Displaying episodes 1 - 30 of 65 in total
Improving Your Social Skills with Dr. Jay Berk PhD
The world is a social world and it's crucial that you have the skills necessary to navigate it. Often when you play video games excessively you can find yourself with poor or underdeveloped social skills, which are made even more challenging if you struggle with ADHD or social anxiety. So how do you practically improve your social skills and succeed in a physical world? We welcome Dr. Jay Berk PhD to share his insights.
How to Stop Escaping into Video Games
Gaming helps you escape from stress in your life. It's one of the most popular reasons why people play video games. Now there's a good side of this but there's also a downside. And often people who use gaming to escape are most at-risk of developing addictions. So in this episode we talk about how you can stop escaping into video games.
Dealing with Gaming Nostalgia
After you quit gaming it’s common to experience feelings of nostalgia, and this can be a problem because these emotions create cravings to play. One of the reasons why this happens is because gaming meant something to you, and you can acknowledge that. You don’t need to shy away and pretend gaming wasn’t meaningful, but that also doesn’t mean you need to continue to play. So in this episode we talk about what nostalgia is and how to overcome it.
037 - Why Are Some Games More Addictive than Others?
Why do some gamers get attracted to the immersive world of Skyrim, when others only care about ranking up and getting kills? As it turns out, there are a number of external and internal factors that contribute to this, and we've created an easy-to-use addiction model for you to determine exactly why games are addictive for you!
036 - The #1 Habit to Start When You Quit Gaming
Journaling. You'll find countless people talking about the benefits of keeping a journal every day, and honestly, I never thought I'd be one of them. I've hated journaling in the past. I could never make it stick. However, I've recently turned it into one of my keystone habits and over the last few weeks, I've seen so many positives I can't believe I didn't do it sooner.
BONUS: How to Manage Gaming During the Coronavirus Pandemic
Millions have been affected by the Coronavirus, and with people staying at home it can be a struggle for those of you battling against video games to find support about how to navigate this situation. In this bonus episode of Gaming the System, Cam and Nadja got on a call to talk about how parents can manage their child's screentime during this outbreak and provide a number of practical steps for you to follow.
035 - Are Online Games More Addictive than Offline?
There's no doubt that some games are more addictive than others. Whether it's a fast-paced shooter like Call of Duty or the relaxing and immersive world of Skyrim, people get drawn to different games. In this episode I talk about whether or not some games are more addictive than others, and if so, why is that the case?
034 - How to Overcome Cravings
Cravings affect everyone that tries to quit video games, and unfortunately, leads to many people relapsing back into their old gaming habits. Find out how to avoid them in this episode of Gaming the System.
033 - Why Men Are 15x More Likely to Be Gaming Addicts + New Podcast Announcement!
With 2.5 billion people playing video games around the globe, and 3-4% of these showing signs of gaming addiction, it's easy to see how there are 10's of millions of gaming addicts worldwide. However, did you know that 94% of them are men?
032 - Why Are New Activities Boring After You Quit Gaming?
Anyone that has quit gaming and tried to fill their time with new activities has experienced this at some point. Nothing seems to scratch the same itch that gaming did. Nothing brings you as much fulfilment. As it turns out, the problem doesn't lie with you. It lies with video games. But, what can you do about it?
031 - Do Video Games Cause Violence?
Concerns over violent media started in the 50's, and have remained a controversial topic of debate ever since. In this episode, I explore whether there's any validity to the argument that video games make people violent, or whether it's a symptom of something else.
030 - Gaming in Moderation: Everything You Need to Know
Some people want to quit gaming completely, and others want to play in moderation. If you're part of the latter group, how do you go about turning video games into a healthy hobby? Listen to this episode to find out!
029 - How To Make Friends After You Quit Gaming
When you quit gaming it often means leaving a lot of your old friends behind. Whether it's because you can't cope with them talking about video games all the time, inviting you to play, or because you're trying to shed your old identity as a gamer, it's never an easy process to go through. So what can you do? Ultimately it comes down to one thing. You have to become someone that can attract new friends. If you're living a boring life with no hobbies and spend your free time on YouTube, it's not going to go well. Regardless of whether or not you're playing video games anymore. If, however, you decide to get yourself out of your comfort zone and learn new skills, meet new people, and live an interesting life you'll soon find yourself at the centre of an awesome friendship group. It's not easy, though. It can take a long time and a lot of effort to build new relationships. But I can assure you it's 100% worth it. If you enjoyed the episode, don't forget to review and subscribe, it really helps us out! Until next time. Music by Nordgroove from Fugue.
028 - Why Twitch Is Destroying Your Mindset and Keeping You from Success
You might think the biggest problem with Twitch is that you're spending too much time on the website, but you'd be wrong. In reality, the Twitch community with their crabs-in-a-bucket attitude is holding you back in more ways than you think. When you spend your free time listening to people talk about how poorly their life is going and being proud of that fact, it's going to wear down your mindset to the point where eventually you're going to join in. If you're trying to quit gaming and you're still watching Twitch, you might want to reconsider your relationship with the platform. Listen to the full episode to find out more, and learn how to avoid Twitch forever. Thanks for tuning in, and don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe if you haven't already! It really means a lot. Until next time. Music by Nordgroove from Fugue.
027 - How Pauline Narvas Overcame Gaming Addiction to Become a Full-Time Programmer, Speaker, and Inspirational Figure
To say Pauline's story is inspiring would be doing it a disservice. Having started her first 'side hustle' at 8 years old by learning how to turn HTML into websites, it seems like she was destined to be a part of the tech world. However, when school came around she found herself at one of the lowest points of her life. Constant bullying, poor grades, excessive gaming and bad eating habits led her to the realisation that something needed to be done. It was at this point that Pauline quit video games, and started turning her life around for good. Since then she has been listed as one of the most influential women in tech, done a number of public speaking gigs, influenced 100's of people to get into coding through numerous programs, and that's just scratching the surface. Pauline's an inspiration to thousands of people on social media every single day, and I hope you find some of that inspiration from watching this podcast. LINKS: Personal blog: https://pawlean.com Professional site: https://paulinenarvas.com How to get into coding: https://pawlean.com/2019/01/14/learning-to-code/ Code Newbies: https://codenewbies.org Twitter: https://twitter.com/paulineuh Instagram: https://instagram.com/paw.lean/ Thanks for tuning in, and don't forget to rate and review if you haven't already! It really means a lot. Until next time. Music by Nordgroove from Fugue.
026 - The Surprising Benefits of Relapsing
I've relapsed far more times over the last 5 years than I'd like to admit. However, what was once a painful barrier accompanied by months of pain is now an opportunity for me to build self-awareness and overcome my problems much faster than I did in the past. When I relapsed in the past, I always assumed that it was because I was a failure. I wasn't meant to quit gaming, and I should just stop trying to succeed in what I want to do and go back to playing video games. But, over time, my mindset towards relapsing started to shift. Now, 5 years after I first stopped playing, I no longer have the same resentment of myself as I once did if I start to let gaming creep back into my life. What did I change? Listen to the episode to find out! If you haven't already I'd love for you to leave us a rating. It'll help us get the podcast in front of more people, and we can provide as much value as possible! Until next time. Music by Nordgroove from Fugue.
025 - Reflecting on 2019 and Starting Off the New Year Properly
We're back! Hope you didn't miss the podcast too much over the new year's break, but after getting severe food poisoning and having to travel across the country, I thought I'd use the opportunity to take a bit of a break. In this episode I'm going to go through my exact process for reflecting on 2019, why you need to do it, and what questions you should ask yourself. I'd recommend taking some time to reflect on these questions and answer them as honestly as possible. Reflection is an incredibly powerful process, and it can really make the difference between success and failure at the start of 2020. The questions I go through in the episode are: - What went well in 2019? - What surprised you? - What are you most proud of accomplishing? - What was your favourite day, moment, and experience? - What did you discover about yourself? - What were you most grateful for in 2019? - When did fear hold you back? - What have you learnt in the past year? - Describe 2019 in 3 words Chances are you haven't considered the answers to any of these questions. When you go through this exercise, I guarantee you'll remember things that you had completely forgotten about. It's amazing what pops up when you really think about it. Hopefully, you find this episode helpful. There's going to be some amazing content coming to the podcast in the next few months, and I can't wait to show you everything we've got planned at Game Quitters! If you haven't already I'd love for you to leave us a rating. It'll help us get the podcast in front of more people, and we can provide as much value as possible! Until next time. Music by Nordgroove from Fugue.
024 - The Best Activities to Replace Gaming After You Quit
So many people struggle to find new things to do after they quit playing video games that it even has its own name - The Void. You're so used to getting a certain level of stimulation from gaming, anything else you do just feels boring in comparison. In this episode, I go over a few of my favourite hobbies that I think you should try if you want to quit gaming. They focus on the major needs that video games fulfil, and they all have a low barrier to entry. You might think they're common choices or you just don't want to do them, and that's fine, but if you are still stuck in the void and are still saying you don't want to do them, then the problem isn't the hobby... It's you. Activities featured in this episode: - coding - learn an instrument - exercise/active hobbies - photography - language Also, merry Christmas! If you haven't already I'd love for you to leave us a rating. It'll help us get the podcast in front of more people, and we can provide as much value as possible! Until next time. Music by Nordgroove from Fugue.
023 - How Your Gaming Addiction Affects Everyone In Your Life
Take a few moments to think about the people who see you gaming every day. Your parents, carers, friends. Whoever it might be. Now imagine you've swapped places. What would you say to this person? Would it be an encouragement? Reflection? A simple "okay no problem"? So, why aren't you saying it to yourself? In this episode of Gaming the System, James explores what life is like for the people outside of your virtual bubble. Oftentimes it's easy to think we're the only ones affected by a gaming addiction, but in reality, that isn't the case. Your loved ones see you every day, and they're powerless to help you overcome your problem. No matter how much it hurts them... If you haven't already I'd love for you to leave us a rating. It'll help us get the podcast in front of more people, and we can provide as much value as possible! Until next time. Music by Nordgroove from Fugue.
022 - The Most Important Decision You Can Make when You Try to Quit Gaming
In all of my friendship groups, I was always known as the gamer. I never stood out in any way, and whenever someone talked to me it'd usually be about video games. At the time I didn't see anything wrong with it. But, when I look back on how different my life could have been if I just took it upon myself to be more, to do more, to aim higher and really achieve the things that I was capable of... I really wish I'd have known about it sooner. It's a short episode today, but it's in reply to a message I was asked recently about whether I can talk in more detail on the topic of identifying as a gamer. It might not seem like much, but it was actually the defining moment in my journey to overcome video game addiction and finally start turning my life around for the better. Hopefully, it can do the same for you. If you haven't already I'd love for you to leave us a rating. It'll help us get the podcast in front of more people, and we can provide as much value as possible! Until next time. Music by Nordgroove from Fugue.
021 - How to Avoid Gaming Over Christmas
Growing up, Christmas was always a time for three things; no school, food, and gaming. I'd always ask for gaming-related presents from my family and eagerly look for the game-shaped present in the pile of gifts under the tree. But, after battling against a gaming addiction for the last 5 years, I've come to place a lot more value on how important family is over Christmas. I think about all the holidays I spent playing games and not engaging in activities. How must that have made my parents feel? As it's almost Christmas, and no doubt a lot of you will be struggling with managing your gaming over the holiday, I thought I'd do an episode for those of you who want to see what life can be like without gaming. Maybe you're a gamer that has wasted enough time in the virtual world, or you might be a non-gamer struggling with urges. Whoever you are, hopefully, you get some value from this episode. If you haven't already I'd love for you to leave us a rating. It'll help us get the podcast in front of more people, and we can provide as much value as possible! Until next time. Music by Nordgroove from Fugue.
020 - What if Your Friends Are Making You Relapse?
When it comes to talking to your friends about your gaming problem, it's really freaking difficult. It's easy to convince yourself that you'll be laughed at and stigmatized, that your friends will kick you out of their life, or even abuse you. So, how do you go about opening up this communication? In this episode, I discuss some of the mistakes I made during my time in university and how you can avoid doing the same thing, as well as whether or not you should think about replacing your friendships groups if it's really becoming a problem. If you haven't already I'd love for you to leave us a rating. It'll help us get the podcast in front of more people, and we can provide as much value as possible! Until next time. Music by Nordgroove from Fugue.
019 - Do Loot Boxes Lead to Problem Gambling?
It's time again to talk about everybody's favourite surprise mechanic, loot boxes. Parents hate them, governments hate them, gamers hate them, and yet publishers continue to shove them down our throats at every chance they get. They might seem like harmless fun, but more and more research is being done into their link with problem gambling. So today I'm going to look into what the science is saying and discuss this idea in more depth. If you haven't already I'd love for you to leave us a rating. It'll help us get the podcast in front of more people, and we can provide as much value as possible! Until next time. Music by Nordgroove from Fugue.
018 - Is Gaming on the Weekend Really that Bad? (spoilers, yes)
Are you someone that rewards themself with a week of hard work by sitting down in front of your computer or TV and spending the entirety of your weekend playing video games? Maybe you think there's no harm in playing 2 days a week. You've worked hard, so why not reward yourself? You might be surprised to know that gaming is actually rewiring the internal mechanisms of your brain. It's can cause: - unfulfilled relationships - less enjoyment in new activities - lack of direction and more... Learn all about weekend gaming in this episode of Gaming the System. If you haven't already I'd love for you to leave us a rating. It'll help us get the podcast in front of more people, and we can provide as much value as possible! Until next time. Music by Nordgroove from Fugue.
017 - How to Help a Loved One with Video Game Addiction w/ Cam Adair and Nadja Streiter
It's one thing struggling with video game addiction yourself, but what can you do when you see someone you love destroying their life with gaming? Maybe they're still living at home, struggling to get a job, overweight and are losing the will to live. No matter how much you want to help them, the painful truth is that you can't convince someone to change. You can give them all the information you want, but it's not going to help them. If anything, it'll just make them resent you. So, what can you do? We designed our program, Reclaim, for one purpose: To help parents and loved ones to foster a deep understanding of video game addiction and learn how to effectively treat the disorder in someone close to them. Over 4 modules, 40 lessons, worksheets, interviews and videos - you'll gain all of the knowledge you need to tackle the modern problem of video games once and for all. The program was designed in conjunction with licensed therapist, parents coach and program director at Game Quitters - Nadja Streiter. Nadja learnt first hand the effects of video game addiction in her own children, so you can be sure that this program was written specifically with you in mind. We understand what you're going through, but it doesn't need to be like that forever. If you want to finally beat gaming addiction and Reclaim your loved one, check out the course here: https://gamequitters.com/reclaim/ You might have noticed this episode was released on a Tuesday. Well, we're experimenting with providing even more amazing content for you on Gaming the System, with double the episodes and double the quality. If you haven't already I'd love for you to leave us a rating. It'll help us get the podcast in front of more people, and we can provide as much value as possible! Until next time. Music by Nordgroove from Fugue.
016 - From Suicidal Twitch Streamer to Living My Dream Life: How I Escaped Rock Bottom
I don't usually get too personal on this show. I never really thought it was the place to be emotional... However, a conversation with a friend of mine, shortly followed by him urging me to share my story, prompted me to create this episode. I realised that there are hundreds, if not thousands of people in our community that are in the same position I was just a year ago. I was horribly depressed, anxious, lonely, unhealthy and lacking any sense of clarity or determination. I found myself in some horrible situations over the last 2 years, and at my worst point, I was living in a fly-infested apartment contemplating suicide while living a supposed dream life as a Twitch streamer. But fast forward to 2019, and I find myself in a position where I can travel the world and I'm waking up every day with the motivation to work. It's incredible. If I help even one person with this episode then it'll be worth almost breaking down into tears in front of hundreds of people! As always, thanks for tuning in. If you liked the episode I'd really appreciate you taking the time to give us a rating. It helps out far more than you realise! Until next time. Music by Nordgroove from Fugue.
015 - I Relapsed After 8 Months of No Gaming...
I didn't want to make this episode. I didn't even EXPECT to have to make this episode. But, here we are... This week I relapsed hard. Although I had been playing in moderation (5 hours a week) prior to it, I didn't count it as a relapse because nothing had changed in my life. However, just a few days ago something happened that altered my perspective completely. Listen to the episode to find out what happened. Your support has been amazing recently, the podcast is constantly destroying every goal we set for ourselves. So a huge thank you to every one of you that watches and shares our episodes. If you haven't already I'd love for you to leave us a rating. It'll help us get the podcast in front of more people, and we can provide as much value as possible! Until next time. Music by Nordgroove from Fugue.
014 - Internet Porn Is Destroying a Generation One Erection at A Time || Interview w/ Gabe Deem
If you watch internet porn, it might be time to start rethinking. Regardless of whether you watch it once a week or 3 times a day, it can have long-lasting damaging effects. Effects that today's guest, Gabe Deem, knows all too well. He started watching internet porn at the ripe old age of 12, and from that, it spiralled into an uncontrollable addiction. It got so bad that he ended up developing erectile dysfunction at the age of 23. Since then, he's undertaken an incredible transformation to become the man he is today. His organization, Reboot Nation, offers advice to thousands of people on a regular basis. Not only that, but Gabe also speaks internationally in school, colleges, to professionals and even in Capitol Hill. It was a huge privilege to have him on the show, and it was one of my favourite episodes to record. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! As always, thanks for tuning in. If you liked the episode I'd really appreciate you taking the time to give us a rating. It helps out far more than you realise! Until next time. Music by Nordgroove from Fugue.
013 - Are Video Games Designed to be Addictive?
If you asked me this question 15 years ago, I'd probably answer it with a resounding no. However, in recent years the gaming industry has shifted towards an approach that focuses on broken, microtransaction-filled, free-to-play games full of mechanics that are cleverly implemented in order to keep you hooked. As it turns out, there are a load of psychological tactics game developers use in order to get the most engagement (money) out of their users. I can't talk about them all in this episode, but I cover the main points as well as going into what I think the industry needs to do in the future to avoid catastrophe. As always, thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the episode don't forget to leave a review. It really helps us out. Until next time. Music by Nordgroove from Fugue.
012 - The Link Between Gaming and Porn Addiction
If you spend any amount of time on the internet you'll soon start to see how prevalent porn is in our modern world. The rise in smartphone technology and high-speed internet has made porn more easily accessible than ever before in history. This has unsurprisingly led to a huge number of problems. One of those issues is porn addiction. As it turns out, gamers tend to watch a lot of porn. So much so, that a large number of people in our community come to us for help on both issues. In this episode, I explore the relationship in further detail, providing references to scientific research and anecdotal evidence to highlight a rapidly growing problem faced by millions of people around the world. As always, thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the episode don't forget to leave a review. It really helps us out. Until next time. Music by Nordgroove from Fugue.