The Hidden Mental Health Problem in Streaming

What is live streaming?

The live streaming of video games is an activity where people broadcast themselves gaming to a live audience online. It became popular in the mid-2010s on the streaming service, Twitch, and is now available on other platforms including YouTube and Facebook Gaming.

Streaming offers gamers the opportunity to create and present their own authentic content. As they record and broadcast in real time, there is no editing process and viewers can follow along and comment live.

It is a highly-accessible activity because all someone needs to be able to stream is an internet-enabled device and a platform to broadcast on. As a result, streaming has exploded in recent years, as demonstrated by the statistics below.

Dive Deeper: What is Twitch?

Live streaming statistics

Statista² reports that 8.8 billion hours of video game live streams were watched globally in the first quarter of 2021, up from 3.6 billion hours in 2019. This growth in live streaming is partly down to the Covid-19 pandemic. As lockdown rules confined people to their homes, live streams offered them a way to connect and socialize virtually.

According to a recent State of the Stream report³from StreamElements and Rainmaker.gg⁴, in addition to Twitch and Facebook Gaming increasing over 117% year-on-year, both platforms set new viewership records in January 2021. Twitch crossed the 2 billion hours watched threshold and Facebook Gaming exceeded 439 million hours, which represented a 13% month-on-month rise.

Twitch hosts 91% of all streaming content produced. According to statistics from Twitch⁵:

• One trillion minutes were watched in 2020.
• It gets an average of 30 million daily visitors.
• There are over 2.5 million views at a given time.
• More than 7 million unique streamers go live every month.
• 70% of Twitch viewers are between 16 and 34 years old.

The mental health toll of streaming

Many top streamers have suffered from mental health problems – including anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts – and opened up about the pressures of broadcasting.

In his hidden mental health epidemic in streaming video⁶, Devin Nash talks about Asmongold, a popular streamer on Twitch, who recently revealed his mental health struggles and suicidal thoughts. When asked if he ever felt like Reckful (a Twitch streamer and professional esports player who took his own life in 2020), Asmongold replied: “I probably shouldn’t say that I’ve wanted to kill myself many times, yes absolutely.”

Devin Nash also mentions Twitch star Pokimane who took a month-long break from streaming in August 2020 after quarantine and overwork had burned her out. In a statement⁷ released on Twitter she said: “It’s been hard for me to find the same joys and motivation for making content. The things I look forward to the most, like visiting my family, traveling, going to conventions, and meeting some of you aren’t possible. Led me to feeling burnt out for quite some time. I’ve been planning to take a month off. I recognize that I’m very lucky to be able to do work during the pandemic, however, I still need to do what’s best for my mental health.”