{"id":30723,"date":"2026-09-07T10:20:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-07T10:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/?p=30723"},"modified":"2026-09-07T10:20:32","modified_gmt":"2026-09-07T10:20:32","slug":"online-games-entertainment-consuming-youths-time-and-affecting-their-relationships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/2026\/09\/online-games-entertainment-consuming-youths-time-and-affecting-their-relationships\/","title":{"rendered":"Online games; entertainment consuming youth\u2019s time and affecting their relationships"},"content":{"rendered":"

In recent years, online games have become a popular form of entertainment among youth in Afghanistan. With greater access to smartphones and the internet, online gaming has replaced physical games and exercise for some youth and has taken up a significant part of their time each day.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For this report, Salam Watandar interviewed 20 youth from 10 provinces. Despite differences in age groups, employment status and place of residence, they said they mainly turn to online games for entertainment, recreation, filling their free time, escaping unemployment, relaxing their minds, temporarily getting away from problems and psychological pressure, communicating with friends online, and experiencing the excitement and attractiveness of online games.<\/p>\n

Among the interviewed youth, 15 were boys and five were girls, aged between 18 and 35. Of these, 14 were employed and six were unemployed. The youth said that for some of them, online gaming is no longer just a simple form of entertainment but has become part of how they spend their free time and interact with friends.<\/p>\n

\u00abPUBG\u00bb; a popular game among youth<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Mustafa Azizi, a 24-year-old resident of Faryab and a computer science graduate, says he has been playing PUBG for seven years, since the outbreak of COVID-19. He says the game has become one of his forms of entertainment. Every day, after finishing work and returning home, he spends part of his free time playing PUBG.<\/p>\n

Along with having different motivations for turning to online games, the types of games they play and the amount of time they dedicate to them vary among youth.<\/p>\n

Of the 20 youth interviewed for this report, 16 play PUBG, one plays Ludo Online, and three play other online games with a warlike nature. They allocate between two and seven hours of their time to playing online games.<\/p>\n

Shokofa, a 20-year-old resident of Kamdesh district in Nuristan, says she has spent much of her time playing Ludo for the past two years. She says her friends introduced her to the game, and after becoming interested in it, she installed it on her mobile phone.<\/p>\n

The cost of online gaming<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Online gaming for youth is not limited to merely passing the time; it also comes with financial costs. These costs range from buying gaming and internet packages to replacing mobile phones to get better speed and quality, expenses that a number of youth pay for as part of their entertainment.<\/p>\n

Among the 20 youth interviewed, 12 spend between 500 Afghanis and $100 a month on buying and activating gaming packages, while the other eight play for free without spending money.<\/p>\n

Youth also spend between 500 and more than 1,500 Afghanis a month on internet packages. In addition, 17 of the youth said they had replaced their mobile phones to access the games with higher speed and better quality.<\/p>\n

Yama Noori, a 23-year-old resident of Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of Balkh, says the amount he spends on gaming depends on his economic situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spend $100 a month, sometimes less or more. It depends on your economic situation. If you have more money and become used to the game, you spend a lot on it. We spend around $50 to $100 a month. We had Samsung phones, but when we played this game and became interested in it, I could no longer give it up. So I spent $600 on a new 14 Pro Max phone so I could play the game better,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Faraidon, an 18-year-old resident of Herat who has been playing PUBG for seven years, says he became familiar with the game through social media and spends nearly 3,000 Afghanis a month to improve his gaming account.<\/p>\n

When gaming changes sleep and daily life<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Alongside spending long hours playing games, online gaming has also affected the sleep patterns and daily lives of a number of youth. Sixteen of those interviewed said they continuously play online games from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m., while 14 said their sleeping and meal times had become irregular.<\/p>\n

This irregularity has not only affected the physical and psychological well-being of these youth but has also affected their social relationships. Although a number of youth consider online games a way to communicate with others, they say that spending more time playing games has reduced their in-person interactions with relatives and friends.<\/p>\n

Sebghatullah, a 26-year-old resident of Kabul, says his interest in online games has significantly reduced the number of hours he sleeps.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince I started playing games, I have been sleeping less. In the past, we used to go to bed at 9 or 10 p.m., or at the latest 11 p.m., but now we go to sleep after 1 or 2 a.m. Our sleeping time has shifted by about three or four hours because we are very interested in these games and spend a lot of time playing them. Sometimes I delay dinner, and sometimes lunch,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Similarly, Ahmad, a 26-year-old from Takhar, says he has been playing online games for four years and that playing these games has distanced him from his friends and physical games.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes. We spend most of our time playing games. We no longer have time to sit with our friends and talk. In the past, we used to spend time with our friends, play football and exercise. But now we have stopped exercising and playing football, and we no longer meet our friends. Most of our time is spent playing this game, that\u2019s all,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Experts warn of declining social relationships<\/strong><\/h5>\n

A number of sociologists, while emphasizing the consequences of online gaming, warn that excessive use of these games can reduce youth\u2019s social relationships and their participation in daily activities.<\/p>\n

Hekmatullah Fayaz, a sociologist, says excessive use of online games can negatively affect youth\u2019s mood, motivation and social relationships and may lead to isolation.<\/p>\n

\u201cSocial relationships are formed through real interactions in society and among its members. Excessive and improper use of online games can negatively affect the motivation, mood and social relationships of youth. It can also slow their physical, mental, psychological and intellectual development, reduce empathy and sympathy, and, overall, make a person isolated. It can also weaken their motivation to take part in social and personal activities,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

Shafiqullah Ansar, a psychologist, says reduced sleep among youth is one of the factors that can contribute to behavioral and psychological disorders. He says irregular sleep can lead to anger, aggression and other psychological problems among youth.<\/p>\n

\u201cNormal and regular sleep for youth is considered to be six to eight hours. When youth and adolescents sleep less than five or three hours a night, they may develop sleep disorders. This can cause anger, aggression and impatience and, in the long term, may lead to anxiety and depression,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

\u201cPUBG\u201d still accessible despite the ban<\/strong><\/h5>\n

Meanwhile, the Afghanistan Telecom Regulatory Authority (ATRA) announced a temporary ban on PUBG in December 2020. In April 2022, the Islamic Emirate\u2019s cabinet also ordered PUBG and TikTok to be blocked. However, a number of youth continue to access PUBG using VPNs.<\/p>\n

Interviews with 20 youth in 10 provinces show that online gaming has gone beyond being a simple form of entertainment for many of them and has become part of their daily lives. Along with providing excitement and a way to communicate with friends, gaming has also brought financial costs, irregular sleep and meal times, and reduced their presence at family gatherings, among friends and in physical activities.<\/p>\n

Reporter: Momina Zarif<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In recent years, online games have become a popular form of entertainment among youth in Afghanistan. With greater access to smartphones and the internet, online gaming has replaced physical games and exercise for some youth and has taken up a significant part of their time each day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":30725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[990,9,186],"tags":[120,2176,2177,2178,2179],"class_list":["post-30723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest","category-soceity","category-investigative-reports","tag-youth","tag-online-games","tag-entertainment","tag-time","tag-relationships"],"views":10,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30723"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30723\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30724,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30723\/revisions\/30724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swn.af\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}