Thinking of uninstalling all my games but afraid that I will get bored out of my mind

[ProjectX]

I want to quit computer games for good. I feel like they are huge waste of time. However I'm afraid that without it I will die of boredom especially times when I'm alone in the house. What do you guys recommend I do?

[taylor]

Try an experiment first.

See if you can just not play them for a week.

No need to even uninstall necessarily, just don't play as an experiment.

You'll see quickly if you're bored out of your mind.

If you are bored, either:

1. Keep playing games.

or

2. Get busy with something else. A lot of the time people play games because they don't have anything else going on so they have the free time to do so. The solution is to make yourself busy with other things.

[Awesome Life]

I used to play video games all the time and was once at a point where I never ever thought I could stop playing them but now it's become a distant priority in my life.

I can see two ways that could possibly work for you and it's a good idea to try both of these at the same time.

1) As Taylor said you need to find some other type of activity to replace the time you would be playing video games. So if ever you feel the urge to play you have something else to keep you busy rather than the games. It's a bit like smokers when they try to quite smoking. Most don't replace their smoking habit with something else so when they aren't smoking their mind is still on smoking. Hence they smoke. Perhaps you could start exercising, reading or taking up a new hobby that isn't a waste of time. If you're passionate about it then you will never risk being bored.

2) Reduce your playing time and reduce access to your games one step at a time. Start by selling one of your games each week on ebay, or uninstalling them one by one. Make it a gradual change. It's often better to ease yourself out of a habit than quitting all in one go.

[BillyTheAdult]

Screw the trial! or any kind weening off of them. The point of stopping IS to get bored out of your mind! Then go something more productive and better for you to fill your time with.

[Orionjoel]

I used to spend hours and hours every day on Facebook games, Farmville, Cityville, Bejeweled, and many others.

But then one day I looked at what i was doing and when i really thought about it, I was not really achieveing anything at all. I was spending all this time, showing a developer that the game they created was engageing, and as a result they kept developing more and more in game content that required you spend some more money.

I just went cold turkey, i stopped playing them all completely. However unfortunately them I bought an Ipad, I do play the games on there a little, however really a lot less then i used to play the ones on facebook.

[ButterflyWoman]

Originally Posted by ProjectX

However I'm afraid that without it I will die of boredom especially times when I'm alone in the house. What do you guys recommend I do?

Read books. Exercise. Get on the net and learn something new and interesting. Take up a hobby. Meditate.

There are lots of ways to engage your mind and attention, and some of them are very enriching.

[Angelique]

Originally Posted by ProjectX

I want to quit computer games for good. I feel like they are huge waste of time. However I'm afraid that without it I will die of boredom especially times when I'm alone in the house. What do you guys recommend I do?

What is it about computer games that you enjoy?

Is there something else that could give you that kind of enjoyment?

[Dulma]

Do something that allows you to invest in yourself. Learn a skill, master a topic, take up a hobby, learn a language, start investing, nourish your health.

Find something that ignites your passion and dive into it. Play. Socialize. And, like ButterflyWoman has already suggested, meditate. So many things you could do.

I'm sure that as soon as you begin to engage in a really fulfilling and deeply enriching activity, you simply won't want to go back to spending so much time on video games. Not to say they're bad or good, but anything in moderation is ideal and spending copious amounts of time on something will only help you if it's a nourishing activity to begin with.

[Traikan]

Like with so many things, the middle way is usually best. However, you can't find the true middle way unless you first scope out the extremes. I used to play a lot of games (in fact, my life goal was at one point to become a professional gamer) and, like you're considering, I did a cold turkey quit after I switched to a more inspiring life goal. I went for 14 days with no games and that was enough for me to realize that I still wanted to games in my life to some extent.

For me, gaming is simply the best leisure activity there is, especially when it's with friends. A 4 hour Dungeons and Dragons session relaxes and energizes me more than a night on the town ever could. I stick to single player and co-operative games because competitive stuff tends to kick up my old "win at any cost" habits and it's very easy for me to stop having fun.

Quitting games for a few weeks is a great way to get some perspective on how much you want them, if at all, in your life. Just be careful that you aren't trading one bad habit for another and that you don't just start watching hours and hours of TV.

[strawzombie]

Originally Posted by ProjectX

I want to quit computer games for good. I feel like they are huge waste of time. However I'm afraid that without it I will die of boredom especially times when I'm alone in the house. What do you guys recommend I do?

I was the same way. Games can be a HUGE time sink, but they are also loads of fun as a recreational hobby.

Rather than going cold turkey, maybe you can make it a tiny bit harder to jump into games every day and see if that helps. Personally, sometimes I play games for recreation (which I think is a good thing), but sometimes I play games just to escape stuff I don't want to think about (which can be a bad thing).

To help me only play games for the right reasons, I backed up and uninstalled all my steam games. Or at least the addictive ones.

Now, if I really want to play a particular game, I need to reinstall it first and can't just jump in and start playing within 30 seconds. Reinstalling from backup is faster and more convenient than having to re-download (15 minutes rather than 4 hours), but it still gives me time to think first about why I want to play the game in the first place - as in, whether I'm playing the game as a form of recreation or if I'm just trying to get away from real life and bury my head in the sand.

[stevebrule]

You don't have to quit completely if gaming is something you legitimately enjoy. But if you only do it because you don't know what else you could do, then that's a problem.

Do you truly enjoy gaming? Or is it just something to pass the time?

If you enjoy it, just cut back and treat it like any other hobby. I don't know why gaming gets demonized. Personally, I'd be more concerened if someone spent hours collecting stamps as a hobby than if they played Call of Duty a few hours a day. But maybe I'm just new-fashioned.

[lifeforce]

You will get insanely bored and end up web surfing instead. I´d say pick up hobbies or other things you like to do and ease into it.