Video Games Are Evil
The Amplified Impact Podcast
October 20th, 2023
I recently discussed cheap dopamine, like what you get from video games.
I’m not saying you should quit, but it’s crucial to understand the price you’re paying.
Video games are designed to be addictive. They can mute your emotions and motivation outside of the game, and that’s when it becomes dangerous.
My advice? Use them intentionally.
They have benefits…but proceed with caution. Make them a tool, not a master.
If life isn’t where you want it to be and video games are a big part, consider cutting back. It can free up time and reset your pleasure-seeking systems.
TWEETABLE QUOTE:
“Whenever there is a relationship with an activity like that, whether it’s gambling or social media, I’m not for that. Because those pleasure reward systems of your brain are very, very old and they’re very deeply rooted inside of you. And when you bathe your brain and your biology in cheap dopamine that it has not earned, then it can have a whole lot of cascading side effects that are very hard to see.”- Anthony Vicino
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Episode Transcript:
Anthony Vicino:
So the other day I made a post about cheap dopamine in particular. I was calling out things like porn, junk food and video games, just saying that there is no such thing as cheap dopamine, that all dopamine has a cost. The problem is that in the moment with these things like porn, video games and junk food and all sorts of other things, you don’t necessarily know what that full price is that you’re paying. And if you knew that, then you might not be so willing to pay it because that cost is usually paid by future you some way down the road. Now I love this idea of current you versus future you making hard choices in the moment so that you can have an easy life later versus having easy choices in the moment and then having a hard life later. I love all of that stuff. And this post was really just trying to help people reframe the idea of cheap dopamine and those things that we seek out. And guys, I’m guilty of this too.
Anthony Vicino:
I still seek out. I’m not immune to this. I play video games, chess, not like the AA type video games that you might think of anymore. I drink mochas. I eat ice cream. I do all these things that I tell you guys, I’m not telling you not to do them. I’m just saying be aware that whatever you’re doing, you’re doing it with intention. And that the idea of like when we self soothe, when we bathe ourselves in this cheap dopamine, there is a price to pay and I just want you to be aware of what that price is.
Anthony Vicino:
And one of the things that people push back, some people push back on, on that post in particular was calling out video games. And the reason for that is people have a deep connection with video games. It’s a form of entertainment and escapism. It can be a social gathering. There’s a lot of benefits to video games, don’t get me wrong. There’s a lot of benefits to helping you increase your coordination, helping you become a more creative problem solver. If you’re playing MMORPGs, then it can be great for forging networks and relationships. All sorts of really positive things, no doubt.
Anthony Vicino:
And for context, I have, in multiple phases of my life, been a very, very competitive gamer. I played StarCraft back in the early 2000s. Very competitively. I was ranked think at the time. I was like top 300 in the world on the ladder in StarCraft. And then I got really into Halo, Halo Three, and became very good at that, played that competitively as well, and then got really into Destiny. So I have probably played more video games than 99% of people out there. And when I say that video games are cheap dopamine and that it’s costing you something that you might not realize, I say that from firsthand personal experience.
Anthony Vicino:
And I’m not saying that you should cut video games out of your life. I’m just saying that you should use them with intention and understand what that price is. And I think that anything that is designed to be maximally addictive is problematic. And that’s what a video game really is. At the end of the day, video game developers are sitting there trying to figure out how to make this thing maximally addictive to keep you playing for as long as possible. And whenever there is a relationship with an activity like that, whether it’s gambling or social media, I’m not for that. Because those pleasure reward systems of your brain are very, very old and they’re very deeply rooted inside of you. And when you bathe your brain and your biology in cheap dopamine that it has not earned, then it can have a whole lot of cascading side effects that are very hard to see.
Anthony Vicino:
One of those for me when I was playing video games, and it got to the point where I had to just cut video games entirely out of my life, was because I was struggling to feel anything outside of the video games. I was becoming emotionally muted. I was becoming very lethargic outside of the games. I couldn’t self motivate to do anything or take anything of interest. I struggled because I was bathing in cheap dopamine that my dopamine receptors couldn’t seem to get firing in a direction that would help me in life. And so that’s like the very negative dark side of video games or anything addictive, really. And maybe you don’t have that relationship with video games, but just you need to be aware that it is an abnormal, a supra, natural amount of dopamine that you are pouring into your system when you’re playing video games. Or again, like the other things we talked about, porn and junk food, Netflix, these things, they’re playing like Whack a Mole with your brain and lighting it up like a Christmas tree.
Anthony Vicino:
And that’s problematic on a really long time frame. And so I just encourage you look hard at what you’re doing and make sure that it’s serving you, that you’re not just following it because you’re addicted or because the alternative is that you just don’t feel anything. Like if you’re starting to get to that point where was like, you need to make some changes, you need to get some help because these things are designed to suck you in and make you feel like it’s your entire world. And the problem for me was it felt like my entire world when I was playing it and then when I left it, I felt shitty about myself because I’d go through the dopamine crash and I’d be like, I can’t seem to break out of this cycle. I’m spending hours a day, like six, seven, 8 hours a day playing this thing and it’s not moving me anywhere in life. And yet it feels like the most important thing just moving up the ladder, the ranking systems, getting that next experience level up, it all felt like the most important thing in the moment. But then when I’m away from the game, I’m like, this is so stupid. It doesn’t matter.
Anthony Vicino:
And yet I was so emotionally attached to it. Still, it’s dangerous, guys. It’s just dangerous. And I don’t want to badmouth video games and say they’re evil or anything like that. They’re dangerous. Dangerous. And you got to approach them with care in the same way that you have to approach your cell phone with care. You got to make it a tool that serves you rather than you serving it.
Anthony Vicino:
In the same way that you have to monitor your relationship with social media, with Netflix, with food, with all of these things that are artificially igniting your dopamine pleasure reward systems. It’s dangerous. So proceed with caution. Anyway, that’ll do it for me, guys. Just wanted to share this because I’ve been down that dark path, and if you’re there struggling with it right now and your life isn’t where you want to be, if your life isn’t where you want it to be and you’re playing video games, that’s one of the very first things I would recommend cutting out. It’s just easy, easy time that you’ll get back, you’ll start to reset your hedonic treadmill, your brain’s ability to feel pleasure and make room for boredom, which we did a video on the YouTube channel. Go check that out. It’s called outwork everybody by being bored.
Anthony Vicino:
So that’s on backslash. Anthony Vasino, go check that out. If you’re struggling, that’ll kind of help you maybe go through some systems that can help reset to your baseline. So hope this brings some value, guys. We’ll catch you back here tomorrow. Tomorrow. Until then, stay hyper focused, everybody. Bye.
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