In the age of the internet, it has become increasingly easy to become swamped underneath the constant stream of information and news with most of the news people read being negative. And for kids that have most of their lives revolving around the internet, they are extremely susceptible to this. Growing up in this age constantly hearing about every school shooting, every hate crime, and every societal issue can leave kids feeling hopeless about the world. This is where video games come in. As Ananya Udaygiri says in her essay “How Animal Crossing Will Save Gen Z” when kids play video games “They simply… live” without having “to worry about school shootings, arbitrary college admissions or the rapidly deteriorating environment.” As someone who can be labeled as Gen Z, this perfectly encapsulates how we see video games. We don’t see video games as some mindless tool that panders to our short-term gratification, a way to procrastinate on our homework, or an addiction that is corrupting our young minds, we see them as a breath of fresh air from all suffocating and polluted realities of our world. So next time you see a kid absorbed in a video game or kids passionately discussing video games, know that they are doing their best to cope with the unpolished, rough edges of our world.