Are You Obsessed With Online Gaming?
Let’s face it…computers are everywhere. Professors give quizzes online, there are chatrooms available, music can be downloaded online, and you can buy many things on the Internet, including a car. Considering the stress of college, many students turn to the Internet for pleasure. Surfing the web can be relaxing for many students. For some college students, however, online gaming becomes an addiction rather than a recreational activity. We become obsessed with things because of many reasons. For some, playing games online becomes a bad habit. Others may be using the Internet as a way to escape tasks asked of them. Many feel a sense of competence and accomplishment from winning a game and keep playing to maintain that feeling. New research suggests that there may also be a biological explanation as to how people become addicted to video games. Playing video games triggers the release of dopamine, the “feel good” chemical in the brain. In fact, brain scans show that dopamine production in the brain doubles during video game play. Similar to eating sweets or drinking alcohol, people may continue to go online repeatedly to get this “feel good” chemical release.
8 Ways to Reclaim Real-Time Living
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Consider taking a technology holiday. You want to begin to train your nervous system to recognize that you can tolerate a day or an evening without something that you need to use on a consistent basis. Develop other interests aside from computers.
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Exercise. There is research supporting the efficacy of exercise for improving psychological and addiction problems.
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Talk to your friends and family about your excessive Internet use. It is critical for you to avoid secrecy about your Internet use. Keeping the amount of time you spend online a secret can contribute to the experience of Internet addiction.
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Try counseling or psychotherapy to assist you in dealing with the addictive behavior. The support, acceptance, and coaching that a counselor provides can be of immeasurable help in getting a handle on a difficult behavior pattern.
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Develop new relationships and friendships. Although technology is stimulating, it may not provide the personal/emotional connection that real-time relationships do. We all need the presence of real people and engagement with them to fulfill the richer emotions of life. That’s how we grow.
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Shorten your Internet sessions. Because the Internet distorts the passage of time, steps need to be taken to ground the user to the here-and-now. One way to do this is to increase your consciousness of the amount of time that you spend online. Try placing a clock next to the computer and set the alarm. The clock will act as a positive reminder to help you recognize the reality of passing time and hopefully act as an anchor to your real-time life.
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Watch your moods and behaviors that may prompt Internet abuse. We tend to resort to well-established patterns and coping mechanisms when bored, tired, hungry, or feeling other strong emotions. Loneliness is also a common cause for spending excessive amounts of time online. Try to be brutally honest with yourself about whether you really need to log on and try to avoid recreational use of the Net. Ideally, you should abstain from using the Internet. You can accomplish this by moving the computer to a more public place at home to discourage you from retreating to your familiar pattern of isolated use. Don’t buy the fastest modem; try to do your work at a time when you’re less likely to abuse the time online, etc.
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Become aware of your rituals and triggers to go online. A trigger is an associative link or connection to the addiction pattern. Every addiction creates numerous associations that are formed by behavior rituals (patterns) performed during the development of the addiction. These rituals become very conditioned to your whole behavior pattern and can serve to kick off the addictive cycle.
Is your game playing a hobby or a maladaptive behavior pattern?
Symptoms of addiction include the following:
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Inability to stop the activity
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Neglect of family and friends
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Lying to professors and family about activities
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Missing classes; showing up to work late
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Not getting homework done
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Carpal tunnel syndrome
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Dry eyes
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Failure to attend to personal hygiene
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Sleep disturbances or changes in sleep patterns
Resources:
Online Addiction Support Group
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Internet-addiction
Video Game Addiction Support Group
http://dailystrength.org/support/addiction_recovery/video_game_addiction
Online Games Anonymous
www.olganon.com