I Quit Video Games & Started Reading Books Instead

I wanted to comment this one weeks ago. I subscribed right in the beginning of your channel, but I was off YouTube for a while after that. This video, though, this one, really made a number on me. I've been a big Dota 2 gamer for basically a decade now. I've had worst phases but it's been a permanent part of my life. The thing you say on this video, though, about working a lot and seeing all that effort amount to nothing. That's so true. So ever since I first watched this video a few weeks ago I just uninstalled Dota and I've been reading a lot more. The thing you said about the brain taking time to get used to books, which is a different kind of entertainment, makes a lot of sense too. I use to plan these 5h binges of reading it just doesn't happen. So instead I would read for like half an hour and get bored, and sometimes I would play Dota, to "reward" myself. Pf. Now I've been slowly developing a habit where I can read for a lot longer, and I've been enjoying the stories a lot more too. The amount of stuff you're reading nowadays is insane but maybe someday I'll get there. Not now tho cause NaNoWriMo is keeping pretty busy. But yeah, I just wanted to say, thanks for sharing this video and your experience with books and your growth! Keep at it, Biebs!

I've watched this video several times now. I love it that much. It's much more inspiring than any of the other "you should quit gaming" type of videos out there because the focus is on the positive. And I agree. There is a joy that comes with reading that's unique.

I'm a lifelong gamer who started my journey into reading about 6 years ago. I quit video games for a little while, but it didn't feel right because I'm a gamer at heart. Instead of quitting, what I really needed to do was integrate my different selves together. I had to combine my responsible, get-stuff-done, not gaming self, with my old gaming self. So in order to get the most out of video games and avoid addiction/compulsive playing I just set two simple rules for myself: 1) Never play any games that use real life time. I'm the one who decides when and how long I play, not the game. And 2) Any game I play has to have an ending. Any game that asks me to play forever gets cut out. And so with these rules, I have a lot of fun playing games that feel rewarding and not like an obligation. And I still have time to read! I'm able to read 3-5 books a month, and still play about 70% of the games I want to, all while having a successful career (no family yet, I'm sure that would be a much different story)

I recently committed to making this change. I guess YouTube noticed because they recommended me this video. My parents put me onto video-games at around 3-4 years old (not kidding), and steadily developed unhealthy habits around them until around age 14 where it became a full blown severe addiction. I decided that I wanted to give it up and uninstalled the games that I was playing at a competitive level at the time on july 24th 2019 (age 19). I've relapsed a few times on other games, but ultimately avoided relapsing long term. I never lost the attention span issues though (The best way I've heard it described is that instead of your brain being able to focus like a laser, it's more like a flashlight or light bulb, unfocused). You describing some of the things I've been struggling with in terms of transitioning and reassuring me that the brain will adapt really helps me stay on the right path. I was very fortunate to develop some very strong skills that I transferred over to real life from video games, but even in my situation where I'm in the lucky 0.01%; My brain has developed more in a single month from going moderately heavy on books(max I can handle is ~3hrs a day) than it ever could have in 5+ years of video games 10-16 hours a day. Yes you can exercise certain 'muscles' in the brain from specific video-games. However, none of those muscles are more important than having an advanced level of literacy and all of the knowledge you can acquire from that which is simply not on YouTube. It honestly horrified me how much my literacy slipped since I was in school, and in the US the problem with illiteracy has gotten so bad that the PIAAC (Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies) removed the highest level of literacy because " there were no longer enough people at the highest level to count". Thank you for the video.

I play video games and read books. Thankfully I'm not into games that involve playing with other people, so I think that's why I've never struggled with it the way you did. I play video games in intervals the same way that you described reading books. I find achievement hunting with some video games rewarding, but for others I'm just there to experience a story. I just see video games as an alternative way of experiencing a narrative. Again, this probably has to do with the kinds of video games I like to play specifically. I'm really into indie games and those tend to be as short as an hour or two. I do have friends that play games like League of Legends, so I completely understand what you mean about the dopamine hits these games are designed to give people. I'm glad you've found another hobby that makes you happy and that you find productive. Definitely subscribing to your channel.

I’m a college student who has been very into the gaming scene since I was a little kid and I don’t think you have a problem with games, just a problem with addictive games. There are so many artistic passion project games and that have amazing stories and emotional moments that it feels weird to lump them all up with the “AAA heavily monetized grind simulator number 87” type games. Beating the Souls games changed my life, Hollow Knight helped me cope with a bad life situation, I’ve made friends and strengthen’d existing friendships through games like Smash, Minecraft, Deep Rock Galactic, etc. Also I’m a college student with a part time job, a girlfriend, a large active social circle, a consistent gym schedule, and I still am able to engage with my gaming hobby. It’s definitely possible to be a healthy person and enjoy gaming with the boys. Not all games are healthy or worth your time of course but I just don’t like the sentiment that gaming as a whole is a worthless hobby or a worse waste of time then other time wasters.

This is a great video! Lots of really good points and no fluff. Thank you! Subscribed and would love to watch more of your stuff! Alex

I'm a Nurse Chief. I'm a professional. I save lifes for living in a cardiac ICU, and I have tons of responsabilities at work. But I am not good because I'm addicted to League of legends since i was like 16. These dopamine centered systems have ruined my life. I'm close to 30 now and last week I saw this video. I knew it was the moment to quit. I uninstalled and started the Journey. I'm starting to feel better and I'm way more energetic than when I played League of Legends for 5 to 16 hours/day. Thank you for this video. It helped me a lot.

Wow, this video really spoke to my situation, especially the illness part/chronic pain. You're life really does change once you get ill and can really eat your time. I'm in my late 30's, have had two main health battles the last five years and these years really feel like "the lost years". I'm not a gamer at all, but my poison is videos, mostly YouTube which I've increasingly watched over the years to the detriment of other hobbies because I've been just too exhausted to do anything else. Finally starting to feel a bit stronger and having surgery soon which will hopefully help a lot and want to replace all that video watching with reading and studying. I've made a book list much like yours! I've started reading more but like you said it's been super hard so far because my attention span is almost destroyed. But I'm glad to hear from you that it gets better.

Hey dude. Awesome vid! I did nothing but play video games throughout lockdown when I was 18/19, and I was never truly happy, just got little hits of dopamine when I killed the opponent characters, but even then it was never enough. Not to mention always having that dreadful feeling when I turned the console off or seeing the sunrise all of a sudden. Now that I’m 20, I’ve made the decision to quit gaming forever, and replace it with books. I love learning and reading, and currently reading “the new digital age”. I think making this transition like yourself will be one of the best decisions in my life no joke and I know that if I was to continue gaming I would deeply regret it.

What a great video! I appreciate how genuine you are about this topic, and that you’re not snooty about quitting gaming for books.

4:23 My wife has been addicted to the mmo The Old Republic for about 10 years now, playing progressively more often. I walk by her home office and she is just glued to the flashing battle effects and explosions. She spends every spare minute playing that game and there is no talking to her during her day long sessions. I've tried (without success) everything I can think of to get her to cut down or maybe play something else. That game is like heroin to her...suggest cutting down or quitting and she gets hyper defensive and aggressively denies that it is a problem. I've given up and have accepted that she cares far more for that game than anything else in her life...including me.

I am so glad I'm not the only one who was in the exact same situation. I'm in my late 30's and I grew up playing video games since the NES days. Being the super shy person in school games was my escape from reality. Escape from the bullies from school, my extremely abusive family and from the cult I grew up in. In 2012 I hit rock bottom socially and got into MMO's. Oh my goodness that was the absolute worst mistake I've ever made. Got into 2 F2P games and played them religiously. Went to work, went home and played games, showered, went to bed, wake up and rinse again. Spent a few thousand dollars on both those MMO's up to 2017 when I got to the point where I just got totally bored and got fed up with the toxic community from both games. 3 of those years (2014-2017) I worked at GameStop, Target and a locally owned gaming store that really made my addiction totally worse than it needed to be. When the end of 2017 came around I convinced myself to stop playing online gaming and that's in addition to getting literally physically sick and mentally drained from many people I was around that was so negative towards me for playing games they believe sucked or that I didn't believe that the games/consoles they play are the 'superior' games. From 2018 - now I found myself uninstalling a lot of games on my PC, traded in my Xbox One and eventually got myself a Nintendo Switch and kept my 3Ds which I rarely use anymore (Only play Zelda, Mario and Pokemon on them) and a few single player games on my PC. When the pandemic hit back in 2020 I found myself picking up a lot more books that I wasn't able to read when I was much younger. Books like the Hunger Games series, Hitchhikers Guide of the Galaxy series, The Fault of Our Stars and all the other books from John Green, all of Andy Weir's books, Chronicles of Narnia series, Lord of the Rings/Hobbit, Game of Thrones, Hyperion Cantos, The Foundation series. During this time I also found my passion into photography and getting back into playing music again. It really got me into going out more often and enjoying the outside world.

I've replaced my gaming addiction to youtube addiction lol.

Congratulations on starting your reading journey! That's really wonderful. You're going to discover so many amazing stories and authors.

Ive been really depressed latly and unhappy with the way things have been, i realised playing games left me mad and empty afterwords, wishing i had done somthing better with my time. This video hit me really hard in the best way possible!!! Great video!!!

I've been insanely addicted to video games through my life, and last year I was finally able to quit for good. I still play single player games on sundays, which is my relaxing day, however I've noticed that playing anything that isn't story driven will truly mess your brain up, and make you lose focus on the important things in life. I still have a bit of a hard time focusing on anything but I'm slowly starting to gain my attention span back. Quitting online games took me 8 months. It was literally like a damn e-drug. I'm finally progressing in real life.

I just subscribed! Thanks for the video.

Thank You so much for this video!

Inspiring and it makes me speechless. Thank You for all your words. :D