Online games are a real "virtual society". Here, acquaintances take place, friendship is born, and sometimes romantic affection, people communicate, are engaged in an important "toy" business, for a while forgetting about "adult" problems and the daily madness of everyday life. However, such leisure is not so harmless and carries the danger of getting into gambling addiction, which will inevitably affect real life. How to identify the first signs of addiction?
The era of instant communication has spawned new entertainment. One of the most popular is online games. On the one hand, this is a wonderful relaxation, movement of consciousness into virtual reality, an opportunity to disconnect from annoying problems. Most of the games are paid, but is it a pity to pay for the pleasure and light adrenaline that your favorite toy brings to life? Some games are so much included in human life that they are played for years. However, the game gradually draws in deeper, more and more time and money is required, and one day reality shifts to the periphery of consciousness, while the virtual "second life" becomes the cornerstone. A person seems to lose his sense of reality, constantly solving game problems, personality degradation occurs, full-fledged connections with society are lost. How to recognize a threat?
- A new day begins with the question: what new happened in the game in your absence, while you were offline?
- Do you feel discomfort and anxiety if for some reason you cannot get online or enter the game?
- Do you constantly, at the first opportunity, check and control the gameplay, even if you are visiting?
- Are you ready to postpone the necessary household duties for later - breakfast, bathing, washing dirty dishes, cleaning the house, walking your favorite dog?
- Are you ready to postpone, reschedule an important meeting if any important events from your point of view take place in the game?
- Do you sit up for a game until the morning, risking oversleeping and being late for work or school?
- Reducing the time of communication with loved ones in order to finally enter the network and enter the coveted link in the browser line?
- Are you ready to run into the rain and slush to the terminal in order to "pour" some money?
- Are you ready to pay for game valuables by sacrificing the necessary costs for those who are nearby?
- Game relationships are becoming important to you, do you attach importance to game conflicts between players?
- Are you feeling aggressive, ready for "chat wars"?
- Don't you think that hating people you don't know is at least an oddity, but by and large - a mental disorder?
- Are you still thinking about the strategy of the game or arguing with your opponents when you are offline?
- Have you developed a romantic relationship and "virtual love" with one of the playable characters, and did you feel how flawed your real partner is?
- Do you no longer like the fact that you spend too much time and money on the game, problems at home, troubles at work, and, having decided to limit yourself, did you feel that the desire to enter the game became even stronger?
- Are you ready to be in the gaming world for days on end, on vacation or on vacation?
- Are you increasingly identifying yourself with a playable character, and your nickname is gradually becoming your middle name?
If at least some of the points correspond to your behavior, then this indicates that your mind is in danger, and you yourself are immersed in gambling addiction. Gamer, gambling addict is not such a harmless psychological diagnosis. Of course, gambling addiction is not a drug or alcohol that destroys a person at the chemical level. Here the influence on your psyche is more subtle and insidious. Gambling addiction distorts real connections and relationships. You have strong positive or negative emotions towards people you don't even know. It looks like schizophrenia. Your time belongs to virtuality, consisting of pixels, but you could devote it to reading books, traveling, fishing, walking with your loved ones, watching an interesting movie, parties with real friends, sex, hobbies, apartment improvement, making money in the end!
How to get rid of game addiction?
It will not be as easy as it seems at first glance. You can try to show willpower and part with your favorite game - for a while or forever. But, most likely, the game will take its toll, and after a short break, you will return to it with renewed vigor. Perhaps the best thing to do is to change the environment, go on vacation or go to a summer cottage where there is no internet. Forcing yourself to walk. Falling in love, in the end, crossing out one addiction - another, more real and reasonable. And if the game is firmly established in your life and you devote more than 2-3 hours a day to it, it is best to contact a professional psychologist.
After all, if we face the truth, it’s foolish to deny the fact that a strong dependence on an online game is like a real voluntary online slavery, thanks to which gaming business companies cynically and shamelessly sell you an electronic pixel existence, a virtual illusion in exchange for time. your life and the money you have earned.
