Playing video games may begin as an innocent hobby, but can turn into your comfort zone where you try to escape reality.

It can become an addiction, and you may unconsciously leave all other aspects of life behind.

If we engage our mind in something for a long time every day, it becomes our new reality.

Even if it’s not quite productive, healthy, or positive, the consequences are bad.

You won’t recognize the signs of this happening until the results are too big to ignore.

It may be others telling you that you have a problem with video games.

Or maybe a total lack of social life.

Health problems due to inactivity, failing in your studies, ruining a relationship by completely neglecting your partner, and not growing and changing with life.

Make sure that doesn’t happen to you.

Keep reading to discover five reasons why you should kick the video games and start making the most out of each day you have!

1. You’re missing out on life

The more you fall in love with playing video games, the more you forget about anything else going on.

What’s worse, you put off doing important things.

You’ll skip events and special moments with friends and family, miss deadlines, and even procrastinate on your big goals in life.

But life is happening right now.

You may be saying you’ll do things later and find comfort in thinking everyone will be waiting for you, that things will be the same after you finish playing your game, but that’s not true.

Relying on the future is an excuse you make to put off living your life today.

Doing this many times in a row, means you’ve missed a lot.

You risk turning your life into a waiting room, where you never actually take action, but only tell yourself you’ll do so.

That’s the effect of playing video games.

It’s your job to open your eyes and realize how this hobby is preventing you from spending your time in a better way.

2. Playing video games changes how you see things

First and foremost, that’s because most video games are violent.

If not, they still affect your way of thinking – negatively.

Just like being the child of parents who are always fighting, being in a bad environment, or spending time with the wrong people, changes you from the inside.

So do video games have a bad effect on you.

By being exposed to what a developer once created to get people addicted, you’re letting the characters and the world of the game take control of how you perceive reality.

As you’ll eventually spend more time playing than being outside or communicating with real people, what you see in the game will be the foundation of your new beliefs and principles in life.

There’s a reason why so many games have age limits.

3. You’re not learning anything

Gamers often say that every video game teaches you valuable life lessons.

But that’s yet another aspect of the illusion they live with.

A book can teach you a lot, yes.

It engages your mind in creative ways, lets you read between the lines, and helps you generate ideas.

Trying new things in life teaches you a lot about success and failure, shows you your limits, and makes you more patient, responsible, and better prepared.

Beating your insecurities and meeting new people is also good for your learning process.

Anyone can teach you something, even if it’s how not to live life.

But video games aren’t a way to learn valuable life lessons or any skill, really.

So don’t put that in the ‘yes’ column of your pros and cons list.

4. Playing video games is bad for your mental health

One of the most common symptoms of playing lots of video games is not sleeping well.

Be it not being able to fall asleep once in bed, having nightmares, waking up in the middle of the night, being groggy in the morning, or all of these.

The evening should be your wind-down period.

Playing video games ruins your peace of mind, and you just can’t sleep.

As a result, because your mind and body don’t get the rest they need, you’re exhausted the next day.

You can’t focus well or make good decisions.

That affects your work performance – which may lead to losing your job.

If you’re a student, it’s a surefire way to fail your tests, as you just can’t remember anything anymore and are too distracted and tired.

There’s more to this, though.

A study shows that this addiction can lead to actual mental health problems.

When talking about young people, it interferes with their development, too.

5. You can’t enjoy life anymore

The fake excitement playing video games gives you, which doesn’t last long, makes you seek it in everything else you do in reality.

At some point, you can’t seem to fully experience socializing, eating good food, watching a movie, spending quality time with family, going for a walk, drinking coffee in the morning, or reading something.

All these things that once felt nice, are now boring, not good enough, and only make you want to get back to playing your favorite game.

Don’t let that happen.

Don’t lose that connection with yourself that lets you see what life really is.

Enjoy every moment without trying to change anything.

Before video games become a big part of your life, you’re free, have reasons to smile, appreciate the little things in life, and are kind and positive.

But if you let them become a daily thing, you risk losing all this.

(*5*)Have you struggled with an addiction to playing video games?

The reasons outlined above help illustrate how playing video games is detrimental to your health, peace of mind, relationships, and ability to exceed and achieve goals.

If you struggle with playing too many video games and not participating in life, what can you do to start engaging with real life more deeply?

How have video games affected your life?

Please tell us in the comment section!

We would love to hear from you.

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