Can Video Games, TV, Movies, and Electronics Cause Seizures and Epilepsy?

On December 16, 1997, in Japan, the creators of Pokémon broadcasted a special episode in which Pikachu was intercepting a missile, jolting lots of electricity. Lots of lights flashed in that scene at 12Hz, lasting for several seconds. By next morning, around 12000 people reported having experienced headaches, nausea, dizziness and more importantly for us, seizures! 685 of them were hospitalized and a handful of them went on to stay in the hospital for more than two weeks. The event was so massive, that it is known as “Pokémon shock”.

So, does flashing lights trigger seizures in everyone with epilepsy? Do they need to be cautious even when watching children’s cartoons? Let’s get to the facts!

Who Gets Epilepsy due to Exposure to Flashing Lights and Video Games?

Actually, this is a somewhat rare incident, and this is called photosensitive epilepsy. This is a special type of epilepsy that can be sensitive to light and can get triggered by flashing of light. Also, it should be long enough and should be at a certain frequency to trigger electrical activity in the brain and subsequently cause seizures. Therefore, experts think that this massive phenomenon of lots of seizures and those neurological symptoms in the Pokémon case is more likely to be an incident of mass hysteria, where some children had real seizures and symptoms, but then everyone around got panicked and started to have similar symptoms. There are several psychological theories favoring this idea.

So, in general, electronics and video games do not trigger seizures in many people, including most epileptic patients. But in cases of photosensitive epilepsy, in which the light itself can affect children, it can trigger seizures.

A type of epilepsy that is super sensitive to any visual stimulation and light is called Jeavon syndrome.  Children with this syndrome will have features like staring, eye-rolling up and tilting back of eyes when they are having seizures

Can Children use Headphones, Electronics, and Phones? How does Screens cause Seizures?

In general, video games, as long as they don’t have excessive flashing lights, given that the child is not overly sensitive to flashing lights, should be safe for epilepsy. It is the same for mobile phones as well.

When children watch lots of videos and also play long hours of video games, that can cause sleep deprivation. Not having a quality sleep, or maybe even missing their medications, or excessive stress and excitement due to continuous playing of games can cause seizures, not the video game itself. As you already know, anything in excess is harmful. If the child watches and plays too many video games, that can affect their routine, therefore, causing seizures.

What is Photosensitive Epilepsy?

This type of epilepsy causes you to have seizures straightaway caused by exposure to flashing lights or patterns. Between 3-30 Hz is the common range of frequency to trigger seizures, but this can greatly vary among individuals. Possible triggers for this kind of seizure are flashing or flickering lights or images of rates in the above-mentioned range and contrasting dark and light geometric patterns. The condition responds well to anti-epileptic drugs. However, knowing about the risk factors and minimizing them is the best way to prevent this condition.

How can you Minimize the Risk of Getting Photosensitive Seizures?

It is important that people who are more prone to this condition have a warning before watching movies or video games, that the particular movie or video game has the potential of triggering seizures. There are multiple movies labelled as photosensitive and containing warnings for epilepsy. One of the famous movies as such is the recent Star Wars movie “Rise of the Skywalker.” It has multiple scenes with lots of flashing lights.

In general, there are certain factors that increase the photosensitive risk such as tiredness, stress, or excitement, being very close to a screen, light and dark patterns moving quickly creating a disorientating effect and watching the screen in a dark room. Avoiding these factors may help prevent the condition.

Furthermore, it is advised to cover one eye completely with your hand if suddenly exposed to a trigger, as that will greatly reduce the photosensitive effect. Children who are at risk of getting it should wear a special type of eyeglasses to protect the brain from the light and consequently trigger seizures.

Proper health education for the child, parents and caretakers on how to act during a seizure is also essential.