5 Reasons to Stop Playing Videos Games and Engage Deeply in Life

I’ve been playing video games my whole life until I’ve decided to quit around Q1 of 2021. That might be the best decision I’ve have ever taken. I did procrastinate things more then I realize now. Such as turning down friends, working out, walking, reading useful books and articles, studying and basically taking care of myself less. I gained some weight too. I think I’ve realized gaming was causing some problems 2 years ago. It was not until the summer of 2021 I had the “talk”. I didn’t want to play video games anymore, they were not essential. And I had to quit it was and still is hard to quit. I’ve switched to Linux because of the hassle to run video games and dropped watching gaming videos and streams because they were almost making me relapse. I don’t have any social media accounts and now I don’t play video games. It’s not until you really realize what’s happening with your life when you take them out for a while. Video games are awesome, but if I wanted myself to get back on track, I had to stop playing for a while. Right now, after I’m tired of studying or doing some work, I don’t run to play video games anymore. I read, workout, clean my room, listen to some music etc. And that’s my story for now. I still think of playing video games, but less. I mean I’ve been playing them my whole life. If you’re reading this and deciding if you should quit or not, I’d say don’t play for a while. Take a month off maybe. Who nows what’s going to happen and it’s kind of exciting

Well, I am going to agree with the author. This is my SUBJECTIVE opinion, not scientific study but a study nonetheless, of my own character/ being. I play video games since I was 10. In my childhood my parents somewhat controlled how long I played but I got very imaginative how to play games without their knowledge. I think games are addictive and it simply happened to me, I concluded that because I realized the symptoms I had. I never lost control over my life like it happens with many people but I feel I lost countless opportunities in life. Just one example, in my childhood I was exceptional at drawing, I drew really a lot. I was considered the best in school. If in art class somebody got A, I always got 2x A because I was clearly outclassing anybody else. After I got my first computer in 2000, I was 10. I simply didn’t feel a need to create anything. Any desire that I had to create something artistically was gone because I had better visualization of my “dreams and desires” on my screen. 15 years later I went back to art and I actually became an artist but to tell the truth, I am not exceptional anymore – I try to be competitive. The lost opportunity is that if I didn’t lose 15 years on video games but focused on art, I could have become an incredible artist and much sooner. That’s one, simple but big example from my life how video games negatively influenced it. In recent few years I try to consciously cease gaming all together and I am fairly successful but not totally. I can withhold gaming for few months only to come back to it in a bad day and I usually carry on like that for a week or two until I find motivation to uninstall all games again. The thing is that I observed changes in my behavior in my gaming periods. I am generally less patient, easy to annoy, I don’t enjoy simple things in life because my head is full of ideas about video games. In general, I am a kind of person that if I have something in heart, desire something I focus 100% on it. If I want to create art, I comit 100% of everything I got, I can work on something all night and not feel any exhaustion, this apply to everything I find passion for and when I feel passionate about video games, I cannot focus on anything else. Except, even there is a difference. If I create something, I can find some sort of balance and even though I can still forget about other people, I never feel irritated when I am approached by others who interrupt and I still enjoy every moment in life fully. I actually feel great when I drink a tea or prepare a breakfast feeling accomplished while I feel drained after gaming sessions and I can easily skip breakfast anyway because I feel a need to go back to games. I never traveled a lot but when I started to put effort to stop gaming, to fill the emptiness I began to go to places and I really love it. I look forward when I save enough money to organize a trip to actively catch more inspiration for my art but when I go through my ‘down’ time in gaming period I don’t feel a need to go anywhere even though traveling is something so incredible I struggle for words to describe how great and uplifted I feel on my travels compared to when I play video games. Some may say: “it’s you, not video games, don’t blame a tool for the wrong way you are using it.” You’re right about the point (I could argue that entertainment industry is OBJECTIVLY harmful for anybody but not now) Let’s step back and examine something completely different, to get a perspective. Whose fault it is that people are obese? Mainly obese people are at fault – yes! Not only though. I don’t want to point that its sugar’s fault, it’s not but maybe huge corporations with their invasive advertisement? – Yes, in part. Maybe difficulties in life that caused a person to eat unhealthy extensively? – In part, yes. What about work, the fact that people sit all day in their offices under stress and need to let it out so they turn to eating too much? – Partly yes, our whole society and our western culture full of consumptionism has many struggles that are partly at source of people falling into addictions of any sort.

I don’t want to make it too long but want to add that TV, Video Games and Music industry are the same in that respect, they are addictive and they can subconsciously program people and change their behavior, their whole character. It happened that games became my weak spot; I never was interested in music or movies too much so, when I realized what it is, it wasn’t hard to abandon those two to enjoy my life more but I struggle to leave video games completely behind. I do want to succeed and in time it will happen.

The author does not force you to stop playing video games, he just gives you advice. If you do not like it let it go and stop the hate.

Only a half-witted highly-opinionated person can write such a piece of crap. I have been a gamer since I was in school in 90s and still play on PS4/Xbox/PC. I got myself an engineering degree, an MBA, a job, 3 girl-friends and the 3rd ones is my wife now, I have a 4-year-old child now. I have friends, I have family, I have a life, but gaming has never come in the way. So you can cork it.