Do you think you're addicted?

Many people are oblivious of the fact that they have an addiction, whether it be for video games, alcohol, smoking, eating, pornography, social media and TV shows like My Little Pony *shudder*. Do you consider yourself a video game addict? can you go a few days without playing one?

No. I can go on few weeks without gaming just fine but likely due to I play video games since I was a kid I kinda burnt out. Hyped for a game I bought it day 1 only to play it many month later cause I am busy with life and dont make effort to slot gaming anymore.

I mean the genre I like most is jrpg and beyond FF releases I honestly not that hyped anymore. I played most acclaimed/under rated jrpg I no longer really tuned in for releases as the experience is just as fresh anymore. Heck I used to be addicted to persona series I bought every single iteration of Persona games but post P5 I havent even bought P5 Tactica.

I’ve been TV addicted since I was around 8 years old. I use to go camping with my folks and I was without a TV. Since I am TV addicted I’m pretty much also video game addicted. Currently I am youtube addicted and watch that.

Eh, yes and no.

I think I always need a distraction, and video games tend to be that for me like 90% of the time when I am at home, but if I have a good book to read or a new series to stream, I don't miss gaming.

If I'm travelling I always bring at least one book with me (I don't do mobile games).

Iunno. I play and read about games every day. I'd be bored without it and would have to find a new pastime, but I'd be fine. Pretty sure that's not addiction.

I've only been addicted to nicotine and I was absolutely aware of it.

But thank Satan, I kicked that addiction! Although I'm aware that I'm still vulnerable to it.

Same here. But my TV addiction started at 6 year old. My parents never stopped me as I used to watch shows and play games 5 hours a day during school days, and 14+ hours during the weekends.

Not so much addicted to TV now and watch TV just twice a week. I was forced to change my habit in 2009 after enrolling in Masters degree and later work and family commitments. I watch mainly YouTube gaming videos to pass time now.

Probably, tough to say honestly because addiction has layers. It's not a simple conclusion. I would say mines pretty mid-to-low anyhow. And I'm fine with that, gaming is fun, it's entertainment. & outside reading books I don't really have another form of entertainment media I invest in; don't watch tv shows or watch movies. Gaming is my electrical interaction after a long-day.

Enjoy gaming, play during train travel and at home, even take holiday time for new releases that I'm generally excited for.

However I don't lose needed sleep to play games, I don't skip work to play games and get fired.

Helps that I don't play a lot of the bigger video games; open world and MMO's I typically find mind-numbingly boring. Preferring something a little more focused on gameplay mechanics than sheer scope.

I can't say it's a interest like it was when I was younger I used to play games every afternoon to night after a day of school ... wouldn't view it as a escape either but more of a time sink ... can't be that addicted to games if I fell out of it 2 times

... especially if it's a old classic I'll want to play it a differently because doing things the usual becomes vanilla after a whilr

Imo it's not possible to have a addiction. Those people are sick. I have never dealt with any form of addiction so that's my view on it.

not for games, but I do have a hard time controlling my YouTube time

Everyone is addicted to something, if that's what you want to call it. It's how you handle that so called addiction that matters.

I guess when someone calls it an addiction I can deal with that better than people trying to claim its a disease since that's just a way to shrug off responsibility. (Disclaimer so no one cries: I'm talking about calling addictions diseases and nothing else)

Also, just because you enjoy something and spend a lot of time doing that activity doesn't mean it's a bad thing as long as you are getting everything done, being productive, trying to better yourself, and still care about others that depend on you. Games come after responsibilities and family time, and everyone deserves to do the things they enjoys long as it isn't hurting themselves or others.

I used to be really hooked in my late 20s to gaming, even though I wasn’t a huge gamer as a kid or teen. All started when I broke my knee and started playing my old Xbox 360 again to pass time, I found it hard to pull myself away from games for a bit after that but now I can easily spend time on other things. I think it was just a weird phase I went through for some reason while I was unable to be active as I typically am.

I like gaming but I don't feel compelled to do it and it doesn't interfere with priorities and QT with my family.

It's probably possible for obsession with gaming to be a symptom of an underlying issue, but if it wasn't gaming it would be something else and I don't think gaming specifically is addictive like a drug and something that people can get hooked on. Maybe I have no idea because I'm not the type of person that could find it addictive, IDK, that's just from my perspective.

No. I guess if you are addicted to something, you can't get by without it and have to get a "hit" no matter what you are doing at the moment. I never get that urge with anything.

Sure, you could think that I'm addicted to screens in general (PC, Kindle, tablet, etc.) but if I'm doing some work away from the house, i.e. chopping wood at my grandparent's place the whole day, I don't even think about missing out on screen time.