’t a one-size-fits-all all situation, and while some ideas might work brilliantly as a creative distraction, others will feel like the wrong fir for you. Trial and error is something I recommend – I hope I’ve published options so simple that you’ll be able to recognise quickly whether you enjoy a new pass time I’ve suggested or not.
My own creative distractions are quite fluid; some weeks I need to write, some I like to be artistic with my kid, and others I just want to listen to relaxing music. However, in recent months a hobby of old has been resurrected, and I find myself being tempted by it in my difficult moments more and more.
Gaming is huge…even more huge than when I was a kid, and (at the time) it felt like Super Mario Bros 3 on the Nintendo Entertainment System was all we talked about on the playground. Now it’s not just consoles; iPads, tablets, phones and even our televisions are filled with digital games we can play whatever the time, wherever we go. So, if finding a way to play is so easy, is there any merit for it supporting us with mental health problems?
In this house each of us engages with gaming in different ways.
Our daughter uses a tablet that we have parental control over. She can access apps that we authorise her to download, but we limit her access to the contraption. Like most kids, she loves using it, and the challenge of buying horses in some stable management game she’s got has definitely helped with her maths, which needs work. A game that helps her to organically learn core skills has to be good, but we will always be concerned about the amount of time she’s staring at a screen, so it has to be well managed. Thankfully, as a seven year old, her stress is minimal and crisis feels like it’s a problem that’ll be years away if it happens at all.
My partner uses a PlayStation and his phone. PlayStation for games such as Call of Duty: Warzone and Gran Turismo – but only on a rare weekend afternoon when time feels abundant (truly rare). He uses the iPhone for more casual, spare-time-gaming. Monopoly, chess, poker – the sort of stuff you can play in minutes while sitting on the toilet (for example). He enjoys both, but the use of apps doesn’t seem to have the same fun and/or relaxing element that those rare PlayStation sessions provide. The point of a stress distraction is to avoid the problem while you want for help, and it doesn’t feel like an app can do this for long enough. Consoles, however, seem to remove him from everything else that’s happening, including stress. When he plays he’s engrossed for as long as he wants, and that seems more effective.
I play the PlayStation too, as well as a few apps on my iPhone and a handheld console of retro games. As the person in the house who is mentally imbalanced, I can vouch for all 3 as a bit of fun, but the handheld retro console is, by far, the best stress distraction tool I own, and I’ll explain why.
As I’ve mentioned, apps on my phone are fun, but on the whole they are short to play and expensive to run. Time and money are both stress aggravators and therefore this isn’t a distraction that works for me either. The PlayStation is great fun – I play games that are wildly different from the popular shoot ’em up Call of Duty to the easy going life sim Disney Dreamlight Valley, but both are pretty infuriating in their own ways. Online play will always come with extra added trolling; other players gleefully telling me I’m a ‘noob’ when they haven’t even finished their homework or earned their pocket money. Turning off the chat helps, but in game messaging makes it impossible to ignore, and even harder to stop frustration rising. Life sims are low risk games, but the need to keep the valley tidy, complete all the quests, finish all the seasonal updates, and keep up to date with the DLC’s is both costly and time consuming too.
The retro handheld is offline, there’s a huge benefit to start us off. There are multiple games on it, and cartridges are cheap and add many more (usually 8-10 at a time). These are games I grew up with – Worms, Bubble Bobble, Pac-Man and more – and starting a game in a stress vortex is as simple as flicking a switch and beginning a new quest. No waiting for downloads, no installation of updates, no online connection problems. The games are fun, engrossing, but not too distracting. If I’m on hold to a mental health crisis line (which can take hours) I can play without forgetting the task at hand.
In conclusion, I believe that yes, gaming has a place in supporting better mental health, but the cost, the time, and the stress of playing all have to be considered. Finding games that are low risk and easy to engage with both physically and mentally will help the most. Spending time shooting other online players when you’re already in crisis is unlikely to help anyone manage.
I received my retro handheld console for Christmas, so I don’t know the best place to buy and I don’t really want to look up the price – I’m old-school like that. It’s called a Hyper Mega Tech console and you can use retro Evercade cartridges with it, which I’ve purchased from Amazon in the past.
I hope you find a creative distraction that helps you out when you’re struggling, but for other ideas please visit the stress hacks page of this website. As always, thanks for visiting.
Creative Steph 