Dear Young Reader,
Are you in trouble? Not the kind of trouble that might land you in juvie like stealing a car. But the kind of trouble that finds you in hot water with just about everyone in your life including the few friends that you might still have. It might be your parents being upset that you haven’t cleaned up your room, done any laundry or even taken a shower in a week; it might be your teachers complaining that you are falling asleep in class or not getting homework in on time. It might be grades that are plummeting just when you are getting ready to start applying for college; it might be friends who started out complaining that they never see you anymore and who now have simply stopped calling or texting.
You might even be in trouble with yourself. Are you sleep deprived or find yourself sleeping at strange times and waking up in the middle of the night? Do you walk around with an inability to take any joy from the things around you? Have you been subsisting on pizza, chips and soda because taking the time for a real meal is too much hassle? Do you feel as if life is vaguely uninteresting? Do the things that used to interest you like sports, social clubs, and just hanging out with friends no longer make you feel good? Are you generally irritable or in a bad mood? Do you feel just sorta numb?
If even a part of this picture speaks to you and if you consider yourself to be a gamer then turn off the computer and pay some serious attention to what comes next. It’s not just your life that you are messing up --- it’s your brain that you are frying.
There is a growing body of research from the folks that know about these things that supports the view that prolonged and compulsive gaming changes brain structures in a way similar to how drug addiction changes a person’s brain. Prolonged gaming can also lead to some very real physical ailments that can stay with you for a lifetime. And then of course there is the matter of how having a virtual life that is more alive and interesting than ‘real’ life can really lead to being alone way too much.
All of this might feel like preaching or, even worse, nagging. But consider this one definite fact. The changes that prolonged and compulsive gaming can cause to your physical, mental and emotional life will take away your freedom to control your own future. Your addiction will own you and you will lose your independence as a human being. No joke.
So if this message is hitting home to you let’s talk about what you can be doing to help yourself or even your best friend to take back your freedom and start feeling good about yourself and life again.
The first step is to acknowledge that you’ve got a problem. You can say this to yourself but it’s a much more powerful statement if you reveal yourself to your family and friends. Put it on the line. “I’ve got a problem and I need your help.” Read through again all the information at the top of this article and see how much applies to you.
Next, spend some time to learn about what is happening inside your brain and to your physical body as a result of too much gaming. Knowledge is power. Learn about the games that you are playing that are likely to be the most addictive. These are the ones that include scoring or levels to achieve. You know what I mean. These are the ones that make you jump up and shout when you finally score your best score ever. Also check how you feel when you play these games. What does winning feel like? As soon as you win a round do your hands immediately move to start a new game without even thinking? Do you find yourself ‘craving’ them without really enjoying playing them the way you did initially? This is addiction.
Developing this understanding of your addiction can help you determine what kind of help and how much you will need. It might mean going ‘cold turkey’ and giving up a particular game altogether. It almost certainly will mean limiting the time you are playing each day. If you really want to break the habit you can look to the addiction recovery model that points to a period of anywhere from 90 to 120 days of being completely away from the drug as the time it will take for your brain to return to normal functioning levels.
If you decide to go this route you will want to explore another success factor associated with the drug recovery model. Get lots of help from friends. There is no way to overestimate the help that friends and family can bring. They can help you in lots of ways. They can get you out of the house and away from the places where you do your gaming. They can monitor you during those particularly vulnerable times of day or days of the week. They can help you find new interests. And if they have to, they can quite literally pull the plug or the battery on you.
The good news is that the human brain, and especially the teen brain, is extremely resilient. It can repair itself if given a chance. Ultimately of course it’s your choice as to what you want to do. But just remember this before you make up your mind what to do. If you want to be a free human being making your own choices about your life, addiction takes these very choices away from you. It takes your freedom. It takes your life.
I am sure you will be able to win this battle. You can watch this video on escaping video game addiction, it is a story of one video game addict who had strength to quit. Good luck!
