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Really need answers


cybbro

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Just as a title says I hope to find some answers here, from people, who experienced it.
I'm 27 years old, been gaming for as long as I can remember, and my life is fucked up obviously... I've been depressed and suffered from social anxiety for YEARS. I am not motivated to do anything.. Life feels dull, nothing excites me, everything looks so pointless. I only play games for 10 hrs a day.. So, can video games cause me all of this? I mean, did it affect my brain in some way? I used tons of different medications, without any luck, none of them helped, and if it doesn't help, it means that stimuli that caused all of this is still present in my life, can it be gaming?

But the thing is internet is FULL of "scientific studies" which claim that gaming is good for you, it increases reaction, concentration, memory, even battles depression! Many of such studies can be found just by googling for 2 mins, and then there are a few papers about how gaming is dangerous, how it causes a chronic stress, how it can increase anxiety, cause social phobias etc... so, what to believe?? Can quitting gaming really help? is it my overstimulated brain, with huge amount of dopamine makes me feel that way?

I just REALLY need an advise from people, who faced this. Thank you.

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Commit to 90 days without gaming and then re-evaluate. Based on the experience, you'll be able to make a much more informed decision about the role (and impact for better or worse) gaming has in your life by creating a period of 90 days without it.

We've got your back.

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13 hours ago, cybbro said:

But the thing is internet is FULL of "scientific studies" which claim that gaming is good for you, it increases reaction, concentration, memory, even battles depression! Many of such studies can be found just by googling for 2 mins, and then there are a few papers about how gaming is dangerous, how it causes a chronic stress, how it can increase anxiety, cause social phobias etc... so, what to believe?? Can quitting gaming really help? is it my overstimulated brain, with huge amount of dopamine makes me feel that way?

Welcome!

There's solid science on the positive impact of games. And there's solid science with more studies in the works on the negative impact of excessive gaming, or video game addiction. Video games are a tool in the end. You may start by asking yourself why do you play. Is it because you're bored and with nothing else to do, is it to forget about the stress of real daily life, is it to cope with your depression and negative feelings? You may find your answer and elaborate a solution or you may try quitting for an undefined amount of time (it's proven that 90 days or more is the ideal, but to get a first reference you can start by a week or two), then observe how are you feel and what is pulling you back into games, if that pull exists. If you ask me and the majority of this community, you should do both things at the same time.

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Thank you guys for replies, I've spend almost 10 hours (from my main post) just reading this website, digging in to facts, and the poof seems quite solid, you have really valuable information here! I also found Gary Wilson (Cam mention him in a video). It's a shame I didn't find this earlier, having in mind how much time I spend on internet/Youtube. Since nothing else works, I thing this might be it. I'm uninstalling games as I write this post, and you have no idea how anxious I feel (or maybe you do).

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The issues I see with many studies is that the improvements that gaming can cause, are very isolated results. Improved reaction is nice, but I don't know many situations in life where this skills in particular is useful for me.
Improving the memory skill however is quite useful, but does every game train your memory? I think it is rather a certain type of game. Not sure if first person shooters help a lot. And while I was always very concentrated WHILE playing competitive games, the opposite was the case when the computer was turned off. Same goes for depression. While playing games, depression was not an issue, because gaming was some kind of medication. Gaming alleviated the depression, but afterwards accelerated it to a point, where gaming is the only way to calm down again. That is basically the easiest way to slip into an addiction.

So, I am not saying that the studies are false or bad or whatever, but we usually get only a couple of "summa summarum"-phrases. "Gaming boosts your concentration, is good for your memory and helps with your depression." But the real result of the studies often contains 300 pages of ideas, theories and results. You get what I mean. The results presented to us are often extremely isolated. "Alcohol is good for you, because it calms you down". You know? There is always more to it. And you asked specifically about issues in your real life. In your offline life. And while gaming might help you while you game, the moment you turn the game off, you are back in your real life. Suddenly, you realize, nothing has changed in this life. Because nothing was done in this life. The opposite is the case. You did not call back friends, you did not clean your environment, you did not pay taxes in time, because you were busy. All these are simply examples. But to answer your question: 10 hours is a lot of time of neglecting your real life. Afterwards, you will probably be tired, somewhat stressed. You were isolated the whole time, sucked into a different world. Yes, your issues CAN easily be caused by the way you play, the amount of time you do it or the skills that regress while you train others. Can. Like the others before me said, the best thing to do is go through the 90 days detox. See what life is with 10 hours of useful time per day. See if you feel symptoms of withdrawal. Witness what you can do when you do not play games. Just try it. There is basically nothing to lose and usually, you do not miss out on anything, since the games will always be there. Just try the detox. There is plenty of information in this forum. If you have really urgent questions, you can join the discord-chat. Its text-based and voice-chat so you can freely choose how to ask and you will get quick replies.

I am sure your life will improve. Looking forward to see you post your first journal entry. There is a whole community behind you. You got this under control, mate. :)

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5 hours ago, cybbro said:

Thank you guys for replies, I've spend almost 10 hours (from my main post) just reading this website, digging in to facts, and the poof seems quite solid, you have really valuable information here! I also found Gary Wilson (Cam mention him in a video). It's a shame I didn't find this earlier, having in mind how much time I spend on internet/Youtube. Since nothing else works, I thing this might be it. I'm uninstalling games as I write this post, and you have no idea how anxious I feel (or maybe you do).

Yeah it is scary. Best of luck. I am looking forward to your journal if you decide to write one (helped me personally a lot).

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8 hours ago, Regular Robert said:

The issues I see with many studies is that the improvements that gaming can cause, are very isolated results. Improved reaction is nice, but I don't know many situations in life where this skills in particular is useful for me.
Improving the memory skill however is quite useful, but does every game train your memory? I think it is rather a certain type of game. Not sure if first person shooters help a lot. And while I was always very concentrated WHILE playing competitive games, the opposite was the case when the computer was turned off. Same goes for depression. While playing games, depression was not an issue, because gaming was some kind of medication. Gaming alleviated the depression, but afterwards accelerated it to a point, where gaming is the only way to calm down again. That is basically the easiest way to slip into an addiction.

So, I am not saying that the studies are false or bad or whatever, but we usually get only a couple of "summa summarum"-phrases. "Gaming boosts your concentration, is good for your memory and helps with your depression." But the real result of the studies often contains 300 pages of ideas, theories and results. You get what I mean. The results presented to us are often extremely isolated. "Alcohol is good for you, because it calms you down". You know? There is always more to it. And you asked specifically about issues in your real life. In your offline life. And while gaming might help you while you game, the moment you turn the game off, you are back in your real life. Suddenly, you realize, nothing has changed in this life. Because nothing was done in this life. The opposite is the case. You did not call back friends, you did not clean your environment, you did not pay taxes in time, because you were busy. All these are simply examples. But to answer your question: 10 hours is a lot of time of neglecting your real life. Afterwards, you will probably be tired, somewhat stressed. You were isolated the whole time, sucked into a different world. Yes, your issues CAN easily be caused by the way you play, the amount of time you do it or the skills that regress while you train others. Can. Like the others before me said, the best thing to do is go through the 90 days detox. See what life is with 10 hours of useful time per day. See if you feel symptoms of withdrawal. Witness what you can do when you do not play games. Just try it. There is basically nothing to lose and usually, you do not miss out on anything, since the games will always be there. Just try the detox. There is plenty of information in this forum. If you have really urgent questions, you can join the discord-chat. Its text-based and voice-chat so you can freely choose how to ask and you will get quick replies.

I am sure your life will improve. Looking forward to see you post your first journal entry. There is a whole community behind you. You got this under control, mate. :)

You made some really good points here. It's true, I don't feel any benefits that  I've read there should be. And the first day I've spent without gaming (today) was scary... I don't know this world that well. I put all my efforts to run away from it. And deleting all the games.. I felt SO uncomfortable.. you know... social anxiety.. all my friends are in those games. The thing is  I CAN go 90 days. I am stubborn as hell, I will make it, but I also know for sure it will be hell. Luckily, this site is a good resource, there's plenty of information telling HOW to, I saw Cam is selling some premium stuff which I might get also. So yeah, thank you for this well made post!

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Always welcome. If I may add one last thing: It will be hell... in the beginning. From my own experience and what I read in many journals, after 2 weeks, you will feel different and later on, there might even be a time when you feel so powerful that you don't really know what mountain to climb first. And somewhere along all of those states, your brain will re-balance. So, don't worry. Its not complete hell, just for a short amount of time. :)

 

And of course: Kudos to you for completing your first day. The first step is the hardest. Now you got the thing rollin'. baby! :D

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