Escaping video game addiction: Cam Adair at TEDxBoulder

i’m going into my second year of high school and i’ve clocked in about 3k+ hours on valorant, i feel so much shame, i genuinely don’t know how to stop. i feel unable to act.

Video game addiction is real and its embarrassing. I just sold everything to get rid of it.

Emptied my saving on playings MOBA gaming the addiction was hard....

ur fake

I played TERA Console for five years. I played that game day and night. One day I decided enough was enough and I quit the game for good. I knew it couldn't go on. I was done having to detox from the game's energy. I don't use my PS4 unless it's for watching movies, TV shows or dancing to Spotify songs.

Videogames are so bad for your mental health in so many ways, it makes you less sociable in real life and you find it harder to get back outside in the "real world"

My best friend has wasted much of his life playing games. I hate seeing it and he knows he needs to stop, but he can’t because he is so addicted.

I always think about how good somebody could become at certain things if they spent as much time on those things as they do playing games. It’s painful and eye-opening to think about.

I think gaming addiction should have the same stigma attached to it as drug, alcohol and smoking addictions. I think it should also have similar therapies and treatments to the aforementioned addictions.

It’s less spoken about than other “typical” addictions, but it needs to be spoken about more. It’s an addiction, and like most addictions it ruins lives.

Because of Roblox,I am addicted and longer failing for so much and it's impossible to stop these things and frustrating because of addiction.and the moderation and they want views to be more.not our happiness.

I’m a therapist working to understand a client more and this was wonderful insight. Thank you for helping others learn through your experience.

My addiction were online conpetitive games, i wanted to compete and be better than others wanting to get praised for my skills and effort because no one did it at home for me... Now im still trying to quit but its a lot better than before.

I've played for 14,5 years since my college 5-12 hours a day and now im 30 and crying my eyes out bc i dont have a life and it makes me want to play even more. endless cycle.

Just get a dog
My gaming time decrease from 12-16 hours to 3-6 hours

He explained my life Im currently 18

i am watvhing this while playing valorant

I made a very effective video for this

Feels like im 10 years behind everyone else at my age because i've spent my whole youth playing video games..

Well at least i dont go to jail in GTA and in Real Life u get abused by cops and phycopaths if u disobey the law for many years, and video games u can do whatever u want without judgement, there are also video game benefits by playing them by scientific researchers, video game addiction is it realy that bad? there far worse addictions than that Like Alcohol,Smoking,i mean anything can be addiction from candies to Drugs,hmmph...😒.

Everyone is addicted to something.

why are people seated in the stalls laughing? So inappropriate

I felt angry when i got loose on playing video games. I think i have to stop.

I've quit playing video games on a daily basis for, like, 5 years just to return once or twice a year to play for a few weeks or months. I noticed that I start to become alive after the mind-numbing boredom of everyday life, especially when nothing of significance is happening. With my picky taste in games if I find something that is really interesting it actually boosts my mood for the rest of the day. When not gaming I can just feel like my body gets old. So gaming is not just a coping mechanism, you can jumpstart the "progress response" and have the following cognition boost.

I have exams in like 20 days and want to start studying seriously, I’m struggling so much, I keep treating studying as a chore and not something I enjoy. I keep thinking about it in school and when I get home and feel so tired I just can’t hold back the urge to lie on my bed and go on my phone, then I can’t get off. Please help.

where is 5 : games are just fun to play ?

Dude thanks you sooo much this means a lot to me cuz i just got rejected from my crush because i play too much i have another crush so i dont want it ruin cuz i play games

My husband of 5 years has played video games without moderation his whole life. He had to quit cold turkey bc his obsession ruined many parts of our lives. But he still has the itch and now he becomes obsessive about any hobby he picks up. We’ve tried many different solutions and nothing seems to work. He hates his mind, and everyone just says “use moderation” but they don’t understand the addictive nature of the brain.
I wish there were more help out there for this, I see him suffer and it’s like an invisible withdraw symptom, and he can’t find relief. He’s doing his best, but man it’s the hardest thing we’ve been through. 😢

Thank God I enjoyed playing sports more than videos games because I would play cod with friends for hours. I'm pretty sure I would have been addicted. I also got the belt if I acted up too which helped lol

I see mothers in the audience

after playing for 3 hrs for past yr I have come here

Los síntomas de abstinencia son horribles, cuando no juego videojuegos me siento en depresión y sin energía para hacer nada, ayer volví a jugar videojuegos por una noche entera, luego de mucho tiempo de haberlos dejado, es muy parecido a las drogas cuando es un vicio, seguro que es algún químico en el cerebro, por lo que tiene el mismo efecto de abstinencia de las drogas, ahora volví a desinstalar todos los videojuegos de mi PC y espero no volver a jugar alguno, porque verdaderamente hacen daño en exceso.

POV: Your mum sat down your younger brother and forced him to watch this video

its gaming!

What would you say if you wanted to slow down, but now quit? To enjoy the time with them for a few hours a week, perhaps?

I'm noticing that some weeks I play very little, some weeks even 20h a week. I want all weeks to be at 2-4 hours for the whole week. I don't see that as a problem, but getting there and KEEPING IT is frikking hard.

Thank you.

I think the best way is to ask yourself a couple of questions;

Why did i stop gaming?
What has gaming brought me?
How did it affect my life, before i started stopgaming?

When you have the urge to game, you tend to think about the good times. But also think of the bad times.

The more I try to play in moderation the more I relapse and binge play for longer periods. Just have to quit completely.

what to do if not playing games?

Like all adictions the reason is the same: short term pleasure in exchange of long term misery

My family totally supports my brother in being a shut in and im trying to pull him out of it.
He can’t have a conversation with anyone and my mom says he’s just special and im like no he stares at a screen from waking up until he goes to sleep.
He’s on disability now through the state so my family is like “we’ve got money for his existence let him do what he wants”.
I know mentally handicapped people who work and interact with reality.
It makes me so angry that my family thinks that I’m wrong for saying that he needs intervention.

The truth is that this didn’t help me at all

Please excuse my username because I usually don't comment much but I work out 40minutes before each gaming session and Im talking push ups pull ups and body weight holds and when I game after every other match I would have 15 gulps of water or do 10 pull ups Monday Tuesday and Wednesday are my no game days and I would focus more on diet and or my work it seems tedious but very necessary especially when weekend hits I game for 10+ hours I think there are a lot worse things than gaming and having a bad diet is one of them. I'm 21 now and I enjoy the time I have with gaming but I make sure to not have any more negative vices such as smoking drinking bad diet I believe everyone has their vice but just make the most of it and minimize unhealthy habits we are human live a healthy life 24/7

So fun but you can't find things like dress clothes or even food when u have to go somewhere for a long time

This is one of the best TEDx Talks I've ever seen

When I have kids I will only buy them a phone nothing else because gaming has really ruined my life in a way

For anyone listening, please help. I am so absorbed in my gaming addiction that it's affecting my grades and relationship with my family. My behaviour is worsening and I can't quit. To my family... I am so sorry.

today is my first day of not playing videogames anymore. Hope i make it far.

Playing in moderation is impossible. If you play immersive games, they take a toll on your brain’s ability to focus. The high dopamine release makes regular things look boring and hard.

“I didn’t know what to do: so I googled it”

Audience:
HYSTERICAL LAUGHTER

Notice how it’s all boomers in the audience lmfao

He said the truth at the beginning: understand you are stuck, get pissed that your are stuck, quit cold turkey.

I did this years ago by giving all of my games and systems away. It lasted for years. Then i saw a couple games come out that were short and sweet successors to classics i loved. 5 years later, i stuck playing and thinking about playing games all the time.

I’ve tried setting limits. I’ve tried several strategies. There is only one way that will work for me and that is to delete these games and find a way to mimic what they do for me in real life.