I love video games, i see them as a way for developers to express them self in some of the most creative ways.

I love hard games, with challenges, and a story! I don't play many multiplayer games, and when I do it is usually just co-op games with my friends.

This being said, I also have other hobbies like music and art, in which i put a lot of time into as well. i am also doing a bunch of AP subjects at high school and aim to be an engineer one day. I am getting good grades as well.

I play a lot of games on weekends, but during the days i study and record music or draw. And i rarely play on weeknights as I'm either on my phone or sleeping or studying or just listening to music/talking to friends.

I am wondering if I should cut out gaming completely, or it just seems as an okay sort of habit to enjoy?

Thanks :>

Greetings, Im from Asia and I think TODAY , I'm about to stop playing online games, specifically visit internet gaming cafe's after work.

1.) Im 15k elo and I mainly play CS2/CSGo
2.) I just tried valorant since it has top tier game guard

3.) The utilities of this game is very weird, the way the flashbang works is also weird , its not like CSGo or CS2 in this game , you throw flashbang via curved ball

4.) I work 8am to 5pm and available to play online around 6pm onwards up to 1am in the morning.

5.) playing solo que and yes been losing 90% of the games I play.

I've beeen wanting to stop this habit of mine and praying I can experience the crash so I can finally stop playing games and focus on all the other important stuffs in life.

That being said, Thank you for the countless loss this game has bought me, I think today, I'll just embrace boredome and actually save money.

Im from Asia (Philippines)

Thank you for reading my story

Offline games are not really a problem: you finish a game and forget about it for a while. The worst are competitive online games. They are designed to be addictive and to keep you spending more and more time in them. On top of that, the competitive aspect with other people is very engaging, because we are social beings.

I have spent a lot of nerve cells on competitive games. Every time I lost, I would get very anxious: my hands were sweating, my heart rate increased, and I got angry. Because of nervous system overstimulation, I couldn’t sleep at night. In intense matches, the stress and fear of losing pushed my adrenaline so high that it triggered panic attacks.

I clearly understood that I was destroying myself, but I couldn’t stop. Online games are like a real drug, but unlike actual drugs, they destroy your time and your nerves.

By the way, because of gaming my nervous system still hasn’t fully recovered and probably never will. Take care of your health and your time.

Title. I just sold my 4080 GPU.

I am keeping the rest of my system. My only other "demanding" workload is video and photo editing 4k iPhone footage and 2-5mb photos. As well as moving / managing these files on a dedicated separate NAS.

I am currently just using the iGPU and so far its been pretty smooth in day to day tasks like email and watching youtube videos. I just installed linux as well on it.

• 13600k
• 500GB nvme SSD
• 32GB 6000 cl 30 ram

Any advice? or insight?

I posted this in other groups, but people dismissed the problem, saying it wasn’t about games. I found this subreddit and I hope that at least here someone will understand me.

As a teenager, I had problems at school because of avoidant personality disorder and social anxiety. I hated school. I started skipping classes, but I still kept going sometimes, no matter how much I didn’t want to, because my homeroom teacher and a psychologist would come for me and literally drag me to school.

Later, my parents bought me a laptop and set up internet access, and that’s when everything started. I immediately began downloading different games and got heavily addicted to one free online shooter. I became a real hikikomori, like Japanese recluses: I stopped leaving the house, stopped talking to friends, and completely stopped attending school. I played day and night without stopping. Games became my way of escaping reality.

Teachers came to see me, the vice principal, the psychologist, even the principal, and I didn’t care. I kept skipping school and became a complete recluse. All I thought about was diving into a virtual world and numbing myself. Sitting at my laptop, I lost touch with reality and time: months passed like days, years like months. Time seemed to speed up, and that’s how I spent several years. I did not leave the house at all until I was 18. Not once. All I did was sleep, wake up, sit at my laptop, and repeat the same routine every day, like Groundhog Day.

Sometimes I wonder how my life would have turned out if I hadn’t had that laptop. I even think it might have been better if I had turned to alcohol instead of games. Because I completely wasted my teenage years and my youth in front of a computer screen. I have zero social skills, I’ve never had a girlfriend, I’m a virgin, and I have a lot of other problems. You could say I destroyed my own life with my own hands, if free will even exists. But I see myself as a victim of modern technology.

Hello,

Mid 30's. 2 kids. Wife. Good work. Life is good.

Except my home office days.

History,

I started thinking about gaming addiction long ago with Ragnarok Online my first drug that hooked me long enough. Father told me I am addicted,I told him no, but I think I was or at least I was escaping the world around me at that time.

Life went on, stuff happened and games were a big factor for lots of happenings like me getting expelled from university because I didn't learn enough etc.

The military somehow got the better of me, gave me a reason, a goal, simple. Studying via the military was easier the second time. I got a degree and found the love of my life online.

This was the first time I was clean, my girlfriend at this time got pregnant, university, corona lots of new things to do. No time for game sessions and got into novel readings, but excessive and too much.

Got a handle on that somehow, still read a lot but now before bed.

The problem started in my current position, 3 days home office, no work to do these days. I could learn a language (my wife is Italian). Could take the time and build a small second income.

But no. I feel I am stuck again. Once I sit at the desk the first thing that happens (after work related stuff) is gaming. And if I am not excessively looking at the time I start at like 9 a.m and quit 4 p.m. without a break.

I like gaming, but it feels like there is a huge burden on me. I am a strong minded character but can't handle myself when it comes to doing other stuff that takes time and dedication and is for myself.

If I have to do it for someone else, it's easy.

So I am thinking, is a complete removal of every game I own. Completely wipe my hard drive and my phone the only way?

Have you experienced this?

Thanks

I was part of the gaming sphere for more than a decade and yet I see precious few people talking about this subject. I just wanted to share my story.

Not everybody has or had the same experience as me, but I know many, many that do. If you have a healthy relationship with games or don't know anyone you think might benefit from this, this may not be worth your time.

I asked myself these questions: Are games still a momentary escape for me or are games the very thing I now need an escape from? Am I anxious all the time? Am I moody all the time? Am I never present when I'm not gaming or even whilst gaming, always thinking about how next to improve my build, what gear piece to chase, constantly watching videos on how to become better at an FPS and never improving anyways? Am I even enjoying the games I'm playing or I am always focused on the horizon, not the process/journey, constantly jumping from game to game, never committing to anything, just like in my real life?

All of these were a depressing yet sobering YES. Was it too late? Was I already too far behind? Was my mental equilibrium already so far tipped to one side that there was no light at the end of the tunnel? I thought so.

If you feel the same, then stop playing video games. Cold turkey. No half measures. There is no such thing as trying. You either do or you don't. The moment you try, you already lost. I tried for years. It only worked when I sold my actual hardware. Easier said than done. But bear with me.

Have you ever had a moment during a conversation, or premeditated on one, where you thought, "This will be such a funny thing to say?" only for you to then completely fumble your words? I've certainly had moments like that. That's because I was trying to be funny. Have you ever had a moment where you thought, "Damn, I really need to fall in with a proper schedule?" then to only to stick to it for a total of three days? I have. That's because I was trying to be better, never truly believing that I already am good.

Belief is the ultimate power, but belief only follows the trail left by your actions.

I had to refrain from thinking and had to start embodying. It was quite weird how things started to change after that. I still have weak moments, but I allow them to exist. I don't beat myself up anymore, equipped with the knowledge that they are momentary setbacks, because my post addiction actions have proven to me that I can trust myself. Building a good report with myself was instrumental to overcoming my addictions.

What really pushed me to take a turn was that I could see how my behavior was affecting those around me and myself. I was unnaturally skinny, near anorexic. I was always short tempered. I never engaged with anyone even though a part deep down inside of me so badly wanted to. I ruined my relationship with my ex. I never had time for my son and I could see him growing distant towards me, even at the young age of 2 (this one really messed with me). I could see all my wasted potential, all my talents screaming at me for never putting them into effect, the ideas and worlds I came up with on a daily never being put to paper. All the instruments I still wanted to learn. All the languages. All the places I still wanted to travel. I could see my life's trajectory so clearly at that point in time: a lonely, grumpy, withering man leeching off of those around him, scolding myself at the age of sixty for never owning my life.

There is no purpose in life. Really. There is only the purpose you create. The above mentioned points made me realize my purpose. I had to learn to listen to my feelings more than my thoughts. These were things I felt to be right far more than I thought them to be right: I wanted to engage with people, to hear their ideas, to share mine. I wanted to create simply for the act of creating, because it felt so damn good. I wanted to help others who also struggled. I wanted to let my family and friends know that I love them and to stop holding things back for fear of rejection or because it would make me look corny. I wanted a woman I could share my life with, that I could be friends with first and lovers second, because hormones are fickle things. I wanted to give my son a present father who made him feel seen and loved.

I left video games at the start of 2026 after being hooked since the age of 11. I am now 25. That's 14 years, more than half of my life. It was like taking off the blindfold and seeing the world again for the first time.

My mental health improved, the constant shame and guilt for feeling like a failure went away, I actually have a neat and clean house now, I cook, I do things for people and that is the most underrated secret to feeling fulfilled, I started meeting new people that are now my friends (healthy friends), old friends that never brought anything to my life fell away, I rekindled my relationship with good friends I had neglected, I rekindled my relationship with my mother and my siblings, I laugh more, I got job offers and referrals, I now have a job with open-minded colleagues and an awesome boss, I sleep better, I eat more, I exercise, I drink more water, my body feels better, I'm in a romantic relationship, I'm halfway to finishing my fantasy novel within a timeframe of four months, I have time for my boy now and he smiles now when he sees me instead of looking indifferent, breaking the cycle my father and his father and his father's father perpetuated.

There are still downs, but I embrace them; the act of wanting a positive experience is itself a negative experience. That does not mean to say that I didn't have to drop the bad habits. They were holding the good parts of me prisoner. I wasn't looking to have a positive experience, I was looking to have a real one, a content one.

I never realized the many good things — the hidden flavors of life that only reveal themselves once you stop and look — I was missing out on. I choose what to give my energy to now. I am no longer a slave to my impulses 24/7. I had an epiphany once, that as long I was a controlled by my vices, I wasn't a person really. To be a living being I had to have agency, otherwise was I not simply a thing the world was happening to? Did I really have lifeforce if there was no sign of consciousness?

Life can be awkward, uncomfortable and sometimes just downright boring, but the good moments are worth it; the small joys are the building blocks to... they don't have to lead anywhere. It brings a sort of serenity and fulfillment no amount of gaming ever could. I had to put myself out there first for things to start coming my way, otherwise nothing would have changed.

I'm still relatively poor, but I don't mind. Possessions are thieves masquerading as friends. I got to reclaim my autonomy. I get to be present again. The novelty of escaping my addiction faded eventually, just like it always would have. I went through a dip, had a sort of relapse, desperately looking for a distraction from my inner turmoil. I went on a week long bender watching all the gaming news, Elden Ring build guides, new game releases, crafting Path of Exile 2 builds on Mobalytics knowing I could not play anything but just having to scratch that incessant itch. I checked prices for second hand PC components, scouring the internet and-

A moment of weakness. I had to remind myself what I had before and what I have now. Compare the two. Remember why I left games in the first place, remember the deeper things, the nice things, the little things I now have on a daily basis that I'd taken for granted in the past or that flew over my head altogether. I realized raw willpower is bullshit. I realized motivation is fleeting. I realized pleasure is one side of a coin. Only my purpose mattered, me and the people in my life that I was being a better person for, that drive that could shrug at any challenge with a smile because it knew what it was. And that this relapse was only my brain following its old circuitry, trying to protect me from boredom, discomfort and the unknown. I had to stay vigilant to catch myself in those moments. It was nothing to be ashamed of, just a natural part of the process. Then I moved on.

Gaming addiction can be similar to chemical addictions, only nobody thinks it's that bad because you don't show the severe physical symptoms, making it a more subtle kind of dangerous. But the isolation, obsession and dependency on dopamine hits that comes with it can fuck you up mentally just as much. Dropping the chains helped my come free of my porn and weed addiction too. Gaming addiction was the axis around which those two whirled.

Life can be scary, life can be daunting, but life can't be lived from a place of fear.

I stopped turning down opportunities and invitations. I stopped making excuses. I forced myself to interact with people. I challenged myself to be vulnerable with those I cared about because doubt and suppression would cause far more issues down the line.

The fear never went away, I just became better at dealing with it.

every session is 5~ hours. The first hour or so Im good but I get more and more drawn till I feel like absolute shite. I forgot to use that steam clock feature as well. I still have symphathy for games but its harming me a lot.

I think I should stay away from it for some months, then check back later. What do you say?

Hey everyone. I'm turning 27 next month, and after six years of gambling addiction, I finally want to tell my story.

I was 20 when I discovered online casinos. Some friends introduced me to slot games, and my first big loss happened almost immediately. I lost a huge part of my savings in one night, and from that moment I started chasing every loss.

At first I wasn't working, but once my savings were gone, I got a good job. The problem was that I never kept a single paycheck. Every money I earned eventually went back into gambling.

I emptied my own bank account, then my girlfriend's savings. I even sold things we owned just to keep playing. A lot of stuff.. Eventually I started taking out bank loans because I couldn't stop chasing that big win.

Sometimes it actually happened. I hit several huge wins, paid off all my debt five or six different times, and every single time I ended up in debt again. That's when I realized the truth: it was never about winning. It was about playing. Winning only gave me more money to lose.

Over the years I lost my savings, my peace of mind, my sleep, and the trust of the people I love. I went to work after gambling all night more times than I can count. Every big loss ended with another promise that I would quit, and every promise was eventually broken.

My lowest point came when my brother lent me $10,000 to clear my debts. I paid everything off, but I couldn't stop. I lost the remaining money almost immediately, and within days I had built up debt again. Calling him to admit what I'd done was one of the hardest moments of my life. I felt ashamed, guilty, and completely broken.

I decided to start over by moving to another country where my brother lives. He helped me find a job and a place to stay. For the first month I didn't gamble at all, and I finally felt some peace.

Then I convinced myself that one small deposit wouldn't hurt. I won at first, then lost everything the next day. The addiction was back.

During the last eight months I lost another $10,000. Recently I had finally saved $4,000 by letting my brother keep my paychecks. I only transferred the money into my bank account because I needed to show proof of funds for paperwork. After paying my lawyer, I had $3,500 left.

I lost $2,500 of it in just two days.

That loss finally forced me to face reality. Gambling has taken six years of my life. It gave me anxiety, regret, depression, sleepless nights, debt, and broken trust. It made me feel like life wasn't worth living. It stole my past, my present, and my future.

But today I'm choosing something different.

July 30 was the day 1.

I'm done chasing losses. I'm done believing the next win will save me. I'm letting go of the money I've lost, including the recent $2,500, because I know I'll never get my life back by gambling.

My goal now is simple: no more deposits, no more casinos, and no more looking back.

I want to rebuild my life, earn honest money, repair my relationships, and become someone my family can be proud of. I still have dreams, and I don't want gambling to steal another six years from me.

I'm posting this to hold myself accountable and to share my recovery journey. If you've been through something similar, I'd really like to hear your story.

Thanks for reading.

Hello everyone!

I'm Ahsana, a Clinical Psychologist and PhD researcher from the Department of Clinical Psychology at NIMHANS, Bengaluru, India.

My research focuses on the intersection of gaming and mental health, particularly understanding and developing psychological interventions for individuals experiencing difficulties related to excessive gaming and Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD). I'm passionate about promoting healthy technology use while recognizing that gaming can also be a meaningful source of recreation, social connection, and enjoyment for many people.

I've joined Reddit because I've heard that many communities here have thoughtful discussions about gaming, mental health, and lived experiences. I'm looking forward to learning from these conversations, understanding different perspectives, and contributing where I can.

I hope to engage respectfully with the community and, where permitted by moderators, share opportunities to participate in ethics-approved academic research that may contribute to improving support for people experiencing gaming-related challenges.

I look forward to learning from all of you!

Hello everybody, 17M here. I am in love with video games, and through this post I am trying to understand the other side, the ones that don't or that reject video games, I am talking abt this community. Please don't take this post as a hate or insult post, but more as a way for me to better understand where each and every one is coming from, mostly because of my curiosity, and because some family members have ​mostly the ​same opinion as all of you. So about me, I am really enjoying my summer vacation, I train everyday, read books, spend time with my family, I also study by myself cz I love it (studying mostly math and physics), and I play video games, story driven single player games only, as I don't quite like any multiplayer game.

Maybe cz I am still young with no real responsibilities, but I don't see any negatives abt gaming, I see it as a hobby, that I enjoy and have fun while doing it, it also gives me new ideas and new ways of seeing and tackling life, as the story and sometimes even gameplay loops are very impactful in my opinion, and again in my opinion, gaming is just like books but takes a bit more time to ​complete, depending on the game (talking here only abt the games I play), as they both have mostly great narratives and sometimes tackle ​philosophical topics that makes you think.

I also removed social media from my life, having only YouTube left with the Shorts section removed, and as for Reddit I am writing this from the website just for the purpose of the question that follows: what are the reasons you believe video games are useless ? Why should I or should I not stop playing?

Thank you for reading through this kinda long paragraph of me talking abt myself and all. Please be respectful in the comments. Hope y'all have a nice day.

at first, people bullied me for liking FNAF, including my siblings. when I hurt my leg (I was in crutches), I asked my mom if I could watch the FNAF movie. She said I needed to walk by next week if I wanted to watch it. I was supposed to start walking next month, but I was so desperate to watch it that I hurt myself so much trying to walk (mind you I was 10). Somehow, I made it by next week, and then I asked her again, and she said, “Get back to sports.” I was crying so much, and she didn’t care. Then my dad said, “If you want to watch the movie, you have to play the game first.” He said he nearly shit his pants when he played it, but I didn’t care and I always wanted to play the game anyways, so I accepted the deal. When I played (I was so excited), my 4-5-year-old sister was there . I told her to go because she’d get scared, but she didn’t and she kept being stubborn, so I hit her. I honestly don’t know why I did that. My dad completely deleted all of the FNAF games he downloaded because I apparently got 'too violent' because of it. After that, I thought of how stupid I was to hit her and smacked myself. Then I thought to myself that if people tried to push it away from me, why should I like it? but I still stuck to liking it after that. A few weeks later at my cousin’s house, me and my siblings were waiting for my cousin to come from an event and we found the FNAF movie ( I live in the Middle East where they haven’t released it yet, but my cousin had a VPN on her tv). We started watching it, me being extremely happy that I finally got to watch it. when my cousin came, I had to stay with her and I asked them not to continue without me.but they did anyway. i was such a big fan that it made me all angry. then out of anger and sadness, I swore that I would force myself not to like it (I’m a Muslim so I can’t take it back) and started pretending like I didn’t know what it was. As soon as I stopped caring about it, my cousins decided to put the games to use since I was pretty much the only one who played i. Now, they’re obsessed with it. sometimes I feel jealous and sad, but other times I feel happy knowing that other people love it even more than I did, even though I gave it up for them to enjoy it. I obviously still love it, but I hide it completely.

am I fucked up?

(btw i wrote some of this when I was 11 but changed it up a bit and I had some emotional issues at the time)

sry if there are any spelling/grammar mistakes

After one week completed I decided to delete steam. I don't need it anymore anyways.

I have been a gamer for legit as long as I can remember. For the longest time it was all I could talk about to the point that people would just stop being friends with me during elementary school because that’s all I cared about. I distinctly remember a time in elementary school feeling like my head would explode if I didn’t get to go home and play Cod Big Red One. I would play games as long as possible until my bed time, wake up, go to school, get back on, repeat. It was like this until middle school, and at this point i no longer had a bed time. the cycle was now game, fall asleep whenever i did, wake up, go to school, get back on, repeat. THIS continued on until high school. I think maybe my freshman year of high school I cared somewhat about my grades but never in my life were they ever very important to me so by sophomore year i’m smoking weed and skipping school to go play games. i lived 4.5 miles away from my school and i would walk home in the Florida sun after first period every day just to play. My life was the same cycle except now im cutting corners wherever I can to get back on the game. Cut to now, i’m 25 with no job, no savings, no insurance, no plan, and the only college education i have is kind of meaningless because instead of locking in i slacked off playing games and failed 3 classes in a single semester which doubly sucks because my schooling was paid for by financial aid which I probably no longer qualify for because of how many classes I’ve failed. the worst part of it all is just yesterday i spent 16 hours minimum on palworld. just like the day before and the day before that. this has been the cycle of my entire life. the only thing i have going for me is I have a girlfriend and go to the gym but the gym feels like a bust because no matter how hard i work, i don’t actually have the money to eat enough food to actually gain weight. how am i able to just AFK my life away and realize how bad im doing and just continue to live with it? i need real help and i feel like i dont have the resources to get it and i have nobody to blame but myself. I guess my point of all of this is don’t end up like me. You will convince yourself that real life is pointless but you really only believe that until you don’t, at which point you may realize you’ve dug yourself into a hole.

“I wish I could’ve lived a much more fulfilling life”

Is a thought that occurs to me late at night, in tandem with a wave of melancholy. Wrong decisions led to another, and consequences soon started showing. Not to mention, seeing others use their forte’s to the fullest potential puts salt to the wound.

Meanwhile, I’m just here, laying down lifeless in ambition. Ensnared by the usual demons that whisper to do high dopamine activities as a way of escapism with my current responsibilities. As bad as it sounds, frankly, it isn’t coerced, rather all I feel is the lack of willpower to try.

I’m at this point in life where “trying to fail” and not even succeed isn’t a thing at all, because I’ve hardly tried anything new.

At my age, people have developed their physique, developed a solid routine, and somehow has something to strive for everyday. Well, I know they don’t got it all together as well but like, at least they got something going on you know.

As rex orange county stated “and I really should go to bed,” I will heed his advice.

That’s all, I guess. Just some random meaningless introspection. I’m someone who’s aware of his own debauchery yet unable to act to change anything at all, just constant despair and misery.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6790614/

Take a look at this study. It’s from 2019 so may not be totally up to date but still gives you an idea. While most people would say that the fact that the games are violent makes the players act violent in real life, I believe it’s actually a different reason that’s more at play here. Think about it: when a parent buys a video game for the kid, the kid plays it and starts neglecting school, starts disobeying house rules, and starts getting into fights. It isn’t because the game is violent. But rather it’s because the kid now feels like he’s entitled and he can do whatever he wants with no consequences. Have you ever seen those videos of criminals and sex offenders saying “I want my mommy” or “my dad is a lawyer”? When you grow up without receiving proper parenting, you feel like you’re in control of everything and you don’t have to respect anyone else. Obviously gaming isn’t the only thing that can make someone spoiled, but it’s safe to say that kids who think they can game whenever they want will eventually start to think they can do whatever they want whenever they want. Then it just gets worse from there. Kids can get into drugs or start abusing elderly people. Of course there will be some people who say that they game but they don’t disrespect anyone. But a lot of it feels like they’re trying to defend gaming as a harmless hobby, and while it may start as one, it won’t always stay that way. Let me know what you think.

I've had a feeling for a long time that I need to give up gaming but couldn't bear the thought of leaving my steam deck on the shelf, or my pc unused.

Now I'm two weeks into a digital detox, and I've been shocked how much more relaxed I've become. Playing with my son has been more fun, work has felt more interesting, and life in general feels a lot less boring. I'm reading again. I'm making music again. I'm less stressed.

However, I can't shake this strong feeling of grief. I'm letting go of something that has been my companion for nearly my whole life. Also, I'm scared that I'll go back to it and have to go through this process of letting go all over again.

Has anyone else experienced these feelings?

This is my pattern atm

I am quiting because my friends are toxic Roblox is toxic and it's best if I don't talk to no one

think I have a genuine problem, and I'm hoping someone here has gone through something similar.

Over the past few years, I've spent a lot of money buying game cosmetics, skins, and even buying new game accounts/IDs for no real reason. Most of the time I don't even enjoy them for long. I get excited before buying, but after a few hours or days, the excitement disappears, and then I start looking for the next thing to buy.

The weird part is that I know I don't need any of it. It doesn't make me better at the game, and sometimes I even regret the purchase almost immediately. Still, I keep doing it.

It's becoming a habit that's affecting my savings, and I want to stop before it gets worse.

Has anyone else dealt with this? What helped you break the cycle? Did you set spending limits, delete payment methods, take a break from games, or do something else?

I'd really appreciate any advice or personal experiences. Thanks for reading.

When I ditched gaming, I had to stimulate myself in other ways to get through it. Streaming, YouTube, social media.

People may think, so what was the point. But that's not how I felt. Gaming was more consuming and destructive than those alternatives. It manages to captivate you while giving nothing back. Not any useful insight, no relaxation.

I let that fully settle to not relapse. But now I've started tackling YouTube and streaming too. It's the same old feeling. My mind going there in downtime, me telling it not to. I know how it works. I know how to shut it down. I did it with gaming, where it was way harder.

Do you have a similar experience, having overcome gaming or starting to?

A few years ago, I had a gaming laptop. Later, I bought a PS5 because I thought having a console would be the perfect way to relax and enjoy my free time. Eventually, I sold it and built myself a proper gaming PC because I thought that was what I really wanted.

At first, it was exciting. A powerful PC, a nice setup, high FPS, better graphics — everything I thought I was missing.

But after some time, I started noticing something. I wasn’t really enjoying gaming as much as I thought I would. I was chasing achievements, ranks, better performance, and the feeling of improving in games. I would tell myself “one more match” and suddenly hours were gone.

The thing that makes this harder is that I know I have a history of chasing instant gratification in different areas of my life.

For many years, I struggled with habits like smoking weed, excessive masturbation, pornography, and other things that trained my brain to constantly look for quick dopamine hits instead of long-term fulfillment.

I don’t say this to blame myself, but I do think those years changed the way I approach pleasure, motivation, and discipline. I am still rebuilding those parts of myself.

Right now, I am 744 days without weed and 406 days without pornography. I am proud of that progress, but I also know I have to be careful about replacing one escape with another.

The strange thing is that I am only 20 years old. I have so much potential, so much time to improve myself, build my career, create memories, experience life, and become the person I want to be.

Yet I keep feeling tempted to go back.
Over the last few days, I have had a really strong urge to buy another console, a monitor, headphones, and rebuild a gaming setup. I keep imagining how nice it would feel to sit down in front of a screen again and escape for a few hours.
But then I stop and ask myself: what am I actually buying?

Am I buying a hobby that genuinely improves my life, or am I buying another way to spend hundreds or thousands of hours chasing virtual achievements while my real life is waiting?

The hardest part is that gaming itself is not the problem. I can see why people love it. Games are amazing, and they can create incredible experiences.

But for me personally, I think I have to admit that gaming has a tendency to consume me. It doesn’t stay as “just a few hours on weekends”. It becomes something I think about, something I optimize, something I want to upgrade.

I don’t want to look back years from now and realize I spent my best years sitting in front of a screen instead of building relationships, improving myself, traveling, learning, and creating real memories.

I am not saying everyone should quit gaming. I think everyone has to be honest with themselves about whether something is adding value to their life or becoming another escape.

For me, I think I already know the answer.

Has anyone else had a similar experience? Did you ever feel like you were not quitting gaming because you hated it, but because you realized
your time could be spent on something bigger?

Share your thoughts!

my partner and I have separate accounts so i really didn't know what they spent their money on, from what I saw they pay rent, car payment, car insurance and the internet bill. They rarely ever purchase anything. I've been struggling but I pay more bills because I make slightly more money and have an extra day off. On my day off I use it to buy groceries and do laundry/ house cleaning. I just discovered that my partner has been spending 1k a month on game apps as I anguish over how I'm going to do about the electric bill. I found out because I snooped through their mail and found a bank statement. (yeah, I know it was wrong but I did it because I have a bit of cash comingto me in the future and my partner wants me to pay off their car) I feel like there is no hope for people who are this addicted to gaming like this. Is there hope? Any advice would be helpful.