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Posted

Hello People!

 Yea so this is my second time I'm making a forum thread. It took me awhile of debating before I decided to start a new one rather than continuing my previous one. Which if you're interested in seeing that one, here it is: Click Here

I decided it made more sense to start a new one, because for one my goals are different than to my original 90 days and this way I get to have a new blank canvas. For those curious, my previous go at the 90 day detox went for around a month before I ended up jumping back into the gaming scene and Youtube, which I was also staying away from. Honestly since then I've had ups and downs, I don't feel gaming is such a major issue for me anymore but rather wasting time in front of a computer in general.

I've been having trouble getting the things done that I actually care about simply because I keep finding ways of wasting time: Mindless Internet browsing, pointless Youtube videos, Games etc. Thus my goal with this 90 day detox is not so much specifically meant as a gaming detox but rather a 'Wasting Time in front of the Computer Detox'.

Anyways I've set myself some rules/goals for the next 3 months and they are as follows (In no particular order):

  • Write a progress update on this forum thread every day (This is to help fill up my spare time and keep me accountable)
  • Write in my personal journal at least twice a week (Same reasoning as previous point)
  • No watching YouTube unless it's a social thing, such as watching certain series with my family, or educational, such as watching drawing tutorials. (Because YouTube is for the most part a time waste. Also I'm planning to download the tutorial videos I want instead of watching them directly on YouTube, thus I avoid unnecessary temptation.)
  • No gaming, except 4 hours maximum on Saturdays and only if it's with a friend. (No gaming because it wastes my time and I'm allowing myself to play on Saturdays because one of my friends and I have been playing games online every so often and I feel it's acceptable as long as I don't overdo it)
  • Stay consistent with my 5 day a week exercise program. (I have certain fitness goals I want to reach and this is the only way I'll achieve them anytime soon)
  • Eat Healthy. (I've for the most part been eating healthy but I want to cut out the unhealthy snacks I've been consuming and replace them with healthier options)
  • Lastly I want to once again, as I've done before, use a daily planner to help me stay productive. (Do I even need to add more?)

 

That's it for now, thanks for reading ?!

Posted

Update time!

(Currently starting day 1)

At the time of writing this I'm really quite cheery! First let me just clear up any confusion about the days: Yesterday was day 0 since before I committed to this challenge I already watched some YouTube videos, which means yesterday can't count towards my 90 days progress. Thus today is day 1 and I'm ready to go!

Now back to what I mean by 'I'm quite cheery'; well for one I've had a great start to my day, having done quite a few productive things, I've also got some social stuff to look forward to and lastly I just finished reading part of an older journal (Or I should say I read the older parts of it, since it's still being updated) by 'Pierce' where I saw a comment left by 'play_time_is_over' which really got me thinking about my goals and which are most important to me. Click here for the comment! Yesterday when I made this forum thread I listed most of my goals and in no particular order. But today I feel like it's important that I list my goals in the order that is most important to me. So here are my goals from the previous post, listed in order, with some other goals added:

  1. No Gaming and YouTube (Comment: Not wasting my time is what this challenge is really about and these are my 2 biggest time wastes.)
  2. Stay consistent with my 5 days a week exercise program (Comment: Again I have goals I want to achieve and I haven't been working hard enough on them)
  3. Stay up to date on my school work
  4. Use my daily planner
  5. Write in this forum thread
  6. Write in my personal journal
  7. Eat Healthier 

That's the order of important for my goals. Don't get my wrong, I want to do them all. But if I fail on #7 then it's not as a big deal as #1 because #1 is what this is challenge is all about. And as 'play_time_is_over' mentioned I shouldn't let failing other goals affect the success of my main goal. Also not saying I will fail but I still felt it was important to have an ordered list so I know what's most important to me.

Thanks for reading ?, I hope you all have a great day!

Posted

Hey Soap, I just wanted to say I'm also doing an Internet wasting detox. It's especially irritating because I'm writing a research paper now and now I've started procrastinating by simply not doing anything. I'm also in a gaming/videos about games detox but that has been easier.

Posted
On 8/5/2018 at 9:04 PM, Will said:

Hey Soap, I just wanted to say I'm also doing an Internet wasting detox. It's especially irritating because I'm writing a research paper now and now I've started procrastinating by simply not doing anything. I'm also in a gaming/videos about games detox but that has been easier.

Yea I can defiantly relate with the procrastinating and doing nothing! But if we keep working on our goals eventually we will succeed! So good luck to you!

Anyway I'm essentially back on day 1 again because I've been struggling with leaving YouTube completely. I've had some temptations with games but have thus far been ok. I did play a video game with a friend on Saturday for about an hour or so but that within my original rules, thus that didn't compromise my day counter nor did I feel like it made me want to play more games mainly because we played a multilayer only game.

Here comes the 'But': But where I did compromise my counter was with watching some YouTube videos. The first was on Saturday night when I went to bed, I was having trouble with falling asleep and eventually I gave up and not knowing what to do I started watching a couple of videos (Maybe half an hour). The second time was yesterday (Monday morning) when I decided to watch a new video from one of favorite channel. On both of those occasions I didn't feel like watching those videos wasted much time or had much of a negative impact on me. If it wasn't for the reason that I will get into now, I'd say YouTube isn't even a problem... except it is. You see, although I can watch 30 minutes of videos in a day without causing me much trouble, there is a problem. The problem being that I struggle to stay away from YouTube and that's what bothers me. I want to be able to whenever I decide not to watch YouTube videos, to be able to do it and thus far I have failed to do that. Thus until I am fully in control of my habit, I'll continue fighting to overcome it.

Regardless of the above, I still feel good about what I have been doing. Over the weekend I was doing a course on cryptocurrency on udemy, which I am now almost done with. I also started learning programming with my brother, I've been staying consistent with my exercise and I feel like I have been doing more things outside and away from my computer which is a good thing. Of course the fact that I haven't been gaming and or watching (much) YouTube has also been great; I feel better, my brain feels less cluttered and I feel like I can think better and things other than gaming and YouTube have been getting me excited about life.

Okay... thanks for the read... Have a great day... or night!

 

  • 3 months later...
Posted

Day #3,

I decided I really need to get gaming out of my life... I keep jumping back and forth between telling myself: 'Gaming isn't a problem for me' and 'Gaming is a problem and I should stop'.

But the fact is: It is a problem for me!

And I can't keep having gaming hold me back. Honestly it's mostly the nostalgia and the fact that I have been struggling with anxiety that keeps me going back. It's time to stop for good, no more "I'll just stop gaming for a month and then I'll game in moderation".

 

Plan of action:

#1, I need to figure out how to explain to my one gaming friend I won't be playing games with him anymore and I want to find a way we could still hang out without games.

#2, Find a new hobby.

#3, Delete anything that still exists from back in my gaming days. Honestly I've already deleted all my saves (One that I surely spent well over 4000 hours on and it was one of the most painful experiences of my life). This is probably the hardest 'to-do' since it literally feels like I'm losing a part of myself every time I delete this stuff. As I said I've already gotten rid of most my old stuff, the next thing that still exists is a huge folder filled with screenshots that makes me super nostalgic when I look through it.

... continuing with what I was saying with '#3', I hate getting rid of the stuff that reminds me of my past but I feel like if I can't truly let go of this stuff then I'll always find a way to come back.

 

Also, fun fact: I noticed that I created my account on November 20 2017, it's November 21 2018 on the day that I am posting this. Found that sort of funny ?.

Posted

Hey, nice that you came back!

i feel you with your problem, that gaming is not such a huge problem like youtube or mindless surfing. Its the same for me. But currently I dont see how to get away for it. So I just started with a specific game detox(lol) and all of the content related to it(i.e. Youtube vids about it)

 

is your friend an online friend or do you know him irl?

Posted (edited)
On 11/21/2018 at 9:51 AM, Soap said:

#1, I need to figure out how to explain to my one gaming friend I won't be playing games with him anymore and I want to find a way we could still hang out without games.

I would suggest just not showing up for it, like your RL didn't allow you the online time. It's the concept of fake it until you make it, basically acting like you're already living the busy, productive life that doesn't have empty slots for you to game. So, what would you have done if your Saturday was suddenly occupied by RL plans or obligations? Would you inform your friend beforehand? You can do this in this case too. What would you do if your Saturday filled up unexpectedly? Maybe do this instead. If you feel comfortable with saying the truth raw as it is, that you're quitting etc, go ahead and do it, but in a way telling your friend you're too preoccupied to game isn't a lie either. You are preoccupied, with making these changes in your life, and they should have priority.

Edited by fawn_xoxo

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