I’ve already written about how the effect of technology use on sleep is over-rated here, here and here.

And this holds true for video-gaming (we’ve got several our studies on this available in our Downloads section).

Yet the majority of people aren’t affected by technology use.

This means there are some people who’s technology use can affect their sleep.

And if you work with clients - like we do - then you may see some of these people.

More often than not, it’s the teenagers who are videogaming most of the night, and sleeping during school hours.

How To Stop People Videogaming?

You may know someone who you believe is addicted to some form of technology.

But we’re not going to get ‘judgey wudgey’ here. Because it’s likely there’s something we’re each doing too much of.

On that note, treatments for addictions began in the alcohol and ‘other drugs’ field.

And they have been effective for some people.

Some of these treatments have then been applied to people who gamble.

And now these treatments have been applied to a whole bunch of different behaviours that become excessive (eg, eating too much of the wrong foods, or adhering to a particular treatment like CPAP treatment for sleep apnea or bright light therapy for teenagers’ sleep).

Thing is, these treatments have not been working on young people who excessively play videogames.

And I’m going to say it again - we’re not going to blame the person here.

We do not believe in ‘drink responsibly’, ‘gamble responsibly’ or ‘videogame responsibily’ when each of these industries proactively find ways to get their customers to use more of their product.

So with all of these barriers in the way of helping someone with excessive videogaming …

… What Do We Do?

A few years ago, we embarked on a landmark study to see if we could get young people to cease their videogaming for an 84-hour period.

(Hmm .. if you just got judgey wudgey just then at thinking that “84 hours is not that much”, then see my challenge at the end).

24 Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO; ie, playing games like World of Warcraft) gamers participated in our study. 9 of them met diagnostic criteria for Internet Gaming Disorder.

Each day during their ‘abstinence’ they completed our survey.

This Is What We Learned

Boredom and stress were triggers to crave playing video games: they said,

“Felt bored and needed a game” or “Very stressed about university. Would rather play games and relax”.

Gaming was a habit:

“More like out of habit I wanted to sit at my PC and open World of Warcraft. A bit like a smoker waking up in the morning and lighting a smoke”.

Advertising (emails, advertising on Youtube) was an external trigger to play:

“Saw an update. Made me want to play it”.

They experienced sadness, irritability, and anxiety:

“No social interactions with online friends. I miss laughing at them. I miss laughing” or “Felt a little more irritable at first but it got better after a day”.

These Are Ways They Coped

Some of the strategies they used were aimed at filling the holes of what they were missing (eg, social interaction):

• They shopped

• They participated in physical activity (eg, sport)

• They cleaned the house

• They worked (keep in mind that the abstinence occurred over the weekend)

• Social activities (eg, going out, spending more time with their partner)

• They turned to alcohol

Clearly some of these coping strategies are better than others. And some of these cannot be performed in the current climate (ie, social isolation during COVID lockdowns)

What They Learned

100% of our volunteers remained 100% abstinent the entire 84-hour period.

This suggests that if they volunteered for this study, that there was some part of them already thinking about making a change.

Perhaps they identified 1 or 2 things they didn’t like about video gaming.

But one theme came through many times. See if you can spot it?:

“I found that I had a large increase in the time that I spent sleeping during the days when I had no gaming, regularly going from 6 h sleep to almost double”

“More time with my girlfriend”

“Less time spent sitting in front of computer”

Having more time to do things I don’t normally do”

“I had more time to do other things and socialise”

“Taking a break from gaming completely opened opportunities for me to engage in some of my other hobbies which I have not done in a long time, like reading, playing guitar, watching movies, and exercise.”

Do you see the word that came up. Every. Single. Time?

The Challenge

Like I mentioned above, some of us may automatically judge other people’s addictions/dependencies.

Yet the more one does research in such areas, the more one learns that:

1. Video game developers create artificial intelligence that keeps gamers in a ‘flow state’ so they play for longer

2. Marketers for alcohol companies target growth areas - in recent years it’s been women, and the new one is developing countries.

3. Social media companies harvest personal data so you use their software for longer (and thus are more likely to buy something they advertise - eg, as I type this, I’m listening to music on Youtube - and I’m being asked “Why not listen uninterrupted with Youtube Premium?). Sidenote: if you have Netflix, check out the Social Dilemma.

Do you like other people controlling what you do?

You see, I became aware of Point 1 above.

That then made me aware that Facebook was randomising my feed so I thumb-scrolled for longer.

So I quit Facebook in 2017.

I became aware of Point 2 above. I did Dry July in 2018 - which turned into a 365-day challenge to go alcohol free - which turned to me quitting alcohol in 2019.

I then looked for my next challenge.

So I increased my physical activity by joining the gym. And it’s been at least 52 non-consecutive weeks.

What’s my next challenge?

Over summer, I’m going to go a week without meat.

Like the video gamers, there’s been a few things here and there that have made me reconsider eating meat (for 1 thing, we live across the road from some sheep).

So my question to you is - What is your next challenge?

Maybe there’s been some thoughts in your mind now and again about something.

You might start realising that others are having some control over what you do.

Maybe you can do it for 1 week, 84-hours or maybe a day?

Maybe you need to think about what you can do with the extra time you’d get.

Whatever the reasons, ensure you challenge yourself when you’re ready!

• Prof Michael Gradisar