Social gaming, lonely life? The impact of digital game play on adolescents’ social circles

• The impact of video game play on adolescent social circles were evaluated.
• The results provide support for the emergence of social displacement effects.
• Social online play corresponds with smaller, lower quality, offline social circles.
• Social offline play does not relate to offline social circle size or quality.

In recent years, there have been rising concerns about the impact of online video game play on users’ socialization, particularly among adolescent players. The current study addresses one of these concerns and evaluates the potential impact of social displacement on the size and quality of users’ social circles due to video game play. Using a representative sample of adolescent players, the results provide support for the emergence of social displacement effects. Increased social online video game play, but not social offline video game play, was found to correspond with smaller, and lower quality, offline social circles. However, further research is needed to assess the impact of these declines on everyday socialization, such its potential negative influence on the development and maintenance of social skills.