Video Game Addiction

Hi all,

Since my breakup 2 years ago I have struggeled severely with video game addiction. It has gotten to the point where I play almost 12 hours straight on the weekends and on weekdays during school I rush through homework to get on the games. This is taking over my life and seeing as it is my final year of school I want to do well ,but I'm finding it difficult to restrain myself from the games .Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Disconnect the system and give the controller to a family member, friend or roommate with instructions that they are only to allow you access from, say, 8pm to 11pm on weekdays and noon to 5pm on weekends.

Then, do activities that require you to leave home, such as a sports activity (NOT e-sports!!!), hiking, volunteer work, taking a class for fun, etc. You may remember how much more fun it is to go outside.

Finally, are you trying to hide from the pain of the breakup? Usually the only way to get past something unpleasant is to go through it.

Yeah, you should probably sell your gaming system to GameStop and get it out of your room. I went through something like this years ago and life got in the way of playing. My wife and I just stopped, but in your case, you need to get rid of it until you graduate. You've proven that you don't have the discipline to only play for an hour or two. So you've got to get it away from you.

As with any addiction there are numerous ways to fight back at it - although any addiction is hard to stop. ULtimately the only way to stop it is to just change your habits and make a conscious committment to change your habits. Why do you play? What do ou get out of playing? Then find what other activities can fulfill those same needs and do those instead. Or try new things to replace those needs.

Cold Turkey is definitely a way to do it for sure - but like with any approach - they're hit and miss and you have to find what works for you.

Good luck.

I'm going to say that you don't play from noon to five pm. That is way too much time to be sitting in front of a screen. They actually have rehab centers for "screen addicts" and I'd say if you cant go a whole week without playing and finding something else to keep you occupied then you may want to talk to your doctor about what very well may be a screen addiction and who can he refer you to to get over the hump of cold turkey withdrawl.

Playing every night before bed must be interfering with your sleep as well so unhook the game, give to your parents or a trusted friend to hold onto.

What are some of your other interests? What plan can you come up with to keep yourself busy both in mind and physically that will help you through the initial stages of rehabbing from your 'habit.'

Give the gaming system to someone to either keep or hold for you assuming you get yourself under control at some point.

It's good you see you have a problem and are willing to try to resolve it. You will have to actively force yourself to get rid of the system or to stay away from it. Give the controller to a parent to hang onto.

Yup, get rid of the system. Just do it, not joke. You'll be happier sooner than you know.

I got sucked into gaming a few years ago. A dark chapter.

Following a breakup, I ended up moving to another city. It was a great moment to assess my habits, which I wanted to shed, which I wanted to continue cultivating. I remember thinking to myself: Should I buy another Xbox? And then I said: No, and did a dramatic about face. I bought Moby , a bunch of classical music, and set up a little reading/listening nook outside.

And then I kind of forced myself to read and listen. It was awkward at first, like supremely, but soon enough it was just as compelling, once I kind of adapted to a new stimulus/response feedback loop.

As a former gamer and weighing in your current situation, here’s my advice:

Sell your game system. Don’t just limit your time on it... cut it completely out. If you got a Twitch account, deactivate it. Don’t even go on to watch other people play because it will hook you back into the addiction.

As a senior in college, you are living in a moment that will be the most pivotal point of your adult life. You should be out volunteering and/or participating in an internship program to obtain work experience after college. Time is now shorter because you wasted two years on a console, and no employer is going to hire you without that. They don’t hire people with only college degrees anymore. In addition, this will be your last wave of being able to connect with people; actual people that aren’t behind a screen. It is harder to make friends. It’s also a way to network with others and get a job through them.

You do not have time to play games. You got other responsibilities that need to be taken care of first. Until tou have your degree and a job lined up to support yourself, then you can afford to game.

Looks like Op must be trying to beat a level and is too occupied to come back in and respond to his thread????

As a former person addicted to Video Games. The best thing you can do is keep yourself active doing other things. It's okay to play video games but in moderation.. We all need hobbies.

Sorry guys was too busy with school work to check phone , I have decided to sell the system and put the money towards something useful , thank you all for the advice :)

This is taking over my life and seeing as it is my final year of school I want to do well, but...

Anything after the 'but' is an excuse. It's really not helpful to think of 'this' as some outside influence that's happening 'to' you or taking over your life. It's a series of decisions that you make rather than some phenomenon that's depriving you of your own power of choice.

You either want to do well in school badly enough, or you don't. Procrastination away from stuff we don't feel like doing may be a habit, but debating whether it's a physical addiction over which you don't possess control isn't useful.

Instead, I'd switch any statements that include the words "I can't" to "I won't" for accuracy. Then I'd reward myself each time I make a better choice. For instance, "I'll give myself an hour of playtime AFTER I complete 'x' portion of my homework," and then start the homework to earn the reward. You'll sometimes find yourself motivated enough to complete all or more of the work, so then you can decide to give yourself extra reward time for finishing all of it.

You can use this reward system to transform any pleasurable habit into a motivator to complete any kind of task, or even better, to reward yourself for pursuing an outside social life that will train your 'pleasure' focus to include other things beyond the game.

Also consider that your tuition covers mental health counseling on campus, and you've already paid for the service. So you may want to reward yourself for making the appointment, and then reward yourself again for keeping it. Over time you can expand your ideas about a more useful reward system for getting anything else in your life done to your own satisfaction.

Head high, and make a decision to keep your word to yourself every time you set up a reward. You'll thank yourself later, and you'll teach yourself to trust your own word, as well as your own power of choice.