When we were writing about video games, I asked Ramona ‘Why do people actually play all these games? I don’t understand it!’ She replied ‘Well, you wouldn’t have any time for that either.’ But even if I had time, I would not like to play any of those games. Obviously not any game including violence, shooting and killing but I have also seen games where you are a character and collect things in a fictional world. I just don’t understand what I would get from this. Am I just not bored enough of life to do this?
I don’t watch TV either. I never felt the need of any different world than the one that I am in. People often tell me that they need those things, a movie or a game, so that they can forget their world and enter another one, the world of that fictional character. There are two main reasons why people do this: they are bored and don’t know how else to kill time or they want to forget their own problems.
If you play video games or watch TV because you are bored, I would really recommend you to open your eyes and have a look at reality. See how many things are going on around you! What you see in TV is inspired by reality but it is not real! The miracles of reality can be found in real life and the beautiful thing is, you can actually experience them. Sitting in front of TV for boredom truly only kills time but doesn’t make boredom go away. You will switch off the TV and still be bored.
If you have problems, I can only say that fleeing in another world doesn’t help. Do you believe your problems will just vanish? Simply be gone if you go somewhere else for a few hours? You try to switch off your mind by watching TV, watching something that is very far away from your own life so that you don’t have to think of all its complications. It doesn’t work like this. You have to face your problems. If you only have stress, you should find other ways to get out of it. Physical exercise or meditation are very good for stress management. And if you have other problems: solve them instead of suppressing them. Accept them and work on them. Mostly they are not as bad as you think.
If you now think that you really only play video games for entertainment, think of all the other great things you could do in that time! You could play with your children, visit your parents, have a talk with a friend, revive an old friendship or make a new one, work in the garden, paint, make music, do sports… I can find hundreds of things that in my opinion are much more useful than any video game.
If it relaxes you, fine. If it makes your stress go away, fine. If it in some way is useful to you, fine. But most of the times I see that this is not at all like this. People get irritated and more stressed because hours have passed by so quickly, they get headaches, backaches and they are more tensed because their brain was the entire time busy working with all the new information it was bombarded with.
If you find yourself in this description and think now ‘actually I know this all’, then please start living it. Your life and time is worth a lot, so please spend it happily and in full consciousness of what you are doing. Stay with us in this world and enjoy reality.
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I understand why you would play video games to escape, but many people play video games in groups as well, as if they don’t want to experience each other. That is something I don’t understand either.
Video games are just a simple way to have fun… like reading a book or tossing a ball. it just so happens that you don’t get much physical out of it unless you are playing Wii. I can see how it would be used as a form of escape though and that’s no good.
If you pay close attention to your feelings when you watch tv you might notice that it has made you feel very dead inside.
I don’t own a TV for this reason.
Boredom with life results from the same kind of mental space that watching tv and playing video games inspires.
I definitely notice that I am happier when I don’t watch tv. People have asked me how I do it as if I am depriving myself of something or it takes discipline not to own a tv. But I think it takes discipline to put yourself through the misery of watching it.
If you watch a movie, tv or play a game mindfully it will not take you out of reality or disturb you.
I don’t know. I can tell a difference in what is happening to my mind and heart when I watch tv or play video games and when I am hiking or even just sitting on the porch. I think different things make the “sky bluer” for different people but as people we commonly share the habit of slipping into unconsciousness when we play video games or watch tv. This certainly doesn’t have to happen. But it is more difficult, for most people I think, to be fully engaged in life when the tv or computer screen is on. This is why I struggle with my job as a graphic designer (sitting at a computer all day) haha.
Yes. The source of the problem is never the activity; drinking, tv, video games, parties, etc. We may see through our wisdom that these things are done unconsciously or increase our unconsciousness. We may sense through our own clarity that unhappiness follows or surrounds these things. We may recognize our own stumblings into unconsciousness when we do these things ourselves and so we may choose not to do them for our own sake and/or share this experience with others we meet. But if we see the activity or action as the source of this affliction and if we condemn them we are mistaken. And we may have flung ourselves back into a religiousness that we had transcended in our first recognition. There is a spiritual practice that sends monks who have been assumed to reach ‘enlightenment’ into the homes of prostitutes and into the world of drugs in order to “test” their wisdom or the fullness of their death before death. This also, is not necessarily, but the idea of it shares the point I mean to make. The moment we have decreed an action as wrong or the activity of the unhealthy or unwise is the moment that we should not trust ourselves. I am not talking about outward decrees or law. I am talking about the internal experience of declaring an action to be unworthy. I am sharing my own observation; that understanding activities or actions in this way is missing the point…missing and loosing our connection with God.
A lot of times we may know how bad we feel when we watch tv or play video games but we do it anyways. It is a very odd decision. I have heard people describe this choice as the need for rest. Being sad and bored is exhausting. That is what is forgotten. And being happy and engaged, while your body may be less comfortable provides a great deal of energy.
Sometimes I feel like I need to zone out to remember why I don’t want to live that way. I guess when I’m really really happy that feeling goes away.
There are so many exciting things you can do, so why would you choose video games? What about reading books, spending time with your friends and family, enjoying nature and so on…? Isn’t the real world much more amazing then the virtual?