Introduction

[No-Face]

Throughout my life, I have spent most of my time playing video games whether it was eight hours a day or 10. I would prioritize it over socializing with friends and family, school, and homework. I was addicted. Near the end of 2017, I began feeling something was missing in my life, I no longer felt the happiness and enjoyment of playing video games, I didn’t need it anymore. So, I stopped cold turkey. I deleted all my games and gaming software that may tempt me to relapse. About two months in without playing video games, I feel wonderful. I have so much free time on my hands, I have begun reading books that collected dust over the years, got my sleep schedule on track, work out regularly, and listen to educational podcasts frequently and a few additions. I don’t miss gaming and the sheer amount of free time I have is an amazing benefit of quitting. I stopped wasting my time with video games because I wasn’t going to become a professional gamer and because it was an unhealthy addiction. I enjoy information technology more and I am pursuing that because it is worth much more of my time.

Introduction:

I am 21, I go to college for Computer Networking and Cyber Security and am almost complete with both majors. I am currently taking five classes (four online, one in class). I have a number of years of experience in Information Technology. I currently do not have a job, my most recent job overtime was an unhealthy environment, so I had to leave. I do not have a license yet, I plan to get it after this semester of college. Additionally, I plan on taking the CompTIA A+ certification after this semester.

Resources I am using for Self-improvement:

- 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos Audiobook – Unabridged Jordan B. Peterson

- Game Quitters Podcast (on #2 currently)

- todoIst.com (for organizing my tasks/schedule)

- The Pomodoro Technique

- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity Audiobook – Unabridged David Allen

- Count calories to lose weight

Hobbies:

- Reading books

- Working out

- Listening to educational podcasts

- Watching YouTube videos

- Watching Anime/Netflix/Movies

- Meditation

- Twitch.tv

- Learning new information that I can make use of

- Information Technology

- Listening to music

Questions/Concerns:

I occasionally use Twitch.tv to watch streamers play games. I enjoy Twitch primarily for the humorous personality of the streamers. I do not prioritize Twitch.tv over important tasks. It does not make me feel that I should get back into gaming. Considering the stresses of college, having a laugh every so often really helps me. I view Twitch streamers as comedians. I really do not want to stop watching Twitch in my free time, but if others think that I can improve then I can give it a try…

Based on the information above should I detox from Twitch for 90 days? If yes, would you also recommend unfollowing streamers from social media? (Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Discord)

I look forward to your replies and would appreciate new hobby ideas. :)

Edited March 9, 2018 by No-Face

[Bugg]

Hi, welcome! I'm pretty new here and having little experience with twitch I can't offer much of an answer to your question, other than to do what feels right for you? If you're already considering it then my suggestion would be to try a 90 detox from it and see how you feel. It's obviously bothered you enough to feel the need to seek advice, so I'd assume that perhaps it doesn't play a totally harmless role in your life? I would imagine for a detox to be most effective it would probably be wise to also unfollow the streamers, since the entertainment you get from those could be quite similar to Twitch? I dunno, just my thoughts. 

Congratulations on how far you've come though!! That's really amazing :)

Oh, and hobbies? Learning German and practicing guitar are my goto's, alongside working out and learning calisthenics, and yoga. Tho I try and keep a blog too, and I'm also wanting to learn more about birds. I probably have too many hobbies, haha.

Good luck!!

Edited March 9, 2018 by Bugg

[Cam Adair]

Yes to all! For 90 days. It will only compound the positive benefits. 

Welcome. :)

[dwalk77]

Welcome @No-Face! Thanks for sharing.  I'm curious what you'll think about the Jordan Peterson book, I have his Maps of Meaning book on my reading list. 

I've watched a lot of Twitch, and lots of Youtube playthroughs as well.  My situation might be different than yours, though, b/c I would say Twitch did get in the way of important tasks, and it did lead to me gaming.  But even if it doesn't, I think it's worth asking yourself - are you putting yourself at risk to it getting to that point? And if there is a risk, how much is it?

All that being said...I still think giving up Twitch for a period is a good idea.  In my opinion, watching Twitch is lazy, more lazy than most other activities, even watching TV.  If you're wanting to watch entertainment for comedic value, I think you're better off watching a comedy film or reading a humorous book than watching Twitch.

I can only give my personal opinion here, but I think if you commit to not watching Twitch for a few months, I would be surprised if you didn't see some tangible benefits.  I'm going on about 2 months without it, and I certainly feel better without it.

 

[Kreedo]

Welcome @No-Face

 

I also am trying to learn some new info-tech stuff.  Linux Admin in particular.   So Far I've been procrastinating.  But I have a job lined up already if I can get it worked out.

 

I also am calorie counting using myfitnesspal.com

 

I've sampled the pomedoro technique and I want to try that again if it works.

 

I have a long way to go though til I feel that I'll get fit.  One day at a time I guess.

 

 

[No-Face]

17 hours ago, Bugg said:

Hi, welcome! I'm pretty new here and having little experience with twitch I can't offer much of an answer to your question, other than to do what feels right for you? If you're already considering it then my suggestion would be to try a 90 detox from it and see how you feel. It's obviously bothered you enough to feel the need to seek advice, so I'd assume that perhaps it doesn't play a totally harmless role in your life? I would imagine for a detox to be most effective it would probably be wise to also unfollow the streamers, since the entertainment you get from those could be quite similar to Twitch? I dunno, just my thoughts. 

Congratulations on how far you've come though!! That's really amazing :)

Oh, and hobbies? Learning German and practicing guitar are my goto's, alongside working out and learning calisthenics, and yoga. Tho I try and keep a blog too, and I'm also wanting to learn more about birds. I probably have too many hobbies, haha.

Good luck!!

Thank you! Based on all of the support, I am going to detox from Twitch for 90-days. I spent a portion of today unfollowing as many streamers as I could find while combing my social media. I unfollowed on Twitter, left Discord servers, unfollowed on Instagram, and unsubscribed on YouTube. I also downloaded the software/chrome extension 'Cold Turkey' (which allows you to block websites from visiting them) to prevent me from subconsciously visiting the website. I made a promise to myself today, if I happened to relapse and watch Twitch purposefully (I May stumble upon it by accident because I am sure I missed unfollowing someone on social media) then I will delete my Twitch account, which I know I don't want to do because I'm following about 200 streamers on Twitch.TV (I rotated watching between 10 a day). If I do relapse then I will rid myself from Twitch so that I have nothing to come back to.

Thank you!

I'll keep - learning a foreign language in mind, I do have a guitar that I haven't touched for many years so I'll try that out soon, working out is always an amazing Hobby, calisthenics looks fun, I have just recently been starting to get in yoga, I do have a bird watching book somewhere in my house so I'll add that to my hobby list too.

Thank you again for your support! :)

(This is from my phone, so if it is messy then I will edit/fix it in the morning.)

Edited March 10, 2018 by No-Face

[No-Face]

10 hours ago, Cam Adair said:

Yes to all! For 90 days. It will only compound the positive benefits. 

Welcome. :)

Thank you! Based on all of the support, I am going to detox from Twitch for 90-days. I spent a portion of today unfollowing as many streamers as I could find while combing my social media. I unfollowed on Twitter, left Discord servers, unfollowed on Instagram, and unsubscribed on YouTube. I also downloaded the software/chrome extension 'Cold Turkey' (which allows you to block websites from visiting them) to prevent me from subconsciously visiting the website. I made a promise to myself today, if I happened to relapse and watch Twitch purposefully (I May stumble upon it by accident because I am sure I missed unfollowing someone on social media) then I will delete my Twitch account, which I know I don't want to do because I'm following about 200 streamers on Twitch.TV (I rotated watching between 10 a day). If I do relapse then I will rid myself from Twitch so that I have nothing to come back to.

If I have questions for you in the future (because I'll be binge listening to your podcast) what would be the best way to reach you if I had multiple follow-up questions? 

I really appreciate this website and positive community you've built. :)

(This is from my phone, so if it is messy then I will edit/fix it in the morning.)

[No-Face]

11 hours ago, dwalk77 said:

Welcome @No-Face! Thanks for sharing.  I'm curious what you'll think about the Jordan Peterson book, I have his Maps of Meaning book on my reading list. 

I've watched a lot of Twitch, and lots of Youtube playthroughs as well.  My situation might be different than yours, though, b/c I would say Twitch did get in the way of important tasks, and it did lead to me gaming.  But even if it doesn't, I think it's worth asking yourself - are you putting yourself at risk to it getting to that point? And if there is a risk, how much is it?

All that being said...I still think giving up Twitch for a period is a good idea.  In my opinion, watching Twitch is lazy, more lazy than most other activities, even watching TV.  If you're wanting to watch entertainment for comedic value, I think you're better off watching a comedy film or reading a humorous book than watching Twitch.

I can only give my personal opinion here, but I think if you commit to not watching Twitch for a few months, I would be surprised if you didn't see some tangible benefits.  I'm going on about 2 months without it, and I certainly feel better without it.

 

Thank you! Based on all of the support, I am going to detox from Twitch for 90-days. I spent a portion of today unfollowing as many streamers as I could find while combing my social media. I unfollowed on Twitter, left Discord servers, unfollowed on Instagram, and unsubscribed on YouTube. I also downloaded the software/chrome extension 'Cold Turkey' (which allows you to block websites from visiting them) to prevent me from subconsciously visiting the website. I made a promise to myself today, if I happened to relapse and watch Twitch purposefully (I May stumble upon it by accident because I am sure I missed unfollowing someone on social media) then I will delete my Twitch account, which I know I don't want to do because I'm following about 200 streamers on Twitch.TV (I rotated watching between 10 a day). If I do relapse then I will rid myself from Twitch so that I have nothing to come back to.

I haven't quite finished the book yet, I'm only on chapter 2. But I am familiar with Jordan Peterson from podcasts he is done (Joe Rogan Experience, Rubin report, [I can't think of them all right now, I will add more in the morning]) I kind of view Jordan Peterson as a father-like figure in my life - since I do not have a father growing up. So far from chapter 2 and based off the information from the podcasts he spoke regarding the book - organizing my bedroom and keeping my bed neat and made (organize yourself before you judge the world) has really improved my happiness. I'm amazed, something so simple has impacted me positively so much. The feeling of having a made bed is a sense of accomplishment - and when it is time to go to bed having a bed made for you is so much more comforting than a messy bed with a bed sheets/comforter half off. Long story short, I haven't finished the book yet, I have only heard good things about the book. I feel when I finish this book my life will have more purpose and I'll be more disciplined. 

Yeah, reading all of the support now, I feel I need to detox from Twitch. 

In my opinion - I view twitch as more interactive than watching TV, considering you can interact with chat and the streamer sometimes. Additionally, if you are unfamiliar with a game a streamer is playing you can think to yourself why is the streamer doing that in that way - instead of another way? Yeah, it probably isn't the healthiest of ideas to view streamers as comedians now that I think of it.

It's great to hear that you are in the middle of detoxing from twitch and you've experienced benefits! When I am 2 months in I will let you know my benefits so far as well (expect to hear from me again on May 10th 2018). :)

Jordan Pearson also has a self improvement program online which I may be interested in the future, are you aware of it? ( selfauthoring.com )

P.S. this video has improved my life a lot too: 

 

(This is from my phone, so if it is messy then I will edit/fix it in the morning.)

Edited March 10, 2018 by No-Face

[No-Face]

5 hours ago, Kreedo said:

Welcome @No-Face

 

I also am trying to learn some new info-tech stuff.  Linux Admin in particular.   So Far I've been procrastinating.  But I have a job lined up already if I can get it worked out.

 

I also am calorie counting using myfitnesspal.com

 

I've sampled the pomedoro technique and I want to try that again if it works.

 

I have a long way to go though til I feel that I'll get fit.  One day at a time I guess.

 

 

Thank you! Based on all of the support, I am going to detox from Twitch for 90-days. I spent a portion of today unfollowing as many streamers as I could find while combing my social media. I unfollowed on Twitter, left Discord servers, unfollowed on Instagram, and unsubscribed on YouTube. I also downloaded the software/chrome extension 'Cold Turkey' (which allows you to block websites from visiting them) to prevent me from subconsciously visiting the website. I made a promise to myself today, if I happened to relapse and watch Twitch purposefully (I May stumble upon it by accident because I am sure I missed unfollowing someone on social media) then I will delete my Twitch account, which I know I don't want to do because I'm following about 200 streamers on Twitch.TV (I rotated watching between 10 a day). If I do relapse then I will rid myself from Twitch so that I have nothing to come back to.

A very helpful studying resource is testout.com I find their website to be the most consistent amount of information I have ever came across. Considering I'm a visual learner their video tutorials, labs, and quizzes are immensely supportive towards my learning methods. Last time I checked testout.com has a Linux course which is about $130. I cannot recommend testout enough... 

If you are a chronic procrastinator like I was then watch this video right now: 

Also, two of the best self-improvement methods for me is quitting stuff cold turkey, and listening to Jordan Peterson talk about what hell would really look like (video).

Calorie counting is great. I recently discovered that it is physically impossible for your body to convert fat into muscle despite many myths I've heard reiterated from friends and family, so that will keep me on track for eating less calories a day.

The Pomodoro Technique is good, but now that I think of it watching the video really keeps me on track.

In my opinion, you sound hesitant about procrastinating and getting fit (this may sound like I'm bashing you, but I'm not. It is so difficult to express expressions/emotions on the internet) The most I can do is recommend watching the video. If you agree with what Jordan Peterson says then take his advice. :)

(This is from my phone, so if it is messy then I will edit/fix it in the morning.)

[Kreedo]

@No-FaceI liked the video, it caused me to really rethink my life and to take new positive action.

[dwalk77]

@No-Face, thanks for the update, and glad you're committing to a detox from Twitch! Yeah, I've also watched Peterson with Rogan and Rubin...I think he has some amazing insights.  I have heard of that program you're referring to, but I have not checked it out yet.  Let me know if you do!

[No-Face]

On 3/9/2018 at 3:50 PM, dwalk77 said:

Welcome @No-Face! Thanks for sharing.  I'm curious what you'll think about the Jordan Peterson book, I have his Maps of Meaning book on my reading list. 

I've watched a lot of Twitch, and lots of Youtube playthroughs as well.  My situation might be different than yours, though, b/c I would say Twitch did get in the way of important tasks, and it did lead to me gaming.  But even if it doesn't, I think it's worth asking yourself - are you putting yourself at risk to it getting to that point? And if there is a risk, how much is it?

All that being said...I still think giving up Twitch for a period is a good idea.  In my opinion, watching Twitch is lazy, more lazy than most other activities, even watching TV.  If you're wanting to watch entertainment for comedic value, I think you're better off watching a comedy film or reading a humorous book than watching Twitch.

I can only give my personal opinion here, but I think if you commit to not watching Twitch for a few months, I would be surprised if you didn't see some tangible benefits.  I'm going on about 2 months without it, and I certainly feel better without it.

 

So three months later and I made progress. I didn't quit Twitch completely, however, I significantly use it much less now than when I first made this post. I made it to 10 days consistently without twitch too. Regarding my promise to myself about deleting my Twitch account -- I've determined it would accomplish nothing. Even without a Twitch Account, I could still watch my favorite twitch streamers. 

 

As of right now, Twitch in moderation is my best option.

Edited May 10, 2018 by No-Face