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NEW VIDEO: The EASIEST Way to Stop Gaming

That Moment...


Some Yahoo

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Game quitting moments - those seemingly insignificant decisions that when you make them, you know you're setting yourself up to fail.

  • That moment when you decide to quit gaming...
    • but leave all your games installed just in case you get bored.
    • but you leave your console out and your controller where you can easily get it - just for after you get the problem under control.
    • but you decide to instead cut down your game time to 10 hours a week, then 8, etc.even though you know you won't quit for the day if you're...
      • in the middle of a raid
      • waiting for a friend
      • winning
      • generally having fun
      • frustrated and wanting to end on a win
    • but you turn down the chance to spend the evening with people, wanting to rush home.
      • you know you'll end up at the console.
      • you always tell people you're doing homework, but you're a solid C- student.
    • but you know you'll be alone in the house tonight, and there is that new raid with the magic titanium breastplate!

Look, you don't need Vulcan-like control of your mind at all times to keep yourself from gaming.  All you need is to recognize those moments when you normally let the weakness win, and give yourself an exit strategy for them.

Trying to quit slowly?  Imagine a crack addict trying to "taper off", but in a house with ready access to tons of crack.  You're going to fail.  This is a bad approach.

Leaving your games installed for when the problem is under control?  It's like putting a pile of diamonds in front of a thief and telling him he can steal them when his kleptomania is better.  You know that to win, you need to uninstall and put the console in the attic.  Or on Ebay.

Declining invitations from people to do stuff?  Even a night with your weird Aunt Bess volunteering at the church toy drive is better than a night of mindless button-mashing.  Go places. Meet people.  Your impact on society and culture is ultimately all you leave behind.

Alone in the house?  Avoid if possible.  You know that when you're alone, your cravings come out. It makes it 100 times harder to resist because there are no big consequences for failing.  Tell your parents, brethren, sistern what you're trying to do and ask them to not leave you alone at home during your detox.  Just for 90 days.  If they love you, they'll want to help.  It's not weakness to ask for help, think of it as proactively trying to make yourself better.  If that doesn't work, think of it as grouping up to beat a really heinous boss.

All it takes is enough mastery to win in those precise moments when you know you'll make the decision to eff up.  It doesn't take 24 hours of willpower, NOBODY has that, just 3 minutes to walk away from the decision point where you find yourself messing up.

 

Edited by Some Yahoo
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Having somebody to help you during detox is very important if not crucial. It gives you more motivation and support for what otherwise would have been impossible. Its why alcoholics anonymous is so effective. In fact, I wonder if they take up people with gaming addiction now?  

Either way, love the advice man! 

Edited by Justin Whitelock
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@Justin Whitelock Well said:  On day 1 of my detox the first thing I did was tell my wife and daughter what I was doing and why.  It felt a little humiliating - I am a grown man after all, but with them on my side I knew I would have a hard time failing.  All it would take is one of them walking by my office and seeing me gaming to know I had failed.  And while telling them was humiliating, failing in front of them would have been unbearably humiliating.

 

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I sometimes find it helps when I am loading YouTube (or previously, a game) when I should be doing something else, That moment when I am clicking that icon, or typing youtube.com is the key.  I sometimes whisper to myself, this is the moment I am effing up my day.  I can isolate that single decision.  Then sometimes I go forward anyway, but many times I decide to get back to whatever conundra I am attempting to unravel.

Try it yourself, when you are attempting to escape into the mindless consumption of entertainment while your plate is still full of tasks.  Let me tell you that it is way moe satisfying to relax with a few videos as a well-earned end to the workday than it is to end the day 4 hours behind, and having to explain to everyone what you've been spending all your time doing.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Something that's helped me in that process is to open the tab, type out youtube, and then CLOSE THE TAB before it loads. For me I notice it's more the compulsion to open the tab that's the problem, not so much actually needing to go watch the video. 

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  • 1 month later...

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