Day 9 of my reovery from gaming / internet addiction

For years i thought that my gaming and youtube consumption was just a bad habbit. I realised it is holding me back but i didnt think of it as the source of the problem. I thought it is my hobby, of course i like to spend time gaming and watching stuff and when something more interesting comes along i will want to spend more time doing that. And when i finally have a work schedule it will be much easier not to game. All lies my brain tells itself in order to not need to quit playing/watching. Im thinking back and see all the attempts to cut down, try not gaming before 6pm, tried to not grab my phone for an hour after getting up, tried to block certain websites in my browser during certain times of the day. Did therapy to explore where its coming from. But even though i now know why i started it doesnt make it “easy” to stop.
9 days ago i wanted to start with a 7 days dopamine reset and not play or watch youtube because these two are the biggest problems. It was hard but possible. Now im asking myself whether it would be better to quit forever or at least for a much longer time.
I finally was able to do things, like household tasks i thought i dreaded but in the end they were doable.
But on the other hand i also miss being engaged in a game, learning mechanics, just diving in and forgetting everything and i also feel like i deserve to do that once in a while. But i fear if i allow myself to do it once the addiction will come back bit by bit until i am at the point where i was 2 weeks ago, gaming/watching 10-14 hours a day, not doing anything for household chores or job search

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Welcome and congrats on 9 days! That’s awesome!

My addiction is drugs and alcohol but I can certainly relate. When I was using, I would let so much go in my life. My house looked like a tornado hit and my car was never clean. The only thing I did well was get myself to work everyday and that’s only because I needed money to support my habbit. Life now is a complete 180. I can’t believe I let everything go to shit but that’s what addiction does. Anyway, glad you’re here and wishing you the best on your journey.

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Hey mate, sounds like your life is really improving after cutting out the gaming.

I know I tried countless times to moderate my alcohol intake but I just couldn’t do it. It always started as just 1, but then I’d have to have more.

I think a lot of people felt the same as this towards their drug of choice, I know I did with alcohol.

Great work on 9 days! Hope to keep seeing you round!

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