I Stopped Playing Games for 30 Days, and Here’s What I Learned
I have tried to stop playing games for a long time.
I managed to successfully stop in November 2023 for about 30 days.
I stop gaming because I didn’t finish my task, I have low dopamine, and I easily escape from life problems by playing games. My purpose in playing games was actually just to find motivation to start working on my assignments or projects that I had. Even so, I only make my procrastination much worse.
Then I tried to keep on detoxing. I stopped playing games for about a couple of days but then failed. I tried again and then failed many times. Until I become less enjoyed with playing games.
I’m more like, “Games nowadays are boring.”.
Then, with that approach, I tried to stop gaming for about 30 days, and here’s what happened.
It feels great when you stop playing games.
Not playing games doesn’t make you become the next Elon Musk overnight, but at least you got some benefits that really helped you succeed.
- I read more.
- I write more.
- I face my problem more than I escape it.
That’s some benefit that I got from detox gaming.
The thing that I want to talk about is what I have learned and how you can implement it to stop your bad habits, specifically gaming.
Here are ways to help you with your gaming detox successfully:
1. You need to know why you need to stop.
I always ask myself why I need to stop playing games.
I find reasons and research them for myself every time I want to play games or after I play games. It is fun to play games, but sometimes, the more you play them, the less enjoyment you feel.
I did play Call of Duty Mobile and Dota 2.
It was fun, and I still remember how fun it was while playing with my old friends. I just randomly queue and play random matches with my friends and laugh at each other. It was a good memory, but it could be a trigger for relapse too.
Even so, it becomes much less enjoyable and more stressful than fun.
Every time I want to play a game, whether I miss my friends or want to take a break from doing my work, I always ask myself first.
“Why do you want to play *game name*?”
Then, when I know why, it becomes much clearer when you play and after you finish playing them. When I do this, I’m not just randomly playing games; I’m much more aware of why I’m playing them.
This is important because awareness helps us know what our habits are, and by knowing our habits, they become easy to eliminate.
The more I ask, the more I am aware.
The more I am aware, the easier it is to stop.
So, if you want to start, start with awareness of why you want to play it and how it feels after you play it.
Then eliminate it by making plans.
2. Avoid triggers.
Triggers are the main reason why we crave.
It applies to cornography, social media, drinking, smoking, etc. I found that when I watch gaming highlights or even just an ad, I become triggered to play games. I started to imagine when I would play the game again and ask my friend to queue again.
In reality, it’s just an ad.
It’s just a gaming video. We don’t really play the game. So, by being aware of your own triggers, you can start avoiding them and just letting them be.
Every time I get triggered to play games, I crave.
Then, after I crave, I just sit down for about 10 minutes, breathing deeply, and then let it be.
Craving doesn’t last forever, you know.
3. Gaming is not bad if you’re not using it as an escape.
I always thought that gaming was bad.
I thought that if I played games, my productivity would decrease and I would become unsuccessful. While it actually is not. If I could use gaming as my reward after writing or even reading a book, it could become a great tool to help you build the habit.
There’s a lot of people out there that have millions of dollars and are still playing games, and they’re even doing fine.
If you want to play a game, just do it, but remember, you need to make it worth it.
This is where delayed gratification comes in.
You delayed the reward of playing games as motivation for you to write.
If you start out by building the habit of writing and then don’t reward yourself after that, it will become much less motivating, especially if you are still addicted to gaming.
But if you put gaming or something else that you wanted to do after writing, it would become much more motivating because you are chasing something.
I used to do that, especially when writing articles. I had a reward that I put in and wanted. It’s just a trick, and it’s not wrong to do that because after the habit is built, it will become much easier to write.
After that, you won’t need to play games anymore, and writing will become something you enjoy.
This leads to point number 4.
4. The habit.
You will have less enjoyment playing games after stopping them for about 30 days.
I stopped playing games for 30 days, and my cravings have become like tiny rocks. Before 30 days, it was actually the hardest, but after that, it became much easier. I did build some habits, like reading and writing.
Those are the habits that I successfully build while playing games. I was not intended to build those habits, but because I don’t know what to do except read, it automatically became my habit.
I didn’t even realize that my habits slowly formed while I stopped playing games and picked up my book more often.
I don’t have to read it if I really don’t want to. Even just bringing it every time I go somewhere or putting it beside me every time I want to sleep could slowly build the habit.
The more you see books, the more you form your identity as a reader.
When your identity as a reader has formed, you will read more than you used to.
The concise list you could save and implement is:
- You need to know why you need to stop. (Awareness)
- Avoid triggers. (Memories, or gaming videos)
- Gaming is not bad, if you’re not using it as an escape. (Face your emotions.)
- The habit. (Eliminating bad habits is one good habit.)
I hope that you can implement it right away and achieve your success in no time.
I can do it, so you are.
What’s your bad habit that you want to stop?
Tell me in the comments, and I will reply to you!
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