Activity video games can help make people fitter – while social media can have the opposite effect, researchers said today.
One study concluded that the Wii and the Xbox-Kinect make people happier and more likely to want to undertake exercise.
The finding was being reported to the British Psychological Society’s Division of Health Psychology Annual Conference in Liverpool, UK.
Dr Angel Chater, of the University of Bedfordshire, tested the effects of playing on consoles on 120 people.
She found that playing games increase intention to do future exercise, affecting psychological factors that influence physical activity and mood.
She said it was a small "pilot study".
She said: "Not only can playing on these consoles be good exercise in itself, the gaming experience can make people more likely to want to do something active like go for a walk or play conventional sport."
She added: "We would like to test these effects further in schools and homes for the elderly, in populations where we know activity levels can be improved, to see whether using interactive games consoles like the Wii and Kinect can increase motivation and actual physical activity, which will in turn improve population health."
But a second report at the same conference warned of the effects of spending time on Facebook and other social networking sites.
A study of some 350 students at the University of Ulster found a close link between the amount of time people spent on these sites and the time they spent on other activities, including exercise.
Researcher Dr Wendy Cousins said: "Time is a finite resource, so time spent in social networking must come at the expense of other activities. Our study suggests that physical activity may be one of those activities.
"Our findings are intriguing, but as we have not conclusively demonstrated that social networking causes lower levels of physical activity. We will need to carry out more research to see if it really is a case of Facebook makes you fat rather than Twitter makes you fitter."
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