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Constant click and novel experiences of video games harmful to progress?

Discussion in 'Porn Addiction' started by cryptifly, Dec 22, 2015.

  1. cryptifly

    cryptifly Fapstronaut

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    Okay, so I'm sure this topic has been talked about many times before but I'm curious about a specific detail and I don't have the patience or brain-power to sift through all the threads.

    This is about video games and whether playing them will hinder your NoFap progress, but with a little more detail. I was playing my new favorite today and I noticed that after about three hours of playing it, my brain got super heavy and foggy. This usually happens after I've concentrated on something hard like reading a book or playing a video game. My only guess is that this happens because of my nasty porn habits in my past. Anywho, I rewatched the great video "The great porn experiment" and when the term "video game addiction" came up, I got to thinking about my current video game habits and whether they were really affecting my progress. Now I don't think I over-do my video game playing. I usually do anything between a half and hour to two hours. Three hours at the most on my days off.

    What makes me wonder is if constant clicking and novel experiences cause people to become addicted to the internet and porn, couldn't the constant clicking and novel experiences of video games do the same thing therefore if I'm trying to heal my brain then wouldn't my video game habits actually make it harder for my healing goals to be achieved? I've been the guy that has always said that video games are not a harmful to your progress unless there's nudity involved but now I'm not so sure.

    I'd love to hear what you guys think about the point I made above.
     
  2. W10644793

    W10644793 New Fapstronaut

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    I can definitely see the similarities with porn and video game addiction. Not really sure if spending a lot of time playing video games would directly hinder your progress in fighting porn, but I'd try to limit the time I spend with a screen. While video games are fun and good way to relieve stress, I think activities such as hanging out with friends, exercising, or reading a good book are better alternatives. Try experimenting with these other activities for a few weeks and see if things change for you, and let us know how it goes!
     
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  3. cryptifly

    cryptifly Fapstronaut

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    Thank you for your candid opinions, but I'm wanting more of a dialogue about the possible link between video games, addiction and recovery. I realize my video game habits may be unhealthy but that's not the point of this thread.
     
  4. theGECK

    theGECK Fapstronaut

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    I can easily use video games as a replacement for actual human interaction, so I make it a priority to not play single player games when I'm in a hard place. Even when I'm feeling healthy, I limit my time spent on them because I've seen echoes of obsessive behaviour similar to addiction in them and I want my life to be one spent with people and connecting instead of one spent consuming experiences on my own.
     
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  5. recoome

    recoome Fapstronaut

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    i think anything done in excess is bad. even when working out you work on different muscle each day, or take a break after 3 or 4 days.

    with mental health its not easy to see the effects of long term action. but yeah...i think you shouldn't play too much video game every day.
     
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  6. jatar

    jatar Fapstronaut

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    From what I understand, both porn and video games influence the reward areas of the brain and release dopamine. In this respect they are very similar in their effect on the brain. Both can become and addiction.

    The problem for me is that when playing games I used to let part of my brain idle and fantasize about sex. This created a link between playing games and porn, because games -> fantasizing -> arousal -> porn. I'm working on breaking this chain, but lately I haven't had much time to play video games, so I'm kind of still stuck.

    With that said, I don't think that the dopamine release between porn and video games is comparable. I can't speak for others, but for me the dopamine fix when PMOing is so high that I can feel my brain "pulsing" a day after a relapse. Porn also leaves me feeling empty, but when I played video games I used to get a sense of accomplishment after a gaming session - a false sense, I know, but still they raised my confidence and self-esteem a bit. Games actually got me excited about life and interested in some topics. I got into space exploration and flight sims because of video games. So for me, I would say no, gaming and watching porn are not similar, as long as I don't make a connection between them like I did with fantasizing.

    3 hours a day of gaming is perfectly reasonable. About your brain fog and heaviness: are you sure that you don't get weary when playing? I occasionally have the same symptoms when playing for a longer period of time, especially when the game is not very stimulating, but interesting enough for me to keep playing. I just settle into this mindless state for a time, after which my brain feels the way you describe. The same thing happens for me with reading books.
     
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  7. cryptifly

    cryptifly Fapstronaut

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    I think I see what you're saying along the lines of dopamine release. The amount released just isn't enough to cause actual harm to the healing process. Part of me still questions this, but for the most part I think I agree with you. I suppose if I really wanted to find out I would have to cut out video games from my life for awhile. I don't think I'm willing to do that... besides, I work more than I game, anyways.

    Thank you for this insight. I never really thought of how I felt as me becoming weary. I don't know for sure, but I'm going to keep this in mind the next time I have a day off where I play video games for longer stretches. I think what throws me off is I've been able to play video games for eight hours at a time during my younger years so this change in behavior makes me wonder if something is actually wrong. It could very well be the the porn habit has eroded my stamina and so I can't last as long as I used to. Doesn't becoming weary when doing things like reading make you wonder if something's wrong? That doesn't seem like the kind of activity that would promote weariness.
     
  8. DestroyTemptation

    DestroyTemptation Fapstronaut

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    Having run the gamut of both addictions, especially linked together in a way, I can say it's very complicated and not so easily explained. While there are ways that video games that imitate the same feelings in a sense, it really depends on the type of gaming such as the genre, and the visual content. I'll say one thing though- more and more anime based games are becoming increasingly disgusting with the absurd amount of boob physics and exaggeration of boob size. I downloaded a game recently from the app store called Swords of Chaos and I was infuriated. It's becoming an increasing problem in gaming overall where the female body is overly exaggerated and designed in games to attract the gamer to the game via the advertising of pixel-tits.

    When it comes to games containing that nature of material I suggest staying away as it can be a trigger early on in nofap. As time progresses if the game is worth playing despite the annoying content, after some time passes you may be able to tolerate playing the game without temptation if you harness the right mindset.

    The other side of the box here comes the design of how the game spurts your dopamine via "novel" rewards, but that's a whole complicated subject in it's own.
     
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  9. cryptifly

    cryptifly Fapstronaut

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    This is why I started this thread. I was hoping to hear about what people know about the complexities of this subject in hopes of not only understanding what I'm going through more but to start a conversation.
     

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