<story><title>A link between video games and unemployment</title><url>https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2017/03/economist-explains-24</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>sametmax</author><text>That&amp;#x27;s the exact opposite actually.  Nit saying it&amp;#x27;s a bad thing though. But it&amp;#x27;s important to understand that screens are taking your attention away. You are not in the moment at all.</text></item><item><author>J-dawg</author><text>I haven&amp;#x27;t been able to find it, but I remember a comment here on HN by a guy who basically said that gaming saved his life by helping him to zone out during a period of severe depression.&lt;p&gt;I guess it&amp;#x27;s a form of mindfulness, in a way.</text></item><item><author>kemiller2002</author><text>A friend of mine felt the same way.  He was undergoing a tragedy in his family, and he would play video games after returning from the hospital at night.  It&amp;#x27;s funny, looking at him and talking to him, you&amp;#x27;d never think he&amp;#x27;d be a huge video game player, but it really was a source of stress relief. He could focus his unspent frustrations and hurt into competing online, and the way he explained it, I think it kept him sane during those times.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s funny, I can tell how in control of my life by gauging how much I play games.  When I start obsessing about playing games (I like playing them, but when I feel I have to play them to escape), I know something needs to change in my life.  I&amp;#x27;m saying it&amp;#x27;s that way for everyone, but it really is a great tool for stress relief for some.</text></item><item><author>jboggan</author><text>Video games become the sole source of agency in many people&amp;#x27;s lives. This isn&amp;#x27;t just for the unemployed, but also for folks stuck in a job where they feel like they lack control. I couldn&amp;#x27;t understand at first why my fellow Googlers found so much time to play video games, but after a couple of months I understood. Afternoon Halo matches became the highlight of my day, I felt like I had more choice and responsibility in a 20 minute match than I did the rest of my programming work.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jboggan</author><text>I agree with that, you are completely taken out of your actual context, or at least I am.&lt;p&gt;I used to game really heavily during a pretty terrible period (divorce + grad school) in an attempt to cope. Of course it actually just made things worse overall while distracting my brain to make it seem temporarily better, it diverted a lot of  the energy I might have used towards engaging and fixing the problems.&lt;p&gt;When I game severely (FPS shooters are my crack) I can get focused for a dozen hours at a time. My body almost shuts down, I get into a trancelike state and my metabolism recedes. I forget to eat, I don&amp;#x27;t get tired. When I finally do sleep I will wake up the next day and actually have a headache until I play again for a little while. It was that kind of physical withdrawal that made me realize long ago how pernicious it was, at least for my particular physiology and brain. Now I will only play games like that in a social setting, never alone lest I fall back into that spell.&lt;p&gt;One time in grad school I stayed up all night gaming and I slept through my alarm. I missed an exam. That I was proctoring. I went straight to a pawn shop and sold my console when I realized what I was doing to myself.</text></comment>
<story><title>A link between video games and unemployment</title><url>https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2017/03/economist-explains-24</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>sametmax</author><text>That&amp;#x27;s the exact opposite actually.  Nit saying it&amp;#x27;s a bad thing though. But it&amp;#x27;s important to understand that screens are taking your attention away. You are not in the moment at all.</text></item><item><author>J-dawg</author><text>I haven&amp;#x27;t been able to find it, but I remember a comment here on HN by a guy who basically said that gaming saved his life by helping him to zone out during a period of severe depression.&lt;p&gt;I guess it&amp;#x27;s a form of mindfulness, in a way.</text></item><item><author>kemiller2002</author><text>A friend of mine felt the same way.  He was undergoing a tragedy in his family, and he would play video games after returning from the hospital at night.  It&amp;#x27;s funny, looking at him and talking to him, you&amp;#x27;d never think he&amp;#x27;d be a huge video game player, but it really was a source of stress relief. He could focus his unspent frustrations and hurt into competing online, and the way he explained it, I think it kept him sane during those times.&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s funny, I can tell how in control of my life by gauging how much I play games.  When I start obsessing about playing games (I like playing them, but when I feel I have to play them to escape), I know something needs to change in my life.  I&amp;#x27;m saying it&amp;#x27;s that way for everyone, but it really is a great tool for stress relief for some.</text></item><item><author>jboggan</author><text>Video games become the sole source of agency in many people&amp;#x27;s lives. This isn&amp;#x27;t just for the unemployed, but also for folks stuck in a job where they feel like they lack control. I couldn&amp;#x27;t understand at first why my fellow Googlers found so much time to play video games, but after a couple of months I understood. Afternoon Halo matches became the highlight of my day, I felt like I had more choice and responsibility in a 20 minute match than I did the rest of my programming work.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>jfoutz</author><text>Would you be willing to elaborate on that a bit? Once upon a time, i played a few competitive games. I&amp;#x27;d have to be very aware of my emotional state. Being aware of a sort of sick feeling when i&amp;#x27;m falling behind, recognizing that that exists and not letting it affect my play &lt;i&gt;seems&lt;/i&gt; like what people mean when they speak of mindfulness. And the converse, not getting cocky when pulling ahead. I also dealt with the random chemical changes of adrenaline. My hands get very cold and a little sweaty, heart races a bit. But that&amp;#x27;s just a thing that happens. being aware of it, acknowledging it and moving on with what i choose to do next seems like a mindful practice.&lt;p&gt;But maybe you mean something more sophisticated?</text></comment>