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  1. Hello everyone. I have been addicted to League of Legends and porn for 10 years. I am starting a new journey now since I just graduated college and became a Software Engineer. College was supposed to be where you make "lifelong" friends, have fun partying, go to many events, etc. But for me this wasn't the case. The only people that I hanged out with were other Engineering majors who were also socially awkward and didn't like going out. My entire routine for 4 years was Study, Classes, Video Games and Porn at night. So basically almost my entire life has been in front of a screen. Coding --> Gaming --> Porn. I'm a virgin and I have never been on a date. I've never even kiss or held hands with a woman. The fact that I missed out on those is killing me because I am already out of college and I have to put in extra effort now to meet people/women. Now my old friends don't contact me anymore since they are also out of school and moved to other cities. The only leverage I have right now to save my Social life and experience more things in the real world is my job. I get paid pretty well so I'm going to continue to learn more about coding, etc. And use that money to go to events and meet people. I have also started buying healthy foods and going to the gym. I ate burgers and cup noodles almost everyday in college therefore I look like shit.
  2. I'm now a high school sophomore and have never had a girlfriend. Anyone got tips?
  3. I quit games a couple weeks ago and my Steam accounts are in the process of being deleted. EGS account is already deleted. I am currently separated from my family and in the next few days I may end up having a lot of time on my hands. I hope to be back home in the next few weeks or months. Gaming could be a good escape to help destress and recoup, but im worried that if I start down that road that I'll be consumed for a while to numb the pain, as was my previous lifestyle. I started learning FL Studio but havent had much time to work on it lately and fear that the learning curve will deter me from continuing. I have been watching more senseless YT lately too that needs to be curbed. FL Studio tutorials have been helpful to keep me learning. I have been reading a lot more which is good- to an extent. It's also another form of escape and distraction for me, though it does encourage me to write- which I avoid at all costs cuz I'm terrified of writing and that what i will write will be no good. I know it doesnt matter and i need to just WRITE but I have difficulty moving past that. Im writing this journal entry so i dont look for some escape right now, or maybe it is a form of escape cuz i dont want to pray right now. I dont have my laptop atm so gaming isn't really an option, but i'll have it later today. I can go to an Anytime Fitness gym if i want to for the next couple days while i have the car, which i think i might do. Ive been going with a friend for a couple momths. I'll have to go by myself but i think i can manage that. I did that a couple weeks ago. Im staying at a friends for a couple days and gaming has always been a go-to for us. So im not sure if he will want to and/or if i should. I kind of need a distraction right now. Ive prayed for a bit but im losing strength presently and when my friend and I will be home together later today we might want to play something. Idk. I just kind of need a distraction... i know i should keep going to Jesus but Im feeling pretty worn out. Vors, signing off.
  4. Hello, My clean date is 11/25/19. This is My Story. It’s 11/14/19 and I decided to recommit to quit today after just thirty minutes of gaming. I was having a hard time dealing with the fact that I’m 31 and single. I’ve wanted to be stable with someone forever so it’s dismaying for me. I just feel like it’s really difficult for me to find someone. I have a job but haven’t saved much money. I’m kind of thin and don’t have the best skin. And I have schizoaffective disorder. That’s a combination of depression and schizophrenia. It means I’m at risk for getting depressed and sometimes have delusions that people are out to get me. My therapist recommended me to a group for people who are chronically mentally ill because I was continually having suicidal ideation for months while working with her. I’ve really got to continue with that group. Anyways. Things didn’t workout with a couple of romantic prospects and I got pretty down. Then I was playing a game and realized. “Playing isn’t making me feel better. It’s making me feel worse.” That led me back on here and now I’m adding to the forums. I've never been an online poster, I don’t even use social media. But for some reason this site has given me the power to quit gaming when I felt completely hopeless. When I get paid I’m thinking I’ll try to complete the respawn guide. If you read my intro you know I’ve been on vacation trying to quit again. It’s hard, it hurts and I’m not really sure what my identity is. “Who am I?” Is a question I’m trying to answer now. I am a Christian. I workout, I practice yoga and mindfulness. I love to read, especially the Bible. I love my family and even though it’s challenging for me to get along with them sometimes. I keep trying. I’m a counselor and I hope to become a licensed therapist some day. I used to be a gaming addict. I just feel like my whole life is at risk when I play a game for even a second. It’s a pretty intense reality, but I think it’s true for any gaming addict. The only solution for me is to stop gaming for life. Sincerely, Erik
  5. So today I want to ask about how to develop communication skills effectively. I always find myself either offending others or summoning a moment of silence after conversing for a long time. These happen between my friends and classmates regularly. I also find others making similar mistakes like me. If you have any suggestions for better talk/chats please leave them here for me. Thanks!
  6. Like many other people here, I am addicted to gaming. It's something that has affected me for years, and wasted away countless hours of my life along with thousands of dollars. It's costed me so many relationships and opportunities, to the point where I'm no longer truly young (26 in 2021) and yet haven't achieved much of anything in my life. I've tried many, many times to quit. Sometimes I lasted for just a few days, sometimes several months, but ultimately the siren call of gaming always drew me back, screwing me over and undoing all the positive progress I worked so hard to build. On the surface my life honestly isn't too bad. 2020 was a bad year for many people, but it was pretty great for me. I moved out of my mom's place, got a job, and started working full time to take care of myself. I recently went back to school full time as well, and am looking forward to graduating in February with a 4.0 GPA and credentials that will allow me to work in an industry that I'm passionate about. And I have an awesome girlfriend who has stuck with me through some truly tough times. So why am I trying to quit gaming now? Because while I'm doing enough to get by, I know I'm falling so far short of my full potential. My room is a mess. My body and mind have both become incredibly weak from years of sedentary living. Most importantly, I have so many dreams that I want to achieve, and the opportunity to do so diminishes with each passing day, as I piss away my free time playing games and watching TV. I want to get fit, travel the world, make a lot of friends, and be involved in my community. I want to have a job that doesn't just allow me to get by, but that allows me to truly make a difference in the world. I know I can reach every single one of these goals, but I also know that it won't be possible unless I start growing up and leaving gaming behind. 2020 was a great year, but here's to 2021 being an even better one. Cheers.
  7. DAY # - 1 Time I woke up: 6:00am Time I went to sleep yesterday: 11:30pm Physical task: walking Mental task: writing Projects: none Miscellaneous accomplishments: ~ did my oceanography test ~ had the tutoring session of ASL ~ paid $44 to cover the vocal lesson and the shortage from last week Summary of Day It was boring I had nothing else left to do... What I am grateful for today: ~ sunshine ~ spring weather ~ happiness ~ contacting with my father over Messenger Over and out!
  8. FIRST DAY Good things I have finally tidied up room. That took me 3 bloody hours. Who knew my room could accomodate so much dust, Jesus. More than that, I accidentally found the missing part from my MOTTO Racing gear ? That hit me hard. A sudden wave of playing urge almost overwhelmed me but ya boi stays strong. EDIT. Watching video of other people quitting gaming (HOBEDAGA`s story) helped me. especially this guy. He`s a legend Spent time with my father. That was endearing really. We talked, played chess. Too bad I`ve wasted so much time digging my head in sand. But look redemption is what matters here right? It was funny to stumble upon my urge to leave as soon as we talked. I understand why. My father was often asking about my grades, plans for future, thoughts, anything, hell, he really was trying. And me being a depressed junkie, hating that sense of guilt, so dense I could touch it, I would crudely end the convo and rush to my messy room playing computer games with lights switched off. Bad things I feel like shit already. Well it is an indication of me being an addict, right? And I don`t want that. I want to be free. Thoughts Does the fact I am quitting mean that I shall not play again anymore? Should it be as fawl and wrong as doing drugs or commiting crimes for me now? What about this time I have spent playing games? Should I blame myself for it? What if I turn to pro gamer? Like, isn`t it wonderful to be hooked on something and bring bacon home at the same time. But, from the other perspective, say I have managed to become pro, will I be agile? Active? Socially charismatic? Perhaps it`s my brain trying to find a way to play some more Well, here it is, folks! OH! one more thing.. Here it is my visual XP bar for not playing the game ? How do you like it
  9. Hello everyone. I have been playing video games from a young age of 6 years old when i first got a computer in my household. My parents were limiting my play time to 1 hour a day, so i had a pretty good childhood and decent teen years, but as my age increased the limits set by my parents kind of disappeared and and i got myself completely into video games. Even though back then i had a group of very close friends and did hang outside fairly often. Another problem was that from a young age I was shy and had problems meeting new people and starting conversations with them. In highschool i started playing FPS games competitively and started hanging out with my friends a lot less. I was pretty much spending all my free time just sitting in front of my computer and playing without a care in the world. After school our group of friends split up to go to universities/colleges in different cities/countries, so I was left pretty much alone. What was i gonna do? I dedicated even more of my time on video games and web surfing in general in my university years. Out of the 30 people in my university group i made friends only with 2 of them and due to my addiction I did not even hang out with them outside of university, which resulted in me having no friends at all after university finished. Now I have been working for 3 years as a programmer without any social life outside of work. I feel like i don't even have the skills required to converse with people. One on one i can manage some talk, but in a group I can't muster a single word, because I don't feel like I can add anything to the conversation. Having wasted my teen years and university years doing pretty much nothing I don't have any stories to share, I don't even know the city I live in that well because I never went out to clubs or bars. Obviously my love life is non existent, I have had drunken sex a couple of times, but never made the effort, or knew how to make a connection with a female and date. I turned 25 this year and realized how much of a failure I am compared to the people I work with, who have many interests, have read many books, accumulated all kinds of knowledge from experiencing different things, created families and are leading active lives. With these heavy thoughts depressing me i tried quitting gaming and it kind of worked, since games for the past couple of years have been just a way to spend my free time, I don't actually enjoy them anymore. I have reduced my gaming time to a maximum of 1-4 hours a day as opposed to 5-8. But it is still not even close to being enough, since i replaced my gaming time with useless internet surfing time. With all of these thoughts in my head i started getting depressed and started to seriously consider suicide. I am having suicidal thoughts around 3 times a week, once a month I would cry to myself about my pathetic situation and what I have become. But before I depress myself even more with these thoughts of mine I decided to take action and completely remove gaming from my life, reduce pointless internet surfing time and add 2-4 hours of some kind of social/active activities. So my goal being here is to quit gaming completely and quit pointless internet surfing in general, find a new group of friends and hopefully create myself a healthy social life, where I could hopefully become more confident in my self and eventually create a family of my own. The biggest problem i will have to solve is how to open up myself to people more to befriend them, because socialization is definitely one of my weakest points at this moment. I wrote quite a lot, if you have read it all you have my thanks. I'll be sticking around this forum looking for tips and advices on where to go on from now and what kind of activities i could take up. So if you have any kind of starting advice, i would love to hear them, thanks ?
  10. Hello there! So first I wanna say, that my school english isn't the best, but i'll try to make it understandable. About myself: I'm 18 years old, coming from Switzerland and have been gaming for over 6 years now. the reason why i started was very simple, but also sad. My dad püassed away when i was 12 and just two years later a got i diagnose of an incurable disease, which meant my muscles were getting weaker slowly but steady. So video games were the only place i could get rid of all these very big problems in my life. It was a very rough time since then. I have to mention that I'm super grateful that my marks never dropped and I'm still under the top three in my class. So that's a positive thing, same as my physical health. I managed to do 2x a week therapie and 4x a week fitness and it helps me alot to keep myself up not only that my muscle-strength doesn't fade, but also mentally. But beside that i also played so much video games. especially on weekends or in holidays. It came thati played like 13 hours a day and I got sick of it really! And i had a few tries getting over this adddiction as many would calll it, but failed and felt even worse after it. Had one year without my computer and smartphone but never found joy in other areas in my life. So I relapsed right at the end of 2018. Since then I sometimes hoped to be able to control my gaming behavior and itt was not even that bad. But just 3 weeks ago holidays started and it was horrible. So I decided to stop this once and forever. As my other tries didnt work out in the long run, I wanna make it public this time and join a forum to motivbate others and also get inspiration on my side. My goals are these: Quit video games completely reduce the amount of time i spend on youtube to basically zero (only music is allowed) find other hobbis/activities that bring me joy read alot about psychology and philosophy, because it fascinates me keep up the good work in health and school write this journal every day As this port goes online this experiment or rather this new life begins and I feel ready for whatever will encounter me. Peace out!
  11. Good morning everyone, My wife and I went to couples' counseling Tuesday night, where the extent of my addiction was made painfully clear; I was meeting seven of the nine signs of addiction this site details. Most troubling among them were the escapism and the deception. I was hiding credit card bills and paying them from my personal savings so as not to alert my wife to the microtransactions and other purchases I was making. As with all lies, it was discovered, and I have never felt so horrible as I did that night, watching her cry and hearing her yell at me. She knew me better than I knew myself thankfully, and knew I was running to gaming to escape my past, to escape having to socialize in an uncontrollable environment. She has been incredible in her support of me, which I absolutely do not deserve given what I have done. Although she has not given me an ultimatum, she does see this habit like a drug, and has put her foot down to help me through this. This is the beginning of my third day without video games, and it has not been easy. It feels like how I would imagine a drug addict would feel without their fix (without the physical symptoms, thank goodness). Half of me is saying that I am in control, and that I can shorten my play time to several hours a week as opposed to 30-40. The other half sees just how much gaming has taken over my life, and how unhealthy it has been for me. Harder still, gaming is my connection to my friends. I moved to a new city for work after I dropped out of my PhD program (unrelated to gaming problems), and have had trouble meeting new people. All in all, even though it has only been three days, I have come to realize several important factors. Gaming is an important hobby for me and a connection to my friends and family. However, it had become more than a hobby. I was no longer having fun, and was using them to run from my problems and to substitute for actual progression in real life. I was playing them because I was afraid of missing out on that next reward or that next level of power, not to have fun with my friends like I used to. I was playing them as opposed to doing other activities that are fun for me like reading or playing music or hiking. I am planning on selling my PS4 and several of my Switch games in the next few days. I currently don't see myself being able to quit gaming completely, but I now recognize that certain games will hook me more than others. I need to have games that aren't online only or hyper-competitive. I need games that I can pick up and play for an hour or two, and put down without feeling like I am missing out. I look forward to being a part of this community, and getting my life back in balance! I have already been practicing my french horn more than I had been, and am seeing marked improvement in my skill and stamina. Good luck to all of us! -Erik (ydinpoika)
  12. Hello everybody! This is my first journal update after my introduction post, and today, I put my money where my mouth is. I sold my PS4, my old X Box and all games I had for both systems. I also deleted my Reddit account and unsubscribed from every streamer and gaming news channel on YouTube I was following. My wife couldn't be happier, and we've already seen the results of my newfound "freedom." There are times where she will be busy where I am not, and these are the toughest times for me. It helps to know that she does not feel like she has won some battle, and wants me to be able to use that down time to relax and have my alone time. After some discussions, we are hopeful that I will still be able to use this time to game after my detox process, but maintaining an awareness of the draw of certain games that I will need to continue to avoid. I feel free, but I also feel sad. Not sure if I made too big a decision in too short a time. I still have my Switch, which is my brain's consolation prize; I still have a game system that will allow me to connect with my friends and family after my detox. However, it was really hard to get rid of my consoles that had been with me through some of the toughest moments in my life, that allowed me to connect with my friends, and had thousands of hours sunk into them. These make for great memories and, as per economics 101, sunk costs should not be considered in making a decision, but that does not make it easy to let go. It feels good to not have to worry about keeping up with other players online to maintain my competitive edge, though. I'm looking forward to seeing how gaming feels after the detox period, knowing that the style of game I will be limiting myself to will be able to fulfill my desire for games and keeping my brain active via puzzles and/or quick reactions, while still maintaining balance with my other activities. It is going to be a busy week at work this week because I'm traveling in addition to writing my reports and proposals, so I will hopefully continue to maintain a solid barrier to my cravings. Good luck everyone! Looking forward to sending out another update later this week as well as hearing your thoughts. -Erik (ydinpoika)
  13. Hi all This is my 1st time posting here so I think I'll start with a bit of pretext My name is Frank, I am 28 and I work as mechanical engineer and most recently a new dad I found this group after listening to Cam speak on the Dad's edge Podcast the other week A few days after listening to that interview I had a shameful incident where I lost temper with my newborn son who was just in need of soothing all because my having to soothe him prevented me from getting my weekend fix for gaming After this incident I said enough is enough and have decided to embark on my personal journey to detox from gaming for the rest of my life, hopefully As of the time of writing this I am only 1 week into this detox and like many of you I am struggling to find some activities to occupy the time that used to be taken up with gaming. Outside of work which takes up 10-12 hours of my day currently, I already engage in some personal activities that take me away from gaming such as weight lifting at the gym before work, training in Aikido 2 nights a week at a local dojo, Reading and as you would expect with being a new dad I spend quite a bit of time after work helping my wife with our son. The issue I am finding with filling what time I was spending on gaming is that a lot of the activities I am coming up with such as creative writing, playing in or DM'ing a D&D group, playing board games, starting a training course, fitting an extra session in at the gym, starting building plastic model kits or table top wargamming (such as warhammer 40K). Is that all of these activities seem a bit selfish in that they are all solo activities that only appeal to me and that my wife a) isn't interested in or b) really doesn't have the patience for I know that my wife and I's 1st responsibility is tending to the needs of our newborn son and our home but when we don't have our hands full with him and when there is nothing to work on the house it would be nice to do something together which isn't just sit in front of the TV and watching Netflix or us going out for a meal, which don't get me wrong, is nice every now and then however with me being someone who has always being one that required growth or progress in some way I can't find that sitting around on the couch/lounge or sitting in a restaurant. This lack of feeling like I was growing or progressing is 1 of the reason's I spent too much time in games. The one activity I have thought of that we could do together was for us to resume learning Spanish like we were before we travelled to Spain, to visit some of my family after our wedding a few years back, which I think would also be great for my son as it would mean that he could grow up in a bi-lingual home like I did growing up with Spanish speaking family members here in Australia. However other than this I am struggling to come up with other ideas so I would really appreciate some help from the community Thank you in advance for your contributions
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