How to get rid of computer gaming addiction

One of the mental disorders of our time is addiction to computer games. Experts compare it to alcohol and drug addiction. Gambling addiction, just like these addictions, suppresses a person’s will, destroying his life. Let's figure out what computer game addiction is, why it is dangerous and how to get rid of it.

WHAT IS GAMING ADDICTION AND WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF ONLINE GAMING ON TEENAGERS?

In the scientific community, debates continue to this day: whether to classify online games as drug addiction or not. Most experts are absolutely in favor, which is not at all surprising. Online games have recently captured the minds of mankind. There are already more than 4 million users in the world of the famous virtual MMORPG game “World of Warcraft” alone, and these are only people playing on official servers. As for gamers using pirated servers, there are probably even more of them. But many people play several online games at once, spending hours every day playing computer games.

What is the danger of this seemingly innocent entertainment? It becomes addictive and a person develops a gaming addiction. Players forget about everything: they forget to eat, sleep, responsibilities to loved ones, and children. Adult gamers lose their jobs because they find themselves unable to interrupt the gameplay to go to work, and they lose their families because the virtual world becomes no less real for them than the real one.

But the influence of online games on teenagers is especially detrimental: students are expelled en masse from prestigious universities because they don’t come to exams - they have no time, they kill the monster in a whole group, not daring to “let others down”, children turn from excellent students to poor students. For large and very real money, players purchase virtual items from each other that are “necessary” in the game. To “pump up” their virtual hero, they send thousands of money to servers that provide online games. They begin to beg and then steal funds from their parents, for starters. It’s very good if a person manages to come to his senses in time and stop this endless gaming marathon. What if not, if he can’t get rid of his addiction to computer games? Where will gambling addiction take him, what will it lead to?

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Help with a problem

Usually a person will never take on the problem personally and will not want to cure it. It is necessary for close and dear people to support him in this difficult situation, provide him with all possible assistance, and help treat him. If he is only criticized for this hobby, then it will not end well for him; on the contrary, he will have an extra incentive to do what he is doing, he will feel that he is right, that everyone is trying to prevent him from being happy - and the problem will only get worse.

It is important to gradually help the addict switch to other activities, of which there can be a great variety,

In addition, in order to treat an addict, the following measures must be taken (carefully, of course):

• try to make the person realize that he has an objective problem;
• if possible, limit his financial resources (works not only with children, but also with adults, for example, with a husband with a common family budget);
• look for alternatives to his activity that will be absolutely harmless, for example, try to involve him in active activities, such as sports, and so on.

DEFINITION OF GAMING ADDICTION

Surveys show that among teenagers, 85% are gaming addicts, most of them have problems in their personal and social lives. But how do you know if you or your loved one has a gaming addiction? Here are common symptoms that can determine the presence of addiction to computer and online games:

• You keep thinking about that game you played recently.
• Games are your main, or even the only, means of relaxation and relaxation.
• You can't find a place because you haven't played for a while.
• Games are the main means of your interaction with other people.
• Your relatives and real friends are no longer trying to persuade you to moderate and reduce the time you spend playing games.
• The amount of money and time you spend on games only increases over time.

But even if you have not discovered that you have a gaming addiction, you can bring great benefits to your own life by simply moderating your own gaming time. You should be aware that sitting for long periods at the computer or in front of the TV can significantly worsen your vision and posture, and sitting at night can completely disrupt the internal cycle of the body, resulting in chronic fatigue and serious health problems.

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10 minute rule

If you feel that the game is too long, do not torture yourself - try to limit the time spent in the casino, or better yet, stop this activity altogether. It's difficult, but some players really benefited from it.

The 10-minute method will tell you how to overcome gambling addiction and significantly reduce its effect on your brain.

Whenever you feel the urge to play, put it aside for 10 minutes. Tell yourself, I’ll go to the casino in 10 minutes, and in the meantime, do something useful. Cleaning, reading, going to the store. If the need to play continues, take another break. In practice, it was proven that after postponing the game three times, by the fourth time the players were no longer so interested in wanting to play.

You can also figure out how to keep yourself busy, come up with something useful to do. In most cases, the most useful solution is maximum load. There are a lot of good things in the world that are much more interesting than gambling - sports, hobbies, extreme leisure...

WHY DO PEOPLE SUFFER WITH COMPUTER GAMING ADDITION?

Gambling addiction is a type of impulse disorder that belongs to the group of psychological addictions. And any gambling is like a drug. Gaming addiction has many varieties, but the most common are: computer addiction, Internet addiction, addiction to slot machines. The most pressing form of any gambling addiction is gambling for money.

So why do people get addicted to gaming? The fact is that in addition to satisfying his basic needs in life, a person also needs pleasure. And playing is one way to get it, and often the simplest and most “reliable” way. For a number of reasons, some people have a heightened need for pleasure, so they easily turn to games and become psychologically dependent on them.

The causes of gambling addiction may be the following:

• 1. Joyless life.
• 2. Dissatisfaction with sex life.
• 3. Psychological fixation (immaturity) in adolescence or childhood.

The consequences of gambling addiction are very depressing:

• 1. Decrease in personal level.
• 2. Large financial debt.
• 3. Losing friends.
• 4. Family breakdown.
• 5. Loss of social status, job.

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PHYSICAL AND PSYCHILOGICAL IMPACT OF ONLINE GAMES ON TEENAGERS AND ADULTS

Constant gaming is detrimental not only to a person’s social life. In fact, the loss of money, work and expulsion from the university are just flowers in comparison with the consequences that are noted on a person’s physical and mental health.

Gambling addiction forces a person to interrupt and put off playing only to satisfy the strongest physical needs. In other words, for proper sleep, eating, resting the eyes, walking, etc. There's simply no time. A person begins to perceive all these needs as a waste of time, distracting him from the most important and interesting thing - from the game. Even during periods of sleep, he continues to play the game in which he was captured. Sudden loss of vision, gastritis, weakening of muscles, problems with the spine are not all that a gambling addiction threatens a binge gambler with. There is a real, widely known story about how, after playing Warcraft for many days almost continuously, a Chinese girl died of exhaustion.

The human psyche suffers even more: a person becomes inadequate, every day it becomes more and more difficult for him to distinguish between the real and virtual worlds. Despite the fact that the real world begins to evoke negative associations in him, since here he does not have such superpowers as he is endowed with in the game, especially when in real life everything goes downhill. As for the virtual world, here the player is strong, rich, always beautiful, or even perfect, and many other players are eager to communicate with him. So why, then, do we need reality at all? As a result, a vicious circle is formed: breaks in the game, which the player takes occasionally, only increase his further desire to play, to take refuge in the virtual world.

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Characteristic symptoms

A person forgets about his interests for the sake of a computer game
Let's look at what the signs of gaming addiction are.

1. The person has been in the game for more than five hours.
2. If he is hinted at gambling addiction, he becomes aggressive and irritable.
3. It is impossible to distract him from the game, under any pretext.
4. Eating takes place in front of a monitor screen.
5. The person ignores personal hygiene.
6. Depersonalization is observed.
7. There is an isolation from real life, from people.
8. Reconciling the role of the character, completely moving into the game.
9. The gameplay is accompanied by a feeling of euphoria.
10. Money is constantly being invested into the game.

Physiological signs of gambling addiction include:

• anemia;
• pale skin;
• dry eyes;
• headache;
• insomnia;
• scoliosis;
• lower back pain;
• starvation;
• exhaustion possible, dehydration;
• tachycardia.

Online games pose the greatest danger to human health, because they force you to escape reality and completely immerse you in an imaginary world. There people fall in love, quarrel and become friends.

Psychological signs of gambling addiction include:

• feeling of power;
• loss of sense of time;
• incorrect perception of one's own self;
• altered consciousness;
• acquisition of an antisocial character.

Changes in the psyche include:

• increased level of anxiety;
• the occurrence of panic attacks, fear;
• increased irritability, aggressiveness;
• the appearance of signs of sociopathy and deviant behavior;
• increased tendency to violence, including murder;
• the likelihood of developing a mental disorder increases.

TREATMENT FOR GAMBLING ADDITION

The reason that treatment for gambling addiction is required is because of the emotional reinforcement of the addiction. The trick of any drug is that a person quickly, directly receives emotional nourishment.

Well, Pavlov’s dog cannot control the secretion of gastric juice by his body when he hears a bell. The bell rings - gastric juice is released. Reflex. That's all! It's the same with a person. He sees the computer, and that’s it, “stomach juice” has been released. The man was led. Only half an hour, just one level, five more minutes...

Gaming addiction is psychological, which is why the answer to the questions “how to get rid of gaming addiction”, “how to get rid of computer game addiction”, “how to get rid of online addiction”, etc. Only psychology can give. Treatment for gambling addiction should be carried out using psychological methods.

Gambling addiction, which generates an obsessive desire to play, expresses a special psychological state. To overcome it, in order to get rid of computer gaming addiction, a person needs to switch to a state that is not characterized by such a desire.

If someone close to you has become addicted to computer games, take drastic measures immediately.

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Causes

The causes of gambling addiction can be different.

1. The desire to experience new sensations. A bad habit often attracts those people who want thrills.
2. The desire to get a lot of money. A person believes that if he plays a couple of times, he won’t spend much, but then he will earn money. If a person loses, he continues to bet in the hope that he will win. The gambler thinks that today is simply not his day and tomorrow fortune will be on his side.
3. A dark streak in a person's life. To get away from everyday problems and overcome the black streak, a person can spend from several hours to several days at the machines.
4. Play with your best friend. Many people believe that help in the game cannot cause gambling addiction, since the person simply helped. However, to become addicted, it is enough to play 2-3 times.

WHAT TO DO, HOW TO GET RID OF GAMING ADDICTION?

To begin with, try to distract the person from the game, drag him away from the computer in any way: offer the child to do some housework for a reward, organize role-playing sexual games with your spouse, cook a delicious dinner, watch movies, read books out loud, organize a walk or trip.

In fact, frequent conversations about the future, conversations about money and careers, discussions about the meaninglessness of games are not nearly as meaningless as it seems at first glance. The main goal here is to form a negative opinion about the game in a person, which can over time make the game process not so enjoyable. Therefore, speak up, talk to a person who is addicted to gambling.

To get rid of gambling addiction, you need to socialize a person, that is, return him to normal life. Do it in such a way as to return his interest in real life. Make him do something constructive and interesting, but far from the computer and the Internet. To do this, as a rule, it is enough to simply “dig” into his childhood, find out what he liked to do, and provide such an opportunity. If, for example, you liked tinkering with a moped, buy a used motorcycle and let him tinker. If you liked making aquariums, let him make aquariums. Again, goals and desires must be true! Then everything else will align itself.

• • Help from loved ones and treatment for gambling addiction.

To get rid of computer gaming addiction, the competent participation of family and friends is simply necessary. But exactly the right one!

Let’s imagine the life of some “conditional” Vasya, who at some wonderful moment suddenly says: “That’s it! I'm over it! I won't play anymore! I liked playing hockey as a child, that’s all! I’m quitting games and going to play hockey!” Yeah, right now! So they let him play hockey! But it’s a common thing for him to pop in for 5-10 minutes after work to a gaming salon or internet cafe even without asking.

In fact, the average person is practically unable to get out of this swamp on his own. Because even if he very much wants to change his own life and get rid of computer gaming addiction, his parents and wife will unconsciously return him to this habitual destructive course. Judge for yourself. On the one hand, the wife will nag and argue that her husband plays and dream of freeing him from gambling addiction. On the other hand, if the husband tries to replace the bad habit with another, more positive one (the same game of hockey), the wife will twirl her finger at her temple, which will be more than enough to start playing computer and online games again.

What is needed here is a person who can strictly keep Vasya within limits and stimulate his desire to get rid of computer gaming addiction until a new behavioral habit is firmly instilled. We need a “guide” to this new, real life. Few people can do this on their own. This means either conscious help from loved ones, or treatment for gambling addiction from a psychologist, again with the conscious support of loved ones.

• • How to get rid of gambling addiction?

If you realize that you have every chance of trying to rid a loved one of a gambling addiction without the help of specialists, then brace yourself and use the following advice given by people who managed to overcome it and get out of the gaming web:

• 1. It is necessary to reduce the gambler’s access to cash.
• 2. Ask friends and parents for help.
• 3. Get him to honestly admit himself and admit to himself depending on the game.
• 4. Try to make him look at the gambling business from a different angle, and question his previous ideas about it.
• 5. Find an alternative, get carried away by something new or return to old hobbies that are useful in every sense, and always turn to a hobby if the desire to play arises.
• 6. Teach the addict to relieve emotional stress in other ways, in addition to playing (relaxation, physical activity, balanced nutrition, self-encouragement).

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HOW TO GET RID OF COMPUTER GAMING ADDICTION ON YOURSELF?

Multiplayer games are initially designed so that with each new level the number of missions and challenges increases, encouraging you and your desire to stay in the game with impressive gaming privileges. With this approach, an avid player quickly becomes excited and it becomes very difficult for him to stop there. Below we have provided the simplest list of methods on how to get rid of addiction to computer games that can overcome this addiction and find the best way to self-satisfy than earning virtual points in the game:

• STEP ONE: MAKE A DECISION.

Find the strength within yourself to decide to quit gaming. Understand: nothing will work until you personally decide to quit playing and start living real life.

Such a decision can come completely suddenly, or it can accumulate for a long time over many months and even years. One way or another, having decided that it’s time to stop, you need to fully devote yourself to the implementation of this task. If this is very difficult, try to draw a psychological parallel with the game mission, and treat this as another difficult test.

• STEP TWO: BECOME DISCIPLINED.

Accept that any addicted person must go through this: almost always the decision to quit smoking is followed by the phrase: “one more, last one, won’t hurt.” Do your best to be tough and unforgiving with yourself. Set time limits for yourself, severely punish yourself, limit benefits if you cross the line. Discipline in this case means that you should set certain rules for yourself that you will adhere to.

• STEP THREE: LEARN NEW REAL LIFE SKILLS.

People addicted to games spend more time playing computer games or online battles than doing real work. What is the purpose, what is the meaning of this? Instead of wasting time fighting game bosses or increasing game levels, you could learn to play the guitar or learn foreign languages.

Perhaps you would be able to save money to later travel to exotic countries. Surely, you will be tempted not to believe that you can experience the same exciting adventures in the real world as in the game world. However, you will never know for sure until you leave the computer, go outside, and begin to explore the world. Take a risk! You will probably like it.

• STEP FOUR: RESTORE YOUR SOCIAL LIFE AND RELATIONSHIPS.

Think about how many friends you have lost during the time you spent playing games? How are they now, where are they? It may surprise you that in real life your real comrades have much more adventures than your game partners.

Go outside, go to a concert with friends, try talking to strangers, take dance lessons or sign up for a public speaking course. Understand that here, in normal real life, the only thing that can actually stand between you and your true desires is only your own inaction. So, don’t hesitate, start taking action today!

• STEP FIVE: GET RID OF THE GAMES.

Soon, at some point, you will realize that the desire to play has begun to wane. This means that the time has come when you need to get rid of all your games. Gaming addiction can, over time, weaken and intensify again, and even after several months without gaming, you may feel a wild desire to return to the gaming world, at least for a “moment.” Overcome this desire. After just 5-15 minutes, without the presence of games, you will find that the desire has subsided, and after half an hour there is no trace of it left.

If you managed to find the strength to get rid of online or computer addiction, to overcome it, this means that you have just raised your own level and were able to earn a few points, and now it’s time to move on to a new level, a new task. Do not forget that the game world, one way or another, is limited by the imagination of programmers, unlike the real one, which is limited solely by your imagination. And here the number, complexity and interestingness of “levels” depends only on your desires. Develop your imagination, and there will be no limit to the fascination of your real life!

Prevention

The goal of prevention is to help a person realize responsibility for his own health and life, to make the individual informed in matters of decision-making and their consequences, as well as in matters of risk in the computer world. It is easier to prevent computer addiction; every person can do it. Prevention of gaming and computer addiction involves:

1. Formation of media culture and development of personal resistance to the aggressive influence of the computer environment (more about this in the article “Security on the Internet”).
2. To hone practical skills and abilities, socio-psychological trainings are suitable to increase psychological stability, reduce anxiety levels, increase self-confidence, correct self-esteem, develop communication skills, and overcome difficult life situations.
3. Self-realization and satisfaction of needs in the real world, respect for yourself as an individual, following your interests.
4. The ability to express and regulate your emotions, relieve tension.
5. Improving self-organization skills. Start small - making a plan for the day and sticking to it.
6. Ability to rest and turn off the computer on time. At first the computer becomes a means to an end, but gradually it becomes the end itself. Set your daily computer limit and turn it into something meaningful for you. If the work involves a computer, then indicate your daily earnings, which will be sufficient. If you are addicted to networks and games, then translate this into the damage they cause - you missed dinner with your family, you don’t have time to read a book. At the prevention stage, you can still cling to this; at the addiction stage, no “translations” will help.

The main rule for preventing gaming and computer addiction is to live the life you want. Of course, there are generally accepted social norms that must be observed. But where you have the right to choose and vote (work, relationships, hobbies, self-realization), you need to use it.

And, of course, it is important to accept yourself. People run away from themselves much more often than from reality.

Actually, this is why reality does not turn out the way we would like - there is no self-love and understanding of oneself.