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NEW VIDEO: The EASIEST Way to Stop Gaming

This is such a new idea to me


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Quitting video games? Why would I ever do that? Gaming is what I do and up until recently I believed it was who I am. I've been struggling with my identity, my goals, and my purpose for a long time.

I recently stumbled upon the idea of separating the stories I tell myself and from who I really am. Ego death, as it were. This disassociation with gaming and myself allowed me to take a step back and look at my life, where I get my sense of self worth from (gaming), and who I really am.

I've been trying to move my sense of self worth from goals I achieve in a video game to goals I achieve in real life. I have a list of goals. Of things I want to do. Even in the short term. But the problem was time. I really didn't see how much gaming was consuming of my time and energy. I read a book the Pomodoro technique and picked it up. I was able to get so much done using this technique I actually checked off most of my short term goals. But then I grew bored and went back to video games. That was 1-2 months ago.

The Pomodoro technique helped me to see how much time gaming is consuming. But I didn't really have the desire to quit. Especially not cold turkey.

I sought out some new things to hold my attention instead (reading, yoga, even TV shows) but because video games were still an option I went back to them.

 

Quitting video games will probably be the single most challenging thing I've ever done in my life.

I've been playing PC Games since my teenage years. I'm 34 now. I wasted a solid decade of 8 hour days/12 hour weekends on WoW. My day was split into 3rds. 8 hours of work, 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of WoW. I played with co-workers so it was all we talked about at work as well. I've moved on from WoW but I do still play a LOT of video games. And I can still spend a solid weekend of not leaving the house and playing video games. I have almost 1,000 hours played on Skyrim. I work a 4x10 schedule. 4 days on, 3 days off. I'm good, motivated, and energized on my work days. But as soon as the weekend hits the lethargic me awakens and my weekend is ruined.

My main challenge right now is letting video games ruin my weekend.

I stumbled across the Gamequitters videos on youtube when, like Cam, I googled how to quit video games. And now here I am.

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Welcome mate and good job on realising how much games affect our lives. I was also an avid Wow gamer i spent 2 years just playing Wow and not going out.

My advice would be to uninstall every game from your computer and get rid of your steam library etc. Then plan out 1 or two things you want to work on in the absence of games.

For example learning a new language, exercise, work, join a team, gardening...there are many things you can do with he free time you now have on the weekends. Make short attainable goals throughout your detox and start a journal here to keep yourself accountable.

Check out other people's journals to see how they go about there daily lives on detox. :)

All the best!

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Thanks for the suggestions Falky!

My gaming PC has so many games on it I think I'm just going to power it down and unplug it.

I have an alternate PC I can hook up and install Linux on. Gaming is the only reason I don't use Linux at home so without gaming this'll give me a chance to play with Linux some more. I use Linux on a daily basis at Work but I've been wanting to use it at Home too. Setting up and tweaking a fresh Linux install can give me something to do during my downtime as well.

 

I have a short term to-do list which I'm planning on tackling aggressively with all this new free time I will end up having. But I think the real challenge will come when I run out of short term goals to work on and have to choose to focus on the long term stuff like Yoga, Meditation, Exercise, Reading, or Learning a new programming language.

 

Question, what do you guys think about using TV as a replacement time consumer for gaming? I have a Treadmill in my bedroom facing my TV. My goal is to walk on it while watching whatever TV show/movie I'm watching on Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. Should I be cautious about this as isn't another stimulus that isn't out in the real world?

I was thinking instead of watching TV/Movies while on the treadmill I could listen to audiobooks. Thoughts?

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TV is even worse time and life eater. In video games you have to interact with the enviroment, in case of TV it's just you and sofa. Netflix/Prime/etc are specially designed to get you on hook, just like WoW. You can watch movies but in this manner - you make a list of movies for the next week/month and you can't add anything to current week/month. I have a list of 5 series I really enjoy and I go to a cinema for everything else. But I must say Netflix is a good way to learn another language, right now I'm watching Spanish movies via Spanish Netflix.

As for the treadmill - you can get some neutral movies that are specially made for watching while running. Audiobooks are also great as they allow you to get new information when your brain is idle - while running, driving, etc.

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Welcome. It's incredible once you start to realize how video games affect you and use up your time. I've been game-free for about 7 months and I have no desire to play them anymore because I spend all of my time working on things that make my life better and bring me closer to my goals. Video games just don't seem remotely worth the time spent on them anymore. Best of luck on your journey!

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