This article makes a good point about retro games using less overstimulating graphics, but an equally important factor is how games handle interruptions. In retro Pokémon games, exploring a route almost guarantees wild encounters that interrupt your progression.

This contrasts with doomscrolling on social media, which offers constant access to exactly what you want, whenever you want it. Pokémon, by design, delays gratification by introducing obstacles that slow progress (something players understand and accept as part of the experience).

These interruptions also create new opportunities: wild encounters introduce new Pokémon, and trainer battles encourage new strategies. If success was given without interruption, there would be little reason to keep playing, and winning would feel unearned. While the article states imagination as a benefit of games, I think interruption is a key distinction between gaming and doomscrolling that's worth mentioning explicitly.