Are games bad for dopamine?

Are addicts addicted to their beliefs about addiction? (as well as people places and things) Is that going to work well in the long run?

 

Then the conversation is over. My involvement with NF is to share personal experiences and to read others'. I'm not here to philosophize, debate, nor justify everything I write. In the end, I only know how certain lifestyle choices have affected me and can make guesses based on experience about how they may affect others, even though I maybe wrong about that. I'm sorry, but I am only providing descriptive conversation; if you thought otherwise, then that was your assumption.

 

I am talking about the topic, which was raised by a third party and once again we are on an open forum. We are not the only two people on here. I guess anything not personal can be considered 'philosophizing' but that is clearly not the case. It seems to be almost a knee jerk reaction for people in recovery, which is a general observation actually. Sure there's the practical but must we stop all thought that's an inch away and consider it a negative?

 

It depends, if you play video game for fun and can stop when you want. It's not an addiction and didn't give bad dopamine to your brain. I myself don't have any addiction on video games. But I'm really competitive when it comes to FPS games, I have over 3k+ hours on csgo. I used to play CSGO 4-6 hours a day just to get better on the game. But after my friend quit the game, I lost all the motivation to grind the game to get better. I didn't even play the game anymore. I have no addiction on video game whatsoever. I only spent 0-30 min a day to play video games. You can say I lost interest in gaming on general. My point is, it's fine to play video game for a little while everyday. Just remember that play for fun and remember your priority. If you are a student, you should study more and maybe reward yourself with video games after the study session.

 

When i play games, i experience this:

1. I cannot stop, even if I want to.
2. I waste myself.
3. I don't do homework
4. I get depressive and frustrated, yet, I keep playing
5. my social skills get killed
6. I am too far away in a fake world that does not exist.

Hence, the reasons to quit. I played world of tanks for 8 years, and I had a lip up yesterday, feeling irritated and depressed after 9 hours of straight ageing. If I put all that time and money into something else...

 

Then you should stop mate. When you play video games it's either because it's your job (streamer,pro player) or play for fun. If gaming fucked your life. Better stop completely

 

in most ways, gaming has fucked me up. Stopping is hard, thus I removed all accounts. I can't play for fun, for a long long time. It's only because I'm bored as hell, since corona has hit us.

 

No , in times of borreddom like fucking lockdown they are grest to keep your mind not going insane

 

Your experiences sound very familiar to me. Might I ask, how you manage to not go back to gaming during the pandemic? Have you found good substitudes to avoid boredom? Because I fail horribly at avoiding it right now and everything else in my life is greatly suffering from it.

 

Hello. I've been stuck on this question for quite some time, but I've found a balance that works for me.

I believe that games can be good for developing certain types of skills, but should be played with moderation. If they have too much of a pull on you (as in you can't stop playing) you may consider going cold turkey for a while, until you've "sobered up".

- What are games good for?
I believe that games can help you mainly do two things: blow off steam (no pun intended) and develop reasoning / quick thinking skills.
In the first case, it's pretty obvious that loads of games aim at entertaining the player(s), and, as long as they don't take over your day and your life, there's nothing wrong with it. In any case, I'd limit my playing time by using a timer on my smartphone (usually I do 30 minutes once a day).
In the second case, I believe that certain games heavily favor the development of certain skills. To give two quick examples, DOOM 2016 and DOOM ETERNAL rely heavily on quick thinking and decision making, and Fire Emblem and XCOM are based on strategy. It's bonkers, in my opinion, thinking that playing DOOM won't make you better at thinking quickly, even though it might not be the most efficient or "acceptable" way of developing such a skill.

- What if I spend lots of time thinking about them and have trouble entertaining myself without them?
In this case, while it may sound counter-intuitive and be hard, I'd quit completely playing until I no longer crave gaming. Disconnect your console and put away your games; install a blocker on your pc.
Pursue other meaningful things in this "cold" phase, so that your cravings may go away. After some time, you might find yourself spontaneously playing games again, but see them as an occasional leisure (which is, ultimately, what they are) and not as the only thing worth pursuing in life.

I hope this helps.

 

why not listen to music?

 

Depends on the game i would say. All games that are instant reward type you should probably not play (this i need to work on myself). Especially mobile games are often instant reward type. You unlock new rewards all the time for basicly clicking on things. Shooters are usually instant award also, expecially online. Playing games that require the mind to work like old school adventure games with clues and riddles, deep strategy games like civilization and so on are probably not bad for you if you limit the time.

I wont give up games now in the winter atleast becouse then its a higher chance i would do other things like start M:ing but i will delete Battlefield and all games that are basicly point and shoot.
Summertime i have alot of hobbies outside. Winter not so much, only walks.

I could give up games but its risky, especially during covid. Depression could set in if i have nothing to do that i enjoy during wintertime.

 

Music won't hurt you.

 

I guess it could become addictive if you are listening all the time and the brain gets used to that
stimulus/heightened dopamin state. Mayby you become restless and bored without it if the brain is used to it.
Mayby it becomes harder to concentrate on tasks without it for example.
Music however is one of the more positive things we humans can create so i would not stop listening unless it becomes a problem.
Moderation is key for most things. Listening all day every day mayby one should cut down.

 

excellent argument, particularly i appreciated the explanation.

 

i keep getting back to playing games, and after playing i ask myself:

Was it worth it?

in 99.99% of the times it was not the case.

I get depressed, irritated, in a bad mod, i waste myself, i stop doing home work to.

Gaming resulted in me failing at school past year.

Gaming is responsible for my bad mood.

Gaming is responsible for my terrible production levels.

So no more.

However,
Stopping is quite hard since you get that huge dopamine rush when something goes just right. That reason alone is a good reason to stop.

A friend of mine has this very same problem, and i see him getting more and more depressed, he has nothing else to do than playing games all day long, 9 hours in a row with no rest, witch resulted into a depression and bad school grades and social anxiety from here to Tokyo.

Another friend says: do not play online games, or any competitive games. BUY a good single player game, and enjoy it in moderation. But that still gives the dopamine rush.

Ain't saying the whole world should stop playing games, But when not regulated they are indeed bad for some people.

But other people might have benefits from it, for example, social contacts.

 

wait a minute, how long do you or did you use to play every day?

 

You're welcome.

 

ho do you know if a certain music genre is healthy?