Were you ignorant before your detox start?

[Adminiculum]

Hello

many peoples are addicted to games/internet. But just a few actually admit that. Obviously as an ex gamer I have/had a lot of contact to other people which have a giant internet consumption. Most of them usually doesnt reflect, they take arguments like ‚a bit gaming is not bad‘ although they play all day. ‚papers show that gaming leads to faster reaction time‘ arguments like that to even say gaming is a good thing.

Some days ago I asked people in game, why they dont stop gaming, why they play all day every day. People were extremely negative about. They didnt admit the addiction etc.

Personally I never did that. I think I knew since ever that this high internet usage is bad for me. I always wanted to quit and I admitted that I have a problem. But I simply couldnt. 

 

I wonder whether you admitted your addiction before or you also ignored any advice of other people and you lied yourself too?

[CornishGameHen]

4 hours ago, Adminiculum said:

Hello

many peoples are addicted to games/internet. But just a few actually admit that. Obviously as an ex gamer I have/had a lot of contact to other people which have a giant internet consumption. Most of them usually doesnt reflect, they take arguments like ‚a bit gaming is not bad‘ although they play all day. ‚papers show that gaming leads to faster reaction time‘ arguments like that to even say gaming is a good thing.

Some days ago I asked people in game, why they dont stop gaming, why they play all day every day. People were extremely negative about. They didnt admit the addiction etc.

Personally I never did that. I think I knew since ever that this high internet usage is bad for me. I always wanted to quit and I admitted that I have a problem. But I simply couldnt. 

 

I wonder whether you admitted your addiction before or you also ignored any advice of other people and you lied yourself too?

@Adminiculum,

This is such a fantastic question, and I appreciate that you brought up the topic.

My speculation of other people who don't realize they have an addiction to gaming is that in their world it is normal.  They game with other addicts, and nobody usually complains that they're spending way too much time in the game.  And yup, people will argue with you because it's what they consider their down time, their only way to relax, and why should anyone take away something that makes them happy?  I had one guy argue with me that he doesn't gamble, drink, or smoke, which are all addictive habits potentially.  And that's the argument he used to defend his long hours of gaming.  Interestingly, when I asked him what his other hobbies were in life, he was kind of silent for a while.  

As for me personally, I realized I had a problem six years ago when my parents asked me what I was doing in my room all day long.  I felt a sense of shame, embarrassment, and had a sudden and painful realization that time has completely passed me by.  I WASTED an entire year gaming 10-12 hours per day.  Now, at the time, I was also trying to cope with a traumatic death in my family, but still.  It was such an intensity of gaming that it required somebody outside of my gaming realm to point it out.

Having said that, I think my parents saved me from a train wreck.  If they hadn't have asked what I was doing all day, I would have continued the addiction.

At this time in my 30-day detox, I am seriously considering removing gaming from my life completely. I am not addicted to games, as I don't crave it, but I have reasoned with myself that gaming could interfere with other hobbies that I do enjoy and which make me happier.

Thanks again for this wonderful question of self-reflection!

[TwoSidedLife]

If you ask people in-game, some of them might not even be addicted and they might not believe it to be addicting (Especially if they've never experienced addiction).

My ignorance turned into realisation slowly. It was the only thing i'd hide from my friends. Nobody knew I was a gamer and those that did, didn't know how much I gamed. I use to shark/rip people off in-game too and I was more addicted to doing that then actually gaming. That didn't seem right to me, I just did it cause it was fun and it was my way of proving my self-worth. I ended up quitting multiplayer alltogether and continuing with single-player games.

Nobody ever complained about my gaming hours (My parent instead complained about how much trouble I was causing at school). I had never made the connection that gaming could've been affecting my behaviour, impulsiveness, recklessness ect. in school/life (Until after I looked around online for help). 

I sought help about 6 months after I had quit pot. My moment of quitting wasn't being involved deeply in gaming. I found myself just scrolling my library indecisively all day for hours (opening and closing a game after 5 mins) trying to force myself to get hooked into a game. So I guess I was ignorant until I was stuck in that weird loop.