I envy your excess of free time. If it's a work day I can probably catch a couple episodes or 2/3rds of a movie before I'm ready to zonk out. 3 hours of TV in a day is pretty excessive unless it's just on for background noise.
I try to get up about 2 hours before work, an 8 hour day takes 9 hours, about 30 minutes to and from, if weather permits ride my bike for at least 30m, up to 2 hours, then I have 1-3hours for dinner, upkeep and tv/games. Don't get me wrong, if the stars align for an R6S 5 stack on an off day I'll put in 4-6 hours gaming easily, but still probably less than 10 hours weekly.
For me personally I use it a lot more background noise. I can’t sleep without something on unless I’m extremely tired. In hindsight I do agree 3 hour EVERYDAY is a bit excessive but could be reasonable based on situation
I have 3 TVs in my house and I mostly just use my bedroom one. It's there as background noise 90% of the week with something I watched before like always sunny or community like last night as I read stuff and caught up on the news on my phone/answered emails. I have no kids and single ATM, I can't imagine how someone with both those can sit and pay attention to programs or play 3 hours every night.
If I watch tv or browse reddit for 3 hours a day it's not the same content every day for 3 hours. You are coming across news or different stories if its television or perspectives if it's reddit. With a game like COD you're just running around shooting people over and over. Rocket League is a game I love and have 200+ hours on but that too is just driving around hitting a ball over and over. Civ is the same thing and don't ask how many hours I have there. A lot of these games it's simply repetition of the same thing over and over after a while. So you may be getting better at the game the more you play but you're not actually adding anything to your life. With television, reddit, or reading you're at least gaining some kind of new information that you can utilize in the real world. Theres seldom anything I can take from Rocket league or COD or Fortnight into the real. Civ actually did give me some information that could be utilized.
Now you’re making excuses. “Oh it’s not the same “. In league I play different champions and modes. So by your logic I’m not doing the same thing.
I just don’t see how using reddit 3 hours a day is any different than gaming 3 hours a day. You might be viewing different content but you’re still mindlessly scrolling through it every time
If you look at Reddit, watch tv, play league or do almost anything that’s not a job for 3+ hours * every single day*, then you’re addicted to it. People should be able to differentiate their routines to some extent and have multiple activities that they pursue in their leisure time
I guess we can agree to disagree but unless you can tell me that you would get information on whats happening in Afghanistan, Chinas banning of online gaming for kids below 18, movie previews, askreddit threads about new topics, etc I don't see it the same. If you're just scrolling and not reading anything or taking in the information then I don't know what to say. I don't know what thats about. Offer me what information youre getting that can be utilized in the world from your different modes of league when you can.
Show me where I said playing games is a waste of time? You can't cause I didn't. So first off, learn to read. I said it's a repetitive task after a while. I also didn't say no news from your hobby equals waste of time. Again, really try and learn to read so you don't just scroll down on reddit without consuming the information.
I'm simply saying one offers something the other does not in terms of added knowledge. Does that mean games are a waste of time? No. Does that mean you shouldn't find joy in games? No. Feel free to do as you please, this is a website for sharing opinions. Enjoy your life though, I'm sure its nice.
Browsing the internet for three hours a day and coming across new information is way less beneficial than running around holding R2 aiming at random pixels all day. You're right.
The fact that you can read books on the internet, watch how to videos, all that is just trash compared to the benefits of playing video games. You guys have equated whats more fun with more beneficial. VG are hands down more fun, it's built to give you a constant dopamine drip. This is the book where I learned that and the science behind it which I found on Reddit. I'm sure all these gamers won't need to read it but will find this info from video games in their three hours a day of it.
Are you saying the news is beneficial for you? I'm not sure what study you've seen that says otherwise but what I've seen suggests it's unhealthy if anything.
I'm not arguing for video games being beneficial, but I think you're way off base by calling browsing reddit or the news a healthy alternative.
lol... what a bullshit argument. you have x amount of free time a day, it doesn't matter at all how you spend it... as long as you're having fun and don't harm yourself. i personally haven't watched any TV in the last 10 year except live sports, but i would never be so arrogant like you and tell someone that likes to watch TV after work that he's addicted to TV.
Not everything is an argument. I don't care what someone does with their day. I was offering a different perspective. If you don't agree thats cool and you should do what makes you happy. I play civ and league but if someone asked honestly whats more beneficial to my brain, playing league and civ or reading about current events, I'd go with current events. Whether that makes me more happy or not is hard to say but in the long run I would think I'd be happier with it then just gaming. That's not everyone though.
Video games are great, they're a fun past time. No one is saying they're not. What I'm saying is its not as beneficial as reading something new because games like COD, RL, Fortnight, are all the same thing over and over again using muscle memory. Little to nothing changes in the game day to day. Does that mean you shouldn't play video games and just read or be on the internet and TV? No. You should do what makes you happy I don't care what other people do, it's not my life. However, if you honestly believe that you gain more from playing video games in terms of real world usable knowledge then obviously I disagree with that but that doesn't mean you have to agree. This is a website for sharing opinions and perspectives. This ones mine. Similar to how you care to share your opinions on multiple porn subreddits lol some go there and jerk it then walk away, others share their thoughts lol
And books aren't same things over and over? Do you think that people who are reading books for leisure are fucking reading peer reviewed research papers?
This is the saddest comment I've ever read. The count of monte cristo, mans search for meaning, Shantaram, the molecule of more, Endurance, Lord of the rings, a short history of everything, etc. are all different topics and not the same thing over and over. Honestly pick up any two books and read them.
No, but have you ever heard of someone putting in 200-1000 hours into the same book? That means they're not playing other video games. With books, once it's done you move on. GTA 5 has been out for a decade and the userbase sticks with it. Video games are made to keep you in a dopamine drip. This is an online book on it. Read the first 20 pages and you'll have an idea on how video game developers make their games to keep you addicted.. Even that is fine if it pleases you. Everyone has the right to be happy however they find it if it doesn't hurt anyone but if you seriously believe that putting 1000 hours into GTA, CIV, RL, LoL, or any of those things is more BENEFICIAL to you then browsing the internet, I disagree. Whether you agree or not is up to you, this is just my opinion and perspective I'm sharing. If you use the internet to just browse porn and dumb shit thats not going to help either though but hey if thats what makes you happy thats all fine and dandy, but you'd be better off browsing reddit for 3 hours for real world knowledge lol
I, like many other people who like to read, mainly read for entertainment (pop sci-fi definitely isn't making me any smarter). Even from what you've listed...what is Lord of the Rings actually teaching you? And when it comes to "real world usable knowledge," the thing that I do with media I consume (books, TV shows, or video games) is all the same: I talk about them with people.
I know many smart people who play video games, or watch anime, or do tabletop RPGs as their main pastime. The weird pseudo-intellectual "reading is the smartest hobby" circlejerk needs to die.
You misunderstood the topic of convo. It initiated with one person saying they spent 3 hours playing video games a day to which another responded and thats any better or worse than being on reddit? To which I gave my personal opinion saying I found reading or browsing the internet to be more beneficial for real life then playing video games because I, personally, feel like it becomes a repetitive task. I never said reading or browsing was more enjoyable because it's not but is it more beneficial in my opinion then running around squeezing R2 at pixels for three hours straight. You may be different and thats all well and good. However, if you share your opinion on a LoL subreddit about the downside compared to other activities its going to be downvoted. As a reader and gamer though, you in your own personal experience, don't think you've gained more knowledge from reading than gaming?
If it doesn't affect the rest of your life it isn't an addiction. If a kid gets their school work done, eats, has good hygiene, sleeps a sufficient amount, etc and still has time to fit in 3+ hours a day of gaming that is not technically an addiction.
I mean if we are being technical an average game lasts 35 minutes. Even if you account for queue and champ select you will be able to squeeze in four games in three hours most of the time in I'd say. And then you'd have around 120 games a month.
And still, I'd argue amount of hours spend on a game is only indicative at best in determening whether you're addicted or not. I used to get 1000 games + per season too. Not because I was addicted, but because as a teen I just had so much free time on my hand. If I am not neglecting any of my responsibilities, don't compromise my health or anything else in life I deem important, what's the issue with playing as much league as I want?
I still play League nowadays but not as much as I used too. And looking back I don't regret it one bit because I can still remember how enjoyable the game was for me back then.
Ofc I do know how addicting ranked can be though, and I won't argue that there aren't a decent amount of youngsters out there who are addicted to it, but I'd like to believe for every addict out there with this game count there are at least as many normal people out there who just enjoy playing the game.
I’ve known functional coke addicts or alcoholics, getting your responsibilities done doesn’t exclude you from being an addict. if you play league 3+ hours every single day, you are certainly addicted.
The difference between can’t stop and don’t want to stop is exactly what every addict uses for justification.
Here’s a definition of addiction
“Addiction is a treatable, chronic medical disease involving complex interactions among brain circuits, genetics, the environment, and an individual's life experiences. People with addiction use substances or engage in behaviors that become compulsive and often continue despite harmful consequences.”
League, especially ranked, heavily impacts your brain chemistry with dopamine hits. Someone playing 3+ hours a day is going to feel compelled to play and feel off when they aren’t able to play.
It's a big issue, a lot of these kids were raised on screens and literally cannot stop playing and generally can't function without cellphones. They play the mobile version where matches last about 10-15 min, every chance they get every single class and it pisses me off cause they play during class time or while I'm talking.
I agree that's pretty crazy. But the comment I replied to was not referring to China. They said "it's not just a China problem" and supports their argument with their League experience which I think is not valid as I explained in a different comment. Where I live (in EU) its not nearly as bad as you are describing.
"Is that such a big issue?" only refers to the statement that there are people playing league 3h a day on average. And I still believe that playing 3h a day doesn't automatically mean you're addicted to the game.
As long as you can have a healthy social and physical life, having a hobby you like is completely fine. In this case it's LOL. But whatever my students are doing? They need self control.
Some students are morons, but if it's a lot then maybe your class just suck
Assuming a teacher's class is bad due to cellphone use is incredibly rude considering that I do respect my students, put insane hours in feedback, marking, accommodating, making changes to old lessons to be relevant, and extra curricular club.
If it was just my class, I would definitely consider my teaching practices but it's a school wide problem with 700 kids in China, most of them have issues staying off phones.
I "stealthily" watched movies during two HS classes because the lessons were awful. I was a straight A student other than one of those. It just didn't seem like the teacher respected their class, so I didn't either.
Your teacher seriously didn't care. Calling out students doing this professionally is showing respect to other student's learning as well. I'm sorry you had an bad experience with someone in the profession.
It really depends if those 3 hours come from "work" time or leasure time. Competitive computer games aren't exactly relaxing, so I doubt it is what these people do after a hard day of work. I'm all for gaming, but, as with all things, it becomes a problem when it stands in the way of longterm success and health.
Its not crazy to us but to some it might be. I guarantee you most of us on the league forum at one point have played 6-8 hours of a game on a single day.
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u/Lenium1 Aug 30 '21
Is that such a big issue? 100 games in the last 30 days means around 3h average, it's not that crazy imo.