3 kids here and I’m tickled pink that I just landed a PS5, married 9 years.

From the wives I've talked to, a husband who is at home playing video games is still at home, which is a significant step up from 'at the bar' or any number of escapist male activities that involve dads spending free time far away from their children.

In any case it would be a symptom

According to statistics websites, around 65% of adults in the US play video games, and around the same percentage of residences own gaming devices. At this rate, playing video games could be a "symptom" for virtually anything imaginable.

You probably mean stereotype.

i mean a symptom of having too much time because of no family. dont think there is much stigma around gaming beyond old people

No, it's not really a symptom of too much time, considering this is an activity done by 65% of americans. If anything, people could be using video games to replace more more time-consuming hobbies like spending the night at the bar or building a motorcycle, which are better signals of spending a lot of free time away from the family.

right i m not disagreeing with you, just saying that if they are gaming more than average, it would probably be a symptom of having more free time, not a cause of something