What are /r/StopGaming's favorite Products & Services?

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First off, I can't believe that we're on the same page. Over the course of past 1week, I have been researching up about exactly this.

The precise term you are looking for is called "SUPERNORMAL STIMULATION". And this is something that Neurologists, Psychologists and other researchers have been studying for OVER a decade.

I will link some sources below after I give out my thoughts on this. And, I think this is a big problem.

10000 years ago (which is a blip in the Human Evolutionary timescale), we used to live as hunter gatherers, food was scarce, anything new was prowled up on as soon as one could get their hands on it, information about surrounding and staying up to date meant the difference b/w life and death, biological drive for mating was strong to propel the species forward. So, in those times, Sugary foods loaded with carbs, any new information/data about surroundings and fertile looking mates were quickly acted on.

Fast forward to 2016. We live in a globalized, interconnected civilization. We have everything we need for survival. But, our brains are 99% the exact same. We have same drives as our ancestors in the African savanna had.

So, you have this situation. Big corporations know this. They have massive number of researchers and Psychologists working for them. Gaming companies, Fast food corporations, Porn companies employ lots of these Psychologists to break your impulse control and give into their temptations, so that they keep profiting.

Here's a Lifehacker article talking about the exact same thing. https://lifehacker.com/supernormal-stimuli-is-your-brain-built-for-porn-junk-1575846913/

...

I have school now, I'll come back and link more articles. It's great that you're reading up on this. The more you know the better.

Cheers.

I probably had more luck with it because I also have stop watching porn for over one year. So a lot of things were already falling in place in my life. I was already having a clear mind and studying a lot about habits.

Quitting gaming was the last push that triggered several changes.

To this day, I still believe that quitting porn was absolutely essential even to stop gaming. It teached me the importance of a community for recovery (I wouldn't be here if I hadn't my previous experience at /r/PornFree); it motivated me to read "The Power of Habit"; I developed a lot of power of will and discipline battling porn addiction last year; and most important, it improved a lot my self esteem!

Quitting porn liberated a lot of energy and mental focus. Quitting gaming liberated a lot of free time and anxiety! Without these two bad and important habits in my life, I was free and motivated to do new things =]

To start I would 100% prioritize beginning to meditate each day. It will help your ability to focus immensely (science.) Start with the Headspace free 10-day challenge (10 mins/day).

It will also help you with reducing stress, anxiety and loneliness (3 symptoms of depression), and increase happiness. So ya, basically a no brainer. :)

That's why I went with Linux. Yeah you can game but it's way harder. Also no Microsoft telemetry.

If people want to have a look at a MacOS lookalike distribution which you can try from usb, download Elementary OS. Just put $0 in the payment field and use Rufus to put the iso on a usb stick.

https://elementary.io/

Well, you can try changing your password to something random that you cannot remember easily, for example you can generate a random 24-character password here: www.random.org/passwords/

After that, change your account email to this mail, which is destroyed after 10 minutes. http://10minutemail.com/10MinuteMail/index.html

So, now you have an account with mail that doesn't exist after 10 minutes, and with the password that you can't remember. So it will be very hard to login into game, and you cannot recover your password.

Hoping that everything works out for you.

>Then, at the end of the day when I look at what I have done for my real life, my business, my future I usually see a big ZERO

I will suggest "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield. It talks a lot about motivation, procrastination and determination. The book is a short read that you can pick up at any time for inspiration.

Good Fortune.

I absolutely agree! I was on the fence for a long time, wanting to meditate but not sure where to start. But now I've been on it for about 2 weeks and it feels great!

For those wanting to pick up this amazing habit, I highly recommend Headspace to get started with meditation. Just 10 minutes a day for 10 days is all the commitment it'll take. It's easy to follow, and the beginner course is free.

Hey dude, hang in there. Have you read Models by Mark Manson? It can help a lot. Also No More Mr. Nice Guy by Robert Glover is amazing too. Both helped me a lot!

No shame in needing time to get over a relationship. It's been 6+ months for me since my last breakup and I'm only going on my first date this week. Before now I've had little to no desire for it.

Thanks for this post. This is something the majority of humans (not just game players) never ask themselves. I think it comes from the book "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." One of them is "starting with the end in mind." (I saw a YouTube summary). But think about it; what do you want to have done when you're on your deathbed?

Most people just look no further than the next work day, caught up in routines or mindless entertainment. When I wrote my first post about what I wanted out of life and why I wanted to quit, it was the biggest eye opener in my life. I wrote out every negative that gaming has done to me and every positive that quitting would have.

Then I asked myself (a thought from Steve Jobs), what if I died tomorrow and didn't get to do the things I wanted? Would my life be inspirational? I want my life to be an inspiration to others, and an awesome experience for myself while I'm at it.

Keep up the good work sir

Hey man! 44 days is so badass! The urges and struggles will come and go in waves, so just like you're experiencing more of them now... they will go away soon too.

Writing can be a very good way to get things out. It sounds like you've been a bit frustrated and need an outlet, so writing can be good for that!

A good book you should pick up is A Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. You'll like it a lot. He talks a lot about the concept of "why."

Keep going brother, you're halfway to 90 days and you'll see big differences as you keep pushing forward. But stay honest and know there may be hard days that will come out of nowhere. Keep building your strong foundation, make sure you're exercising, taking vitamins and staying hydrated. A healthy body encourages a healthy mind. :)

Concerning sleeping better, I would recommend that you

• make your sleep schedule consistent
• sleep at a natural time (i.e. when it is dark outside)
• make sure you are getting enough sleep (most people need 7 to 8 hours)
• avoid computer/phone screens at least one hour before going to bed (also consider installing f.lux )
• avoid beverages containing caffeine six hours before going to bed
• make sure your bedroom is as dark as possible and fairly cool when you go to bed.

I've wrestled with this, and it was particularly hard for me in my first few months off games. Here are some things I've found worth trying.

1. Cut out caffeine completely. Some people are barely affected by it while others can be kept awake many hours after drinking it. I cut it out and found it helped, and then experimented and found that if I kept myself to a single cup of coffee in the morning (before 11am) and absolutely no more for the rest of the day, I can sleep well.
2. At least 30 minutes of vigorous exercise per day. My body can be restless and itchy at night if I've had no exercise all day, and even if I feel exhausted I can't fall asleep.
3. No computer screens for 1-2 hours before bed. Some monitor light tricks the brain into a daytime mode. See this article.
4. No food for 2+ hours before bed. Digestion can make it harder to fall asleep.
5. Calm and quiet right before bed. Meditation and reading for a while before bed can help, while intense music and video can hurt.
6. Reserve bed and bedroom for sleep, maybe not feasible for people who use their room for other things, but the idea is for the brain to associate the bed with sleep and nothing else.

Use a free and open-source software instead, no need to ruin yourself with photoshop. There's GIMP, Krita, and possibly a lot more.

You can do a lot of things. Just enhancing photos, creating fictional places, landscapes, peoples, making fake images, memes, creating logos or designs...

If you're looking for some new things to do:

• Learn to solve a Rubik's cube. If you know nothing about Rubik's cubes, you can learn from videos online and be able to solve one in under 3-5 minutes in just a week. If you already know how, learn some more advanced algorithms.

• If music interests you, or if you have an instrument, practice/ learn music theory.

• Draw. I am horrible at drawing, but I've started visiting /r/SketchDaily every day.

• Learn some origami. Make a bunch of paper cranes.

• If meditation interests you, /r/Meditation is a lot of help. I've been putting it off for a while, but their FAQ is a huge help.

• Read. Fiction, non-fiction, your to-read list if you have one, books that you've wanted to read but never had the time.

• Learn a language or how to program. Duolingo is a great place to get started on language learning. Sometimes it does feel like you're playing a game. I've heard a lot of people recommend code academy for learning how to code, but I personally prefer textbooks.

• Someone recently recommend me the subreddit /r/projectreddit. They seem to have some interesting stuff.

• I try to watch one TED Talk every day.

• If you don't already exercise/ run/ go to the gym, I cannot recommend it enough.

Hope all goes well!

The easiest way would be:

• changing your password to long and random string of characters. https://www.random.org/strings/ website is good for it. DONT SAVE THE PASSWORD ANYWHERE!

• going to https://temp-mail.org/ and linking newly generated mail to your account and validating it. This is disposable email account, so it will be deleted automatically.

• get rid of cdkeys from your games

Use COLD TURKEY, it blocks anything you want to stop in your computer. Basically a program that you cant delete and blocks your thing you're distracted from. You can set the time you want your thing to be blocked for. Really useful in my opinion to combat game addiction.

Quit it straight away, it'll be hard but trust me it's worth it. A few clicks and you're on your way to go up the rollercoaster of life.

After that, exercise more, eat a more healthy diet nutrition.com, exercising is another form of "gaming" because gaming itself is an anti-depressant as well as exercising. If you get depressed when you stop gaming, exercise because it releases the happiness hormones into your brain to make balance your depressed/happy state. Even exercising for 20 minutes a day can improve everything in your body; makes you more energised in other words. Exercise everyday forever, you will see changes after 1 month of excersing 20 minutes a day with a healthy diet.

Challenge QUIT for 1 month, NO EXCUSES!

Extra: There's also a 3... 2.... 1 trick that will work if you do it more and more, if your too hesitant to exercise but you want to, count down 3...2.... 1 in your head and when that 1 hits DO IT, it works for everything like taking out the rubbish 3.... 2.... 1- Drop everything and DO IT. Click on the COLD TURKEY 3....2..... 1 - CLICK IT the download button 3... 2.... 1 CLICK IT. You get the gist of it.
If you do it more often you can NOT PROCRASTINATE easily.

While we're at it, I'd really like to recommend habitica to you guys. You basically have an RPG character you can level up with completing tasks or habits (like flossing for example). You can also add friends and fight bosses (only by completing tasks and shit).
It's designed to make you "addicted" to completing boring tasks like cleaning your room, flossing your teeth, etc. because you get rewarded with experience points and leveling up. I think it can be a great help and everybody who still has problems getting shit done should give it a shot. If you like, send me a PM and I'll add you as friend (im playing solo right now)

I'm older, but the truth is that you will never feel ready. Will anyone ever know a leap of faith is leading somewhere good? Of course not. That's why it's called a leap of faith.

But here's the deal: right now you are in a stage of your life that is unhealthy. I know for me gamer friends is a massive thing, but we need to understand we will never grow with them because right now they are a ball and chain on your feet.

We are in a world of harshness, but if you work hard you can achieve a little bit of paradise. What is more important? Your life or being comfortable and eventually becoming homeless because you won't be able to support yourself? I'm taking the lunge and you should too, it won't be easy, we don't know where it leads, but it's our only option if we want to achieve big things.

I'm reading How To Win Friends and Influence People. It's a great book for leadership and also for anyone who wants to be likeable in the real world. It teaches us those social skills we never fully learned which will help us make genuine friends and engage socially better.

Good luck.

There's a reason why people are recommending exercise here, and I'm so glad to see so many people do so.

If you make exercise a daily habit, it will have positive effect on every other area of your life. This is something called a keystone habit--a core habit that forces shifts in other habits. For example:

• I started exercising
• On the days I exercised, I craved to eat clean
• Eating clean boosted my motivation to exercise
• These two habits empowering each other made me want to drop smoking and cut down alcohol
• I started to sleep better which lead to waking up earlier and having more energy
• More energy made me more productive
• Productivity made me hustle and get my life in order
• I started feeling gratitude and joy
• My depression began to diminish
• I felt so amazing that I began to constantly look for more ways to improve myself and my life to feel even more amazing

If you're interested in learning more, check out The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

Apply for that k-5 thing right now! I'm 25 and don't even have a bachelor's degree, you're already ahead of me! The important thing is that you don't need to rush your life or take a super accelerated graduate program. Go at your own pace dude, don't think about what other people expect of you. It's your life, if you're having trouble figuring out what you wanna do that's fine, it's all about finding yourself. If you play your cards right you may have 75 years left in life! That's so much time to do anything you want! I haven't exactly stopped playing video games all together but I am working on some small goals to improve myself. I'm learning the guitar, I'm working out, and I even joined a softball league with my friends (I'm terrible at sports but I'm getting better!). If you have trouble getting motivated to do those things instead of gaming, what worked for me was creating a Google calendar that has set times for activities, for example every week day at 12pm I practice guitar for 30 minutes. I'm also reading a book called "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey. It's pretty good at getting me motivated to become successful, and it's only like $10 for a paperback! Find some other hobbies besides video games you might like and do them! Life is worth living, there are hiccups sometimes, but as long as you keep going at it and make YOURSELF happy by doing what you love, that's all that matters. Good luck dude and don't forget to do that application thing!

Edit: I have also just included a link to the get disciplined subreddit about a guy who felt worthless and the amazing response someone gave him, take a look at that too, it definitely helped me.

https://www.reddit.com/r/getdisciplined/comments/1q96b5/i_just_dont_care_about_myself/

Absolutely agree with your point on reading. I just finished reading 'The Millionaire Next Door' today and it contained tremendously important knowledge on building wealth. The book took me no more than 10 hours to finish. What would I have gotten from spending those 10 hours on a pointless video game?

I wish I quit games at 16. I wish I made an effort at 16. I wish I...

Well done for trying! I waited until I failed school, nearly lost my job to get a wake up call. Trust me, you're doing much better than I. Maybe try mediating before you go to sleep. I also keep a book that I find a bit boring to read before bed.

Some books to read, The Power of Now and also Catcher in the Rye - these are interesting books, not boring ones. Actually Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance too.

• Shogun by James Clavell has an amazing story.
• Bloody Meridian by Cormac Mccarthy. You will probably like it.
• The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas has also a really great plot. The best revenge story imo.
• A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin if you haven't seen the series.

Maybe:

• Stranger / The plague by Albert Camus really resonated me when I was in a bad point of my life.
• The Holy Bible might be a good option since it has a lot of interesting stories and almost everything you read contains biblical references, so it might worth a read just because of that.
• Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut.
• Crime and Punishment / The brother Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I just had to mention my man, Dostoyevsky.

As for manga:

• Oyasumi Punpun
• Vagabond
• Berserk
• Monster
• Death Note

Just to name a few really good stories.

Finally some good self-improvement books, since /r/stopgaming is mostly about self-improvement, right?:

• Awaken the Giant Within by Antony Robbins.
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
• Siddhartha / Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsing
• Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz
• Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl
• The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

Just burned through The Road in a bit under a week since I quit games. Trying to read every night. Currently reading Man's Search for Meaning. Good stuff. I actually get excited to end the day by reading now, it's awesome.

> Best book I have read ever.

I agree.

I've first heard about in /u/camerondare's video 5 Books You Must Read To Help You Quit Playing Video Games (from the books mentioned there I also really liked The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg).

That was great to read it!! I am almost completing my 90 days Detox but I am planning to keep it going further!

I already bought the "Slight Edge", but didn't start reading it yet! I am re-reading "The Power of Habit" first!

What other self improvement books did you read and recommend?

Congratulations on the progress, it is very inspirational!

I strongly recommend "The Power of Habit".

The book is very well written, the author went after a lot of scientific researches, it is very useful, it has a not of knowledge in it about how habits work and how to replace or change them.

Even if someone is not actively trying to change his habits, or does not have a strong vice, I think it would be a very interesting book! There are several interesting stories in it, several examples and, like I said, is very well written.

And particularly, I think pretty much everyone has some bad habits that they want to change or there are good habits that they wish could pick up consistently. Even small things like "flossing every day", "eating healthier" or "learn another language".

By knowing better how habits work and how to change them, it is easier to do it. You will have knowledge about the effective tools, mindsets and routines that can help you out more in achieving new habits and changing old ones.

Take small steps towards success. A book that has been instrumental in my recovery has been "The Slight Edge" by Jeff Olson. Another one is "7 habits of highly effective people" and "Think and Grow Rich".

We still need to reward ourselves, otherwise what do we have to look forward to? But we need to find healthier and more productive rewards besides gaming and/or tv.

Instead of chilling out with games, try reading, walking, cooking, or <insert activity that you enjoy that relaxes you and isn't gaming>.

That's how new habits are built -- cue, habit, reward.

Highly recommended, The Power of Habit -- http://www.amazon.com/Power-Habit-What-Life-Business/dp/081298160X/

edit: grammar

Part of me thought this cyclical grind could apply to real life as well, but I feel that it doesn't. It comes back to the Stanley Parable and the pre-programmed nature of games. In real life you have endless mysteries where your high isn't predictable or inevitable. Your choices are diverse and possibilities are endless. Even the most basic stuff like eating isn't a cycle since there is always a new recipe to try if you make the conscious effort to try. So while life can have its repetitive moments, those moments are choices and there is so much else to do that isn't monotonous.

Yes, life's realities mean your options are finite--you need to pay the bills and your time and freedom are limited. But all in all, your life can be pretty novel and exciting if you choose to put effort into achieving novelty and a 'carpe diem' attitude.

I don't see this as a dark side but I agree that one's mood can inhibit their ability to maintain a positive outlook. But--as Man's Search for Meaning says--your reaction to stimuli is a choice. How you feel is a choice in a similar way (except mental health exceptions to the rule for which there is treatment). So you have a choice to force yourself to find silver-linings rather than embrace self-fulfilling prophesies of pessimistic worldviews.

In games you don't have this choice: you have the game designer's game mechanic.

You could see yourself spending more time on reddit, or watching TV... but are you actually doing those things right now? You're just assuming that the alternative future reality is going to be just as bad as the current reality--same shit, different addiction--so why bother changing.

Maybe you're right, maybe you'll fall into the same patterns of behavior with different activities. But what if there is a 1% chance of breaking free, and finding a new way of living that makes you happier? What do you have to lose?

One thing that I've discovered through my process of recovery from addiction is that my brain is shockingly bad at imagining the future. Daniel Kahneman, Nobel Prize-winning behavioral economist, wrote in his book Thinking, Fast and Slow:

> A general limitation of the human mind is its imperfect ability to reconstruct past states of knowledge, or beliefs that have changed. Once you adopt a new view of the world (or of any part of it), you immediately lose much of your ability to recall what you used to believe before your mind changed.

I think this can be extended to future states of mind--our brain's total embrace of its current belief system renders us almost incapable of imagining that we could actually think differently in the future.

The only solution is to acknowledge your doubts, and do it anyway. Listen to what others are saying about their experience, acknowledge that you don't think it will work for you, and do it anyway. You will be surprised and amazed at what can happen.

Hey thank you, I really appreciate that! Last night was definitely a dark time for me; as I reread my own post, it's so damn cynical.

I will check out that second book, because I've read The Power of Habit. And by that, I mean I got through half of it, and then it sort of became irrelevant for me, I feel like. Thanks again for the recommendation and kind words.

I use Forest (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cc.forestapp [on mobile can't format]) for dealing with that kind of stuff. You plant little trees on a timer, and if you open a non-whitlisted app, your tree dies. It's great for keeping focused when I need to. Plus, it uses gamification techniques to keep you using the app. (you can unlock different tree skins, and the longer you stay off your phone, the nicer the tree.)

You need to make goals/plan for your hobbies (long and short term). Learning something just to be better at it won't get you far. I also have simmilar intrests so heare's some practical tips that may help:

1. For me the most fun way to learn programming skills is by working on project that i find really interesting. It can be just few lines of code at beginning. Search for some inspiration, example

2. If i wanted learn chess i probably would find some local community. Don't try to rush it, learn few strategies at a time and enjoy game.

3. Sure it takes some effort to learn new language, but try focus on what you already understand and make use of different leaning aproaches/matrials. Also it helps if you are intrested in culture which is represented by that language.

4. For guitar there is loads of tutorials/tabs available to choose from. If your stuck with that hard bar chord then leave it and pick up that different rift from your favorite band. Don't try learn something just to impress others, you should firstly enjoy it your self.

You have limited amount of time so pick your priorities wisely and take it easy. Good luck and enjoy your non-gaming time :)

Lack of passion and purpose is very common. Quit gaming and you will greatly increase chance to find yours.

> That's what happens when you make your life about decisions by default. You end up with a life you didn't really create - just one you sort of ended up with.

This quote is from qoura answer - kind of find it quite inspiring.

It could, depending on if your company uses web-based applications.

In short, you can use zapier to automate repetitive tasks.

For instance, I use toggl.com for time tracking, when I record a billable time entry it automatically through zapier reports the entry to my airtable.com database, which is configured to bill my clients projects. From those numbers, I'm able to send invoices. When an invoice is paid, through zapier the payment is recorded to the client, and their balance adjusted.

Super cool stuff. You definitely need a mind for IT to work it though.

One of the top obstacles in this community is how to overcome boredom without gaming. There are many different sides to boredom, including it being a physical withdrawal symptom of not gaming - and one of the keys to overcome boredom is to shift your MINDSET. As I mentioned in the video (and previous videos), gaming can make you a spectator in life, ie, someone who is passive and "life" (like gaming) is supposed to entertain you. So when you remove that, you're BORED, because you don't do anything else... like take responsibility for your own entertainment.

The point of the video is to show the latter - that if you're experiencing or struggling with boredom, you need to take responsibility to get engaged in creating your own entertainment. The kids I've been hanging out with in Tanzania (which many people in this community helped me come to), have "less options" than any of us who can read the words I'm writing right now, yet they do not experience boredom. So what MINDSET do they have about their life that we can learn from to help ensure we experience the joy, happiness and fulfillment in life that they do - without gaming.

Yes, to-do lists are great for planning your days. Although a very small amount, to-do lists give me a sense of urgency to complete the set tasks for the day. I found that paper lists do give me more sense of accomplishment after checking off a task, but I use digital for the extreme convenience of not having to carry around a list everywhere.

I found that what helped me get better sleep was reducing my blue light intake. I use f.lux when I'm on the computer, but AFAIK, f.lux only decreases the amount of blue light that computer screens give off, not remove it. Now I get off my computer ~1 hour before going to bed, read before sleeping, and it took a few weeks but I get much better sleep because of it.

I'm not the person to ask about the podcast/audio book, as I never have done it, but there are bound to be some other members that have some info regarding your routine.

EDIT: Here is a reddit resource that may help you as well, I had it archived in my saved folder. I don't have time to skim it right now, but I trust it will help based off the support it got

https://www.reddit.com/r/LifeProTips/comments/1qaxyi/lpt_the_ultimate_sleep_guide/

This audiobook is what helped me first quit back in April this year.

Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked

Listening to this audiobook back in 2017 is what helped me realize I had a problem with gaming in the first place.

The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction is Not a Disease

There is a great MOOC that should interest you: https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn

If you don't know about MOOCs, check out these sites (it's all free): * www.coursera.org * www.edx.org * www.udacity.com

Both of the success stories are like really awesome, mine is a bit humbler although i like what i´ve achieved for now.

Last time i played league of legends was something about 40 days ago, in the meantime i played some other games but i controlled myself and cut them away.

Since i started going to the gym 6 months ago(i´m kinda hit or miss but anyways i´m still going) i´ve lost 9kgs, i can sleep better, when i´m sad i recover more easily from my sadness, i made a android app on my own last semester(it was for a class), it turned out pretty OKish.

I feel that i´m learning better, it´s not something concrete but i think that i understand the concepts better and i´m learning more, i´m devoting some of my time to study for a big test for a job and i learned some new stuff that is both useful for the test itself and nice to know.

Also about learning, trying to learn how to learn in coursera, if any of you guys want to check it out: https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn

Well, I'm on mobile so I can't link things as easily as I would like to, but Codecademy is the one that always gets suggested around Reddit when this question comes up. I've used it in the past, but I never really got programming until I had the more directed environment of a real college class. Now I have a bunch of side projects I'm going to work on, so it's just a matter of getting that spark.

In that class we use something called CodeLab that I have found useful for drilling Java. It's a paid thing, but it's useful enough anyway.

Edit: got the codelab link to play nice finally

Try the Bumble app if you live in a big enough city that uses it. Also meetup.com . Generally you just have to put yourself into situations that social interaction will happen and make new quality friends. It's not likely you're going to go to a bar and make new "friends" that are of any high quality. You gotta vet that otherwise you just make new friends that use you.

>And replace your gaming time with productivity!

Bruh...I messed around with Notion for like two days straight over the last 4 days trying to put together something to organize my school life. Then I decided that I don't really want to learn how relational databases work, and spent the other 2 days making Excel spreadsheets since I know Excel better (and have learned even more about conditional formatting and comparisons to dates). I have one that lays out literally every assignment and due date for all of the classes for which I have syllabi. And I have another set up for active recall, which is apparently a very effective method of studying.

Not once did I have the urge to play Rimworld (my game of choice these days). It's a hella fun game...but...I had absolutely no desire to play a game at any point. There's nothing like agonizing over an excel formula. And I'm confident af going into this next semester.

Anyway, good luck everyone and have fun!

This is quite similar to my case - I forced myself to learn how to program while at the same time I stopped video games. I resumed my badge to be honest with myself because I tried and played for 3 hours yesterday, but I got bored so fast with every game I tried.

What I would say for my case is that I took games off the pedestal (the conscious realization that they have nothing more to offer) and consciously stirred in me a long lost love I had, the love for programming. And while I'm thirsty to solve problems just as I was back in high school when I first met programming, I'm still unable to tackle open-ended projects that require a lot of stackoverflow and googling. But I'm at the cliff of confusion so it's only natural to be like that for a few.

I'm really glad you managed to start overcoming your addiction. I've just deleted my Steam and Epic accounts two weeks ago and despite being very young (in March i turned 19) I believe I need to pursue and achieve my true potential and also face new situations to move foward with my life. I used to go to the gym before quarantine started, but I still can exercise. Whenever I'm able to I'll look for weight so I can lift.

Te recomiendo este traductor con inteligencia artificial ( https://www.deepl.com/translator ) en caso de que tengas problemas para comunicarte o estés empezando a aprender inglés. Acostúmbrate a leer en inglés como venga el texto y no traduzcas en tu cabeza. Créeme, es más útil así.

Yes, you will be bored. It's normal and it's just your brain screaming at you to turn on a game. It's very beneficial to you that you have some ideas of what you'd like to do instead. Don't let the limitations of your camera stop you from practicing photography. Even the worst camera can allow you to practice certain things and often the most creative artists in history were overcoming limitations. Also sounds like you need a social outlet. Have you checked out meetup.com? There are lots of groups for just about anything you can think of and if you have social anxiety like I do it can help you learn to overcome that.

I justified minecraft in this way. My life is much better without it.

Consider reading the 12 week year. It teaches you how to plan, and you can start to scratch that same itch through planning and execution. What's better, you actually get something out of it.

If you're good at those games though, I would highly consider looking at zapier.com for a real-world tool where you can use those skills.

I find some of the challenges they have there in HabitRPG inspiring. Other than that, the interface is too overloaded for me and full of distractions. I stopped checking in there (but continue building my habits just fine).

Then there's also superbetter.com. I stopped using that really quickly.

I have been using Coach.me when it was still called Lift and actually good. I don't find it helpful anymore.

I find it easier to just build my habits by doing them. A simple to do-list is just as helpful (if not more so) than those apps.

I want to point people toward Headspace if you're wondering how to begin practicing mindfulness. It's a great "gamified" website that makes it easy, 10 minutes a day, and tracks your progress.

I've seen it mentioned on this subreddit before and want to thank those who brought my attention to it. I began my "mindfulness journey" via Eckhart Tolle's book "The Power of Now", but Headspace has really helped me keep at it and is definitely rooted in what I consider the core elements of mindfulness. It's a great reminder for me every day on HOW to do it with ease.

Hey! Thanks for sharing. I agree with /u/veydar_'s post, definitely follow it.

For relief in the meantime (and moving forward), I'd recommend learning meditation. Here's the science behind it. I'd also recommend reading In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté where you can learn a lot more about addiction in general.

I use mps youtube. It's a terminal application, so it's text based, you only see what you look for. The downside is you can't see thumbnails to determine whether or not a video is what you want, but that makes the mindless "click on cool thumbnail in related videos" browsing impossible.

Hey! I was so addicted to gaming and started to play everytime I had a chance to. The lockdown made me get more involved into gaming. I became insanely addicted and started raging over small stuff. I lost my focus and concentration. I lost interest in things. I used to be in the top 5 in my class before I started seriously gaming, but now I struggle to understand even the basic concepts. My marks dropped to an all time low and I could not sit in a place for more than 20 min . I went out of control. A few days back I installed a blocker and purchased the pro version for it( Cold turkey). And now I am out of gaming for a week. You will feel the urge to go back to gaming . But as he said.. Its not worth it. Control it, if not install a blocker . You will feel the change in a few months.

Here is the link if you want to know more abt the blocker.. (Not promoting..I am not paid to promote this) : https://getcoldturkey.com/pricing/

Good luck!

https://getcoldturkey.com/

I am not affiliated with this program, but I find it to be very useful. You could have them set a password for a certain block, you can set a daily time limit, you can set limits on what time of day the blocks will be active, you can block both websites and applications. And it is very, very hard to get around when set up properly with all the safeguards in place.

I use this every so often https://getcoldturkey.com/ use it to block steam so you can still use your PC. Personally I give myself a few hours on a sunday to play games but limit it to just that.

There's an app that I installed on my PC to block all game related topics. You build a list in it and set a date to run to then ding it prevents it. I uninstalled origin and steam. Before blocking their sites with Cold Turkey. Now I can't redownload either client, is good. They also have an app designed to prevent your smartphone access for a few minutes at a time. So if get the itch to reinstall clash of clans, just click the turkey and no access to the phone until the time runs out. Could help you reaffirm control. Good luck on your journey. Cold Turkey = https://getcoldturkey.com/

There's an app that I installed on my PC to block all game related topics. You build a list in it and set a date to run to then ding it prevents it. I uninstalled origin and steam. Before blocking their sites with Cold Turkey. Now I can't redownload either client, is good.

Cold Turkey = https://getcoldturkey.com/

Try to get him test Cold turkey and limit game time to reasonable level. It is not a free program, but 100% worth it (also configure it correctly).

Don't install it behind his back, and talk to him about how you feel. Also try to get him eat his medicine, like wtf that could solve some of his problems.

others may disagree, but in some ways watching gaming-related content might actually help you fight the urges to play games. At least it kind of does for me. When I watch twitch streamers, I am reminded of why I am trying to stop gaming. Our minds have a way of enhancing our memories of playing games, which is why it's so nostalgic. Continuing to watch game related content grounds my memories into what games really have to offer.

that said, do what is best for you. Stopping playing, cold-turkey, is the best way and I highly suggest it. Just make a decision about how far you are willing to go to avoid all gaming related content.

I've seen people mention this site often, but I don't have experience with it myself.

https://habitica.com/static/home

good luck on your journey, and get ready to have a ton of more free-time!

Plan your day, prepare your to-do list. Then you won't have to goldbrick all the time. I'm using https://habitica.com and it helped me a lot and it's a game, but it depends of your real life tasks! :P

Oh yeah. I know that feel. When something had to be done, but I was playing for entire day instead. Even if I had smalll chunks of time I was choosing gaming. That's demotivating and you can't get out of procrastination circle.

Playing computer games is really time-consuming activity. You can't even notice and couple hours just went away in the blink.

Take a piece of papier and list positive and negative effects of your addiction and think about their impacts on your real life. Be the judge.

On the right side you have some handy links, which cover some knowledge about gaming and it could be a good way to start.

What I suggest you is removing all games, which you have from your PC. Also delete any bookmarks from browser connected with gaming. Then get rid of any physical copies of the game. Do it, just to erase any urges, which will cause potential relapses.

Personally, I'm not an expert. I just started my journey not so long ago, but I can say that I don't have any urges to play. I prepared my to-do list, tasks, activity list and just figured out that I don't have time for gaming. If you wanted to try I used habitica.com.

I wish you all the best on your path. I know you deserve for more from life that's why I encourage to stop with this addiction NOW!

Dang, it does seem like COVID and this chromebook "revolution" has affected low end windows laptop prices. I used to see a lot more like the one linked below.

Regardless, the time you get back from quitting gaming is going to be immensely valuable so forgetting about the dollars and cents for a sec, good luck and enjoy the life improvement!

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https://www.amazon.com/Lenovo-IdeaPad-14-0-inch-Laptop-Bluetooth/dp/B088LDY699/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&amp;keywords=windows+laptop&amp;qid=1609867206&amp;refinements=p_36%3A-25000&amp;rnid=2421885011&amp;sr=8-9

Relapses will occur time and time again. Best way to deal with those relapses is to prepare ahead of time not to fall prey to them. Plan well in advance for situations where you think you'll relapse (Uninstall games, stay away from streams and gaming websites).

Watch this video from John Sonmez maybe it will help. Also read Jocko Willink's Discipline Equals Freedom. (You can also find the audio version on Spotify or Amazon Music)

I did what you're doing and it helps immensely. I use this app to block access to certain websites. Helped a lot when I initially kicked the habit. For me I found youtube was a big one to block, but that's something for you to discover on your own. Good luck!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.blocksite&amp;hl=en_CA

Blocking Facebook, Youtube, Discord was a big part of my recovery. Streamers want to A) feel as though there is a community when they are playing (not simply being alone), B) potentially gather a following to reassure them that their gaming isn't a waste of time, and C) continue gaming with less guilt on their conscious. Just a guess... I'm not completely sure never having done it myself.

As an addict, I have watched days worth of other people gaming... it's a way to convince myself that I'm not gaming, while still getting the dopamine surge of gaming... was the hardest part of the addiction to kick.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=co.blocksite&amp;hl=en_CA

There are many good books that I have used to help me and are helping me to get over addiction, but the best one imo is "The Power of Habits". Really useful information for how to establish good habits, and cut addiction.

Also, the most important thing that is the first step in getting over addiction is believingnin yourself. YOU CAN DO IT, BELIEVE IN YOURSELF

You can never be free from gaming, as it surrounds us. Go on YouTube and the front page will have at least a few videos on gaming.

However with sufficient motivation and application we can overcome these triggers and live a life where we play no video games and watch no game videos. I get urges on a daily basis and but I will fight them until I die.

So what's my life like? I got a fantastic job in the industry I am pursuing (real estate) in less than 2 weeks of hustling. I run 5-10 km's a day and I feel great. I brush my teeth and floss every night. I make my own food and don't waste money on takeout foods. I read educational books at least 2-3 hours a day, right now I'm reading The Intelligent Investor, which will be tremendously helpful when I build up a fund for investment purposes.

Life will always be a struggle, whether it's against gaming or any other impulsive desire. It will be a struggle everyday to live above these primal desires, and you won't feel the benefits immediately. However with enough time, the benefits will reveal themselves and you will become a greater man.

Perfect, so now it's all about how can you make the most of the time you have now so get your life in the best position possible to be successful not only during college but beyond as well. This sub is FULL of college students who got away with gaming during high school and then, because they had no good habits developed, began failing in classes and many have even had to drop out. So this free time you have can be invested in so many other ways that can help you not only get ahead, but thrive. The thing is, the people in my life who I know now who are the most successful, started EARLY. You have the same opportunity.

Read these two books:

1. The Power of Habit by Charlie Duhigg
2. The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson

Let's keep it short and sweet: Those are too many goals, and too spread out for someone who is just starting to come out of addiction.

You said you work out. Ever noticed that your eating habits got better after you started with it? I mean, after coming home, do you ever feel like it would be a waste to eat junk food just after busting ass at the gym?

So that's how you're going to thrive, by choosing key habits and letting those breed better habits on their own.

Here are two to set you on your way:

• Create space. Let yourself be bored. You don't need to have your phone by yourself at the bathroom, you don't always need to have a podcast or music playing. You'll find out that the ideas that will move you forward will only come by if you give them space to.

• Manage your sleep. I find it best to aim for something like 23h - 7h. At any rate, try to keep it more on the early side.

If you want to learn more from this, read The Power of Habit (author refers to the concept as Keystone habits).

TL;DR If you'll read/apply only one thing from this, let it be to "Create space". This is the most important advice I can give at our day and age. Also, go back and read it. You won't get anywhere if you're not commited enough to read people who have taken time out to help your ass through this.

I want to read a PM from you in a week about how it worked. I'll keep you accountable. Seriously, schedule it on your phone right now.

You're blowing things out of proportion. You don't need to be great at things to benefit from them or have fun doing them.

Jogging is easy to pick up and is amazing stress relief. Do the Couch to 5k. I like the phone app by Zen Labs, but there are others that work similarly.

Picking up reading is as difficult as finding a book you like. Try the books you hear about. Harry Potter, Ender's Game, the Hunger Games, etc. If you're not having fun reading it within 50 pages, quit and find a different book.

Getting good at illustration takes a long time, but you can get good at copying things very quickly. Try to find "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain" at a library. Skim it, and do the exercises. Ignore the "science". You'll be able to copy what you see fairly well by the end of the book.

I strongly recommend the following:

• "The Slight Edge", by Jeff Olson;
• "The Pillars of Self Steem", by Nathaniel Branden; and
• The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg (this is not necessarily a Self Help in the usual sense, but it can make a real difference).

I have them all in epub or PDF form. If you are interested, PM me and I can send you.

Cheers!

Thanks for the encouragement words!

Reading The Power of Habit was a huge game changer in my life! It made all the difference in my approach on stoping gaming and stoping watching porn!

I highly recomment it to everyone here =]

I've got a reading list for you:

The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal

Read those three books and come back when you have questions.

Thank you for the kind words. You mentioned '30 days challenge by cam Cam Adair'; I didn't know who or what that was - so I looked it up. Pretty much a youtube channel dedicated about talking and working with the exact problem we face in this sub. I dug a bit deeper and he mentioned a few books which are floating around in audio book format also.

• The Slight Edge
• The Power of Habit
• In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts
• Resilience

Enjoy guys, I'm giving them a listen to as I type this. :)

>Why can't i just do shit, it's so easy

Because it's easier to do the same shit you've been doing.

When you're feeling low and haven't had a taste of success, doing things that matter feels pointless, yet it's the only way to better your life as you say you want. I would suggest you read a few books, The War of Art and The Slight Edge that might nudge you in the right direction.

Was in your same boat a few months ago. Quit weed with a couple of smoking sessions here and there but haven't bought it since I decided to quit. Weed + games is the ultimate dopamine release and it makes the rest of life kind of boring. I still haven't felt what it's like to not be at least a little depressed/anxious but it's getting better. Dropping the weed helps drop the games but if you're like me gaming will be a lot harder.

If you want some steps that have helped me out the most it would be:

Reading everything possible about the psychology behind depression/anxiety/addiction/social interaction but also realizing that you need to ACT to change. You can't just read something and expect change. Some solid books are The Slight Edge, Willpower Instinct, Feeling Good (not the whole title but if you google that it should come up), Models by Mark Manson, and The Power of Now. Also Meditation and Yoga are fucking amazing. If you just work on yourself a little each day it will get better buddy. Read those 5 books, even just 10 pages a day (start with The Slight Edge) and start meditating in the morning or before bed and you will feel better in 90 days guaranteed. I just hit day 91 of meditating every single day and the buzzing hate filled thoughts in my head are no longer constant.

Oh and realize that relapse is almost guaranteed and that as long as you're moving forward you'll be a-okay. Learn from your mistakes and move on.

I'm planning to take up meditation again as well (new year's resolution). I've only read a few books on the subject but this is my favorite one so far:

Mindfulness in Plain English

Good choice, I know sometimes I still feel like I should have "one last hoorah" of going balls-deep into some video games, but there's just no sense behind it.

One other thing I forgot to mention before, you'd really benefit from reading "The War of Art" as well as "The Slight Edge". They're similar to the other books that you mention in that they'll give you one good core principle that can change your life.

People recommend "The Slight Edge" around here, I haven't listened to it all yet (audiobook for me), but the core concept is pretty powerful and motivating.

I'd suggest The War of Art. Extremely motivating to me, a classic and short read.

For your art troubles, I would recommend reading The War of Art. It's a pretty short read, and very powerful.

For your self esteem issues, I don't think it's so easy. You'd probably benefit the most from talking to a therapist. Just one session can be life changing.

Other than that the only advice I can give is you gotta drag yourself to things you don't want to go to, regardless. In my experience, the only way anxieties get better is through exposure.

Hey! Congrats on 20 day so far. That's a great start to be proud of. Simply quitting games isn't going to necessarily change everything for you... because games were just the mask or "bandaid" covering up what was really going on. So when you quit you need to start working to fix your situation - whatever that is.

So from the sounds of it you need more activities to do. Learning a new language is good but that's only 30 minutes... when a day has 24 hours and let's say 16 after you take off sleep. So learning a new language for 30 mins is only going to do so much.

If you don't have anything else you'll be bored... and what will you do when you're bored? You'll want to game. Since you've quit that you go to the next thing you know - browsing the net, facebook, youtube, twitter. Watch this video for more on that.

A few other things to keep in mind:

1. Choose more activities. Find ones that are mentally engaging, ones you can do at home to relax and ones that are social. This thread is good for ideas.
2. Use a daily agenda. That way you aren't bored and instead you know what you are going to do each day.
3. Read The Power of Habit by Charlie Duhigg. It will help you understand how to build better habits.

Hope that helps.

Hey! It happens and the key is that you've come back again. I'd encourage you to read one of the following two books: The Power of Habit by Charlie Duhigg or Daring Greatly by Brené Brown. Specifically I'd read the latter because it will help you work through the guilt and shame you feel from gaming, which only lowers your self-esteem which encourages you to give in and play - "it doesn't matter anyways."

Just know we've got your back. Also, you're a great writer, you should do that more. You have a talent in it I can tell. :)

Heya! Thanks for commenting here (and on youtube!), and for subbing, I really appreciate that. :)

One of the benefits of removing games is that we remove the bandaid and although for some of us the situation can be pretty overwhelming, we now have the power to learn how to shift our behavior for the better. A great book I recommend is The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. Skim through it, I bet you'll learn more about why you had the urge to make food. :D

Hey dude! Thanks for sharing. We've got your back.

A good book to check out would be The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. I think you'd get a lot of value out of it and it's a short easy read.

You've got my email, hit me up anytime.

Stoked for you man! You've done well, so even though you always know you can do a bit better you have still made it a month without gaming - being busy or not! Many people would get busy with school and use gaming to escape that, whereas you took it as a challenge and did well!

Depression is something I've experienced at many different points in my life (if you haven't seen my second TEDx talk I share about it there.)

With school winding down check out A Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. It's a book I learned a lot from. :)

Before you do this, read the book "So Good They Can't Ignore You" by Cal Newport. The author talks about one of this friend who thought about finding his passion and set out to join some kind of monastery. Things didn't happen as expected.

I recommend taking up drawing.

Drawing is a dirt-cheap way to express yourself artistically and develop your artistic vision. It's also available 24/7.

To get into it, I would recommend reading the book "Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain." It can probably be found at a local library or definitely on amazon. This will teach you how to draw what you see instead of what you think. After that, it's mostly about regular practice. Be sure to check out r/sketchdaily.

Anytime buddy, that's why were here. To help each other out.

For me it began with the PS1, saved up enough for a PS2 and then got a PS3. Always selling the previous one and using the money to buy the next one.

I finally put an end to it and sold the games I used to play the most. FIFA and Black Ops 2. I'm keeping my ps3 for Netflix and blu ray movies.

With regards to meeting people, find your local subreddit and try posting there. Also try picking up a sport or hobby you always wanted to learn and try to find people doing the same thing. I'd also suggest picking up Models by Mark Manson and How To Win Friends And Influence People by Dale Carnegie. Both are amazing books which will change the way you interact with people on a daily basis.

The hardest thing is often believing in yourself that you can do whatever you put your mind to. Believe in yourself and you're halfway there.

Contact your friend(hopefully someone who knows what to study) ask him about the main topics of syllabus. Set a target like 5hr/day (12 sessions of 25mins). Take a sheet of paper and write down topics that you can cover by studying 5hr/day for a week. Also divide the day into 4 batch: 10am-1 (1st batch) 1-4 (2nd batch) 4-7 (3rd batch) 7-10pm (4th batch) Try to complete 3 sessions during each batch.

Currently I am using this app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wlxd.pomochallenge

Meetup.com ? Join a local club?

As for activities at home, what would you find interesting and you would be proud to have done 10 years from now? Seek balance between productive leisure and unproductive leisure.

I applied for jobs

went to interviews

went to meetups (meetup.com)

tinder dates/speed dating (I'm older than you)

talking to random people any chance I got that seemed appropriate (bus stops etc)

trying to pick up waitresses or random girls on the street / shops

night clubs (solo, trying to meet new people)

joined sports clubs (boxing, wrestling)

meetup.com probably has a tabletop group in your area.

Otherwise talk to your local game store. The one that sells Dungeons and Dragons books among other things like Warhammer and Magic the Gathering. They'll be able to put you in touch with other tabletop gamers in your area.

Hi! Well I liked reading ever since I was a kid (then videogames kinda ruined it, since I didn't read as much as I had in the past). I'm not active on any book community atm; what I'd recommend to you is to browse books. Read the first pages, and see if it engages you. You can also start by your favorite books/authors, and explore similar reads.

I'm currently reading Plainwater, by Anne Carson and Our share of night, by Mariana Enriquez

Interesting, I tried that. On my PC it reset the time after 15 minutes, that gave me enough time to circumvent stuff. Need to check my settings again! Will try it again one more time :)

Also just found this in the FAQ. Will try it. Leaving this here for others:

https://getcoldturkey.com/support/

Time changes are blocked under Settings > Blocking but I still found a way around it, suggestions?

On Windows, you can restrict time changes by removing permissions for your account. After that, you can block the Group Policy editor from making changes again by blocking this file: C:\Windows\system32\mmc.exe

i just found a cool program that could help you too. https://getcoldturkey.com/features/ it lets you list programs or websites that you want to block for parts of the day and you can schedule times they are unblocked if you want. I couldn't find anything with time blocking before this. Trying it out now for myself.

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OP, I don t know how old you are but, why not learning swapping your gaming time to learn new skills?

Keep your PC but sell your gaming graphic card and swap it to something that will not tempt you to play.

find any cheap passive cooled geforce or radeon on the bay.

Turn your PC into a Homelab, install VMware or Virtualbox, and install some flavor of linux and learn coding, hacking, networking

it will be extremely rewarding.

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https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

/r/python

/r/ocsp

Saw Steinbeck, insta upvote.

I sometimes turn to Steinbeck's tips on writing for inspiration.

Listen to these:

The Modern Struggle Is Fighting Weaponized Addiction

Breaking Addiction is Socially Unacceptable

checked out the blender program?

https://www.blender.org/about/

I believe all you need to check it out from ubuntu is

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install blender

And when you're not using your computer, you can put your powerful CPU and GPU to work finding cures for diseases! Run something like Rosetta (part of BOINC) or Folding@Home