Give up my tv/videogames to start hobbies? twist ending, Help!

I am a student and it turns out I can get pretty busy. In the times that I am not or am being lazy, I will watch tv shows or play games. Now, I want to say that I dont watch that much t.v., i have shows i like to watch and that is about it, but i can see cutting down. Similar things can be said about videogames, but here, I will get on to playing the new hotness or fawn over it for a bit here on GB. There are way to many games coming out, and i "feel" like the idea of videogames is what stops me from committing to something else.

Example: I will sit and have a great idea for a device or application, novel, website, or remember one that i miraculously did start brainstorming seriously beforehand. But as I sit there thinking about doing this thing, I will stop and just watch a show, boot up a game, or go read/watch something online.

Maybe i just can't have the alternative to be lazy. And I cant really blame Videogames or tv for this. I remember once reading on life hacker, or the like, that anytime you think u are too tired or busy to do something cool, and decide just to watch tv, do the opposite.

Like I said previously I cant blame Videogames for this and there is probably a very easy way to have both. When i was a kid, I saw people "grow" out of videogames, calling them immature. In my eyes, i thought that was stupid, how can you say that?? And i decided that i would always make sure to keep playing so i never "grew" out of it. But if i want to do other things, videogames which I enjoy doing may have to be stopped, if i want to grow in other areas. Even thinking about deleting all my steam games makes me feel uneasy, which is weird because I dont play them that often. And as I type this, I wonder if this truly is an addiction. I never thought it was, I have not played or thought about playing things for long stretches of time, on the other hand, I do often think about games due to videogame sites and podcasts.

Is my real problem Giantbomb? I mean really, looking back on this semester of school, I have not played that many games, but i have been to this site a million times over. As well as other sites and podcasts. Its funny because that feeling of uneasiness is back and much stronger when i think about stopping coming here. .....oh shit.

What the fuck do i do with this now???

I am a student and it turns out I can get pretty busy. In the times that I am not or am being lazy, I will watch tv shows or play games. Now, I want to say that I dont watch that much t.v., i have shows i like to watch and that is about it, but i can see cutting down. Similar things can be said about videogames, but here, I will get on to playing the new hotness or fawn over it for a bit here on GB. There are way to many games coming out, and i "feel" like the idea of videogames is what stops me from committing to something else.

Example: I will sit and have a great idea for a device or application, novel, website, or remember one that i miraculously did start brainstorming seriously beforehand. But as I sit there thinking about doing this thing, I will stop and just watch a show, boot up a game, or go read/watch something online.

Maybe i just can't have the alternative to be lazy. And I cant really blame Videogames or tv for this. I remember once reading on life hacker, or the like, that anytime you think u are too tired or busy to do something cool, and decide just to watch tv, do the opposite.

Like I said previously I cant blame Videogames for this and there is probably a very easy way to have both. When i was a kid, I saw people "grow" out of videogames, calling them immature. In my eyes, i thought that was stupid, how can you say that?? And i decided that i would always make sure to keep playing so i never "grew" out of it. But if i want to do other things, videogames which I enjoy doing may have to be stopped, if i want to grow in other areas. Even thinking about deleting all my steam games makes me feel uneasy, which is weird because I dont play them that often. And as I type this, I wonder if this truly is an addiction. I never thought it was, I have not played or thought about playing things for long stretches of time, on the other hand, I do often think about games due to videogame sites and podcasts.

Is my real problem Giantbomb? I mean really, looking back on this semester of school, I have not played that many games, but i have been to this site a million times over. As well as other sites and podcasts. Its funny because that feeling of uneasiness is back and much stronger when i think about stopping coming here. .....oh shit.

What the fuck do i do with this now???

@super2j

Hey man,

I have been there. like 12-22 it was as much gaming as I could get, and it was hard to even think of anything else. But sometimes things take over. For example, I just got married, yet I still play games, but over the last 4-5 years my gaming urges have just naturally settled down, life gets in the way.

One of the best hobbies I took up was reading. I had never been a person that reads novels regularly or basically at all, until a couple years ago. I usually read daily and it's something I have regretted I didn't start earlier in life.

Last year I also worked on a novella with a friend, it was a pretty fun processes.. It didn't quite make it to completion but we gave it a solid run.

You sound like you're in your early 20's and right now it sounds your like life responsibilities aren't as high as they may be in the next 10 years and by then you will probably have some things in your life that mean a lot more to you then catching the next Level in X game.

One of the best ways to get involved in other hobbies are to get some friends involved. I have one friend who is a diehard Stephen King fan, he got me started on some SK and I haven’t looked back, we talk about it all the time.

Maybe i really need to throw myself into a hobby. Fully commit.

Last decade I sold my console collection including my then arcade cabinets and PCBs and went down the route of photography and music instead. It was a very wise decision I could write entire books about, but I won't. I was able to make that decision by spending quite some time thinking about what good those games were for me, while also going through the usual mid-20s-ish thoughts of "who am I and what the fuck am I supposed to do in life".
 
Good luck!

I'm in a similar position right now. The thought of "I could stop spending all of my time on games, but in X months, (awaited title) is coming out..." keeps occurring to me, and that's never a good sign.

Oddly enough, it was bar karaoke that tipped me over the edge and made me realize that I can't replace my life with a controller anymore. The amount of sheer fun and satisfaction I got out of that night trumped an entire year of gaming, and it hit me that my second great love, music, is what I should be focusing on. I'm not saying I'm done with gaming or Giant Bomb, that's crazy talk... I just mean that the constant "game in, game out" cycle, as well as trying to break into the industry and spend my life having the internet accuse me of being on the take, just isn't getting me anywhere. I'm closer to 30 than 20, and I feel like I haven't even started my life yet. Musicianship is still a "pipe dream" path to take, but I'll hate myself if I don't try, so onward I go. I've been wanting to for years, and if not now, when?

I like watching videos of other people playing games way more playing them myself nowadays.

I think it's too easy to freak yourself out about this kind of thing. There isn't any need to start deleting things or selling things (unless you want/need the money!). You just have to take a step back and think about why you're opting for video games instead of following another hobby path. Because fact is, video games are easier than planning a novel, website etc so if you're already busy the easiest thing will always seem the most appealing. But it's kinda often also the least rewarding.

So, instead of feeling you need to cut certain things out of your life completely just add things into it and slowly balance it out. The more extreme you are with going cold turkey on something (that you probably don't even need to) the easier it'll be for you to 'break' and go back to old habits.

Anyway, playing video games is fine in moderation. Terry Pratchett does it, and he's written what? 60 books maybe. These things can go hand in hand, you just need to be sensible and fair on yourself.

I gave up games for six months once. Read a shitload and was as unproductive as I usually am.

I think gaming, or collecting games is as viable a hobby as any other, but it's definitely good to have more than one. I'm a big movie guy, so that tends to take up the rest of my free time.

Some people say that sometimes we're addicted to what we're not doing, not what we're doing. Just don't be lazy, man..