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The World Health Association (WHO) is convening a global conversation on the complex relationship between social health, digital play, and video games, acknowledging the growing need to understand the impact of these technologies on well-being. The public webinar, scheduled for Wednesday, January 14, 2026, from 16:00-17:15 CET, aims to foster a collaborative exploration of the benefits and risks associated with increasingly prevalent digital environments.
The WHO recognizes that digital play – encompassing video games and other interactive digital experiences – has become a meaningful cultural and social force. “To be able to create healthier digital environments, we need to better understand the impact of digital play on health and well-being,” a senior official stated. This webinar represents a crucial step in that understanding, particularly as the WHO expands its focus on social health as a key determinant of overall health.
Addressing a Growing public Health Concern
The initiative comes on the heels of a landmark report released in June 2025 by the WHO Commission on Social Connection, which highlighted social isolation and loneliness as serious and widespread public health issues. While acknowledging growing concerns about digital technologies contributing to these issues, the report also noted that evidence regarding the impact of digital technologies – including video games – on social connection remains “limited and mixed.”
The webinar seeks to address this gap in knowledge by bringing together diverse perspectives to explore the implications of existing and emerging evidence.Participants will be invited to listen, learn, and consider how to shape healthier digital environments, not to arrive at definitive answers, but to stimulate further inquiry.
Webinar Objectives: A Multifaceted Approach
The WHO’s Frontier technologies and AI Unit, in collaboration with the WHO social connection team, has outlined several key objectives for the webinar:
- Sharing insights from the WHO’s work on social connection and the role of digital technologies, including video gameplay.
- Contextualizing social health alongside other critical health dimensions – physical and mental health – when evaluating the potential harms and benefits of video games.
- Reflecting on the broader public health implications of video games, encompassing physical activity, mental health, the potential for gaming disorder, and the influence of commercial determinants of health.
- Identifying critical questions, gaps in research, and potential avenues for future policy development.
This is not intended as a debate, but rather as “an invitation to think together,” according to organizers.
The webinar acknowledges the increasing complexity of the digital landscape, with emerging technologies like virtual reality and artificial intelligence adding new layers of opportunity and risk. Video games, already representing one of the largest digital communities and industries globally, are poised for continued growth, necessitating rigorous scientific research into their impact on health and well-being.
Other ongoing efforts to understand the impact of digital technologies on health include a lancet Commission examination into problematic internet usage and the WHO’s inclusion of gaming disorder in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11).
The WHO’s commitment to meeting people “where they are” – including in digital spaces – underscores the importance of this initiative. The organization aims to explore how video games, their communities, and the commercial interests of the industry intersect with social connection, ultimately informing future approaches to health, well-being, and the creation of healthy digital environments.
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