Explanation:
Video games ruined my life.” If you’ve enjoyed gaming but have found yourself at a low point where you feel isolated and like you’ve lost things that were once important to you, you’re not alone. That feeling that video games ruined your life is the result of gaming addiction symptoms, and it impacts a staggering number of people.
Spil Games, a global video games producer in the Netherlands who compiled data from numerous studies and reports, found that 1.2 billion people play video games worldwide and 700 million of those play online games (Takahashi, 2013).
Studies of gaming addiction have determined that 1.5 percent to 3.5 percent of adolescents who engage in online gaming have signs of addiction (Conrad, n.d.; King, et al., 2010). This means that millions, even tens of millions, of people potentially become addicted to gaming.
How Video Games Ruined My Life
Gamers who become stuck in the virtual world of video games and online friends find that gaming becomes a problem when they begin to suffer consequences:
Withdrawal from family and friends; interference in relationships
Truancy from school or absenteeism from work
School failure; being fired from a job
Decline in participation in other activities formerly enjoyed
Video game addiction can happen to anyone. Whether someone begins gaming to escape problems or just for the fun of the activity, video gaming can take over, become an addiction, and ruin lives.
Video Games Ruined My Life: 3 Stories
Millions of people addicted to video games means millions of stories. Online support groups such as On-Line Gamers Anonymous (OLGA and OLGANON), and Game Quitters, bring together gamers (and loved ones, too, for their own support) for connection and mutual encouragement as they recover from video game addiction, rebuild their lives, and prevent gaming from ruining their lives going forward.
Part of the reason these forums are so successful is that members share their stories. Through shared stories, people discover that they’re not the only ones dealing with this struggle, see how others have been impacted, and learn from each other’s experiences.
In the spirit of growth through sharing, may these three stories provide solace and inspiration.
Hope this helped you!