Why We Procrastinate With Video Games and Solutions To This...

[Spacescifi]

I recently deleted my emulator I had used to play old games, since I realized that it was eating more of time than it should, and more importantly, it was merely a form of procrastination for me.

According to the internet procrastination occurs because:

We procrastinate on tasks we find “difficult, unpleasant, aversive or just plain boring or stressful.” If a task feels especially overwhelming or provokes significant anxiety, it's often easiest to avoid it. Another reason people procrastinate, Sirois said, is because of low self-esteem.

 

So in summary, because a task seems difficult, unpleasant, stressful, or just boring, we avoid it by doing something else first, saving the harder task for later... or never or until too late. Or we stay away from the task because we have low self esteem and do not wish to be faced with a hard task  (basically a test) since we do not have much faith in ourselves anyway and do not wish to put it under further strain.

Currently I am on a break from the emulator games, and I find I have more time. I know that when it comes to gaming, after I beat the game, I have little reason to keep playing it (especially with older games that used a different style of play that modern games do not use). If you have seen one ending you have seen them all, the only difference being the difficulty level based on which character you decide to play as.

I think ultimately for myself anyway, sometimes the task I need to do scares me, or is stressful, so video games were and are an escape.... a kind of de-stresser, even though paradoxically trying to not get killed from lethal level traps in level design and hoards of enemies is also stressful while playing games.

We cannot avoid all stress, nor should we, but we can manage it.

 

I have read advice to the effect that if a task seems stressful but is necessary, then the best thing to do is to just break it up into smaller chunks and set aside time for each of them and check them off as you complete them.

 

That is what I will attempt to do from now on. Because I feel much like the song in AJR's Bang.

 

I am too young to lie here forever, but too old to try to be 'whatever' (at least the days of being able to do whatever because I have both the time and the energy are over).

 

[StrandedonEarth]

I swear I’ll stop procrastinating… starting tomorrow…

[Spacescifi]

 

 

Haha... I don't know if getting rid of ALL procrastination is a good thing per se... since sometimes taking time to de-stress is better than forging ahead when you are not in the best of moods.

Like someone else once said, moderation is key. Extremes are to be avoided.

[Nuke]

just do the have tos before the want tos and you will be fine. then the most you can waste is your spare time.  if you don't have any spare time you are working too hard. 

Edited May 14, 2022 by Nuke

[Spacescifi]

5 hours ago, Nuke said:

just do the have tos before the want tos and you will be fine. then the most you can waste is your spare time.  if you don't have any spare time you are working too hard. 

 

That is excellent advice... yet hard to do when most of yourself is telling you not to do the responsible thing.

Although not completely related, Agent Smith's quotes apply.

"We are not here because we are free. Purpose created us. Purpose defines"

 

And I would add, defines us. Without it just what are we anyway? No one wants to be a nobody who does not even matter... we all believe we matter and try to ensure that we do

 

For a villain, Smith is definitely the only I have seen speak so eloquently about matters of great depth and substance. He was excellently written, since like a real program he had an obsession with purpose, since all IRL programs MUST have a purpose to be written in the first place. He cared about and I dare say even enjoyed the inevitable, since the one thing every program relies upon... and in Agent Smith's case craved... it's absolute certainty and inevitabilty.

So in life I believe choosing a purpose matters most, then doing the have to's to ensure it, and after the want to's

 

If one does not choose their purpose then either circumstance or others will choose it for them.... THAT is inevitable. There is no escaping it.

Of course old age and death are part of that... like taxes, that's a circumstance compelled upon us that gives us purpose in order to avoid negative consequences.

But I dare say that being proactive is far better to being reactive to circumstance, although we surely cannot be prepared for all possibilties, being prepared for likely ones is most wise.

 

Edited May 15, 2022 by Spacescifi

[StrandedonEarth]

15 hours ago, Nuke said:

just do the have tos before the want tos and you will be fine.

The trick is convincing yourself that a want-to is really a have-to, as in, I don't have to vacuum today, it can wait another week, or two, or three. And I don't have to do the dishes until there are no more clean ones, etc....

That's how the teenage mind works: So it becomes "if you want your phone to be more than a brick, yes, you have to do it ASAP.!"

[Nuke]

9 hours ago, StrandedonEarth said:

The trick is convincing yourself that a want-to is really a have-to, as in, I don't have to vacuum today, it can wait another week, or two, or three. And I don't have to do the dishes until there are no more clean ones, etc....

That's how the teenage mind works: So it becomes "if you want your phone to be more than a brick, yes, you have to do it ASAP.!"

believe me, im 40 and i still have a hard time figuring out whats what. when the have tos affect the kitties, they will make sure they make your life miserable until they get what they want. even as i write this i got one's paw on my hand demanding scritches. 

[StrandedonEarth]

32 minutes ago, Nuke said:

believe me, im 40 and i still have a hard time figuring out whats what. when the have tos affect the kitties, they will make sure they make your life miserable until they get what they want. even as i write this i got one's paw on my hand demanding scritches. 

Oh, I'm 51, and it end up as I have  to eat (and so do the dog and cat), and i have to take a shower at least every 2-3 days, or every day when working. But I don't have to clean every weekend unless company's coming; that's what the kids, the dishwasher, and the roomba are for. Although, if I want it done right...