I had a gaming addiction. Not really too embarrassed to admit that. I’ve always dealt with it on my own, never with help and I’m fine now. Anyway, I woke up yesterday at 2am, turned on a lamp and wrote down a whole lot of stuff. At 4am I turned the lamp off and got to bed. One of the “articles” I wrote was about my gaming addiction, and had this list at the bottom of it. I thought i’d post it here for the lulz to see how many of these fit yourselves. Symptoms -Screen lock – cannot avoid staring at screen (this is a funny one, try this experiement for yourself. While your computer is on, and possibly downloading or something vaguely interesting on the screen, stand up and face in some random direction. With your head tilted at the angle you need to see the monitor. rotate yourself so the screen passes across your vision. Note if your eyes quickly snap to watch the monitor, staring at it for all the time that the position of your head allows you to) -loss of track of time -suppressed bodily functions – toilet , food, sleep Long term symptoms -Changed personality when forced to go without games -decreased ‘comfort zone’ in real world -tiny attention span, irritability at delays -daydream & dream about games -loss of ego -> decreased personal hygiene e.g. brushing teeth -need to have games after any real world activity and increased ‘internal bargining’ on when it’s acceptable to play games. E.g. ‘done some work, i’m allowed to play’ -Inability to relax without games, especially before going to sleep -Comparing every (social) situation with how happy you would be playing games, leading to reclusive tendencies, i.e not meeting friends if meeting sounds ‘unremarkable, potentially dull’ -justifying use of computer/internet in ones mind by initially using it for harmless/’neccessary’ process e.g. email, music – leading to an extended session -justify habit as escape from ‘unfair’ life -‘binge’ gaming nights -gaming when not enjoying it -(feeling of) lack of time in day to get real (not work related) things done. E.g. go to bank I’d like to add that I’m actually a pretty normal person, decent friends. I also had a lot of extracurricular activities on the go, which I never let drop, and I’m into possibly the best university in Britain now... so I’m not a total fuckup.
And this is bad why? If we look at the bright side we might be the pioneers of a new era. That doesn't sound as bad. I guess defending and not aknowleding it is a symptom too
Likely everyone on this forum has at least some of these symptoms. The key is if its interfering with other parts of your life (i.e. school, work, family, friends, etc.) then its a problem.
the first set of symptoms arn't problems, just things that happen. the second set really are problems.
My way of life is too stop addictions and obtain others. I have very bi-polar decisions(I am not actually bi-polar) meaning I'm all or nothing, i vote 10 out of 10 or 0 out of 10, so i have to divert my attention to something equally as amusing, such as reading a lot, or something related, like using the hammer editor so that I'm at least being creative. When I am not doing anything, I feel a kind of burning in my head, and seeing that i live in the middle of no where, having only something different on weekends where I am with my friends or cut trees I need to occupy a lot of my time.
