What's Your Drug?
Posted by Adam007 on 04-Jun-2007 at 08:00
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There have been plenty "what are you addicted to?" type discussions on forums and websites, but I'd like to also have some discussion about how in general so many people are controlled by something. For me, this is how I came to my own realization. Last week I watched Requiem for a Dream, a great movie. A driving point in it is how so many people have some outside force in their life, some type of drug that completely takes over them, some type of addiction. After watching that I was pretty impressed by the message, but it didn't personally hit home until I watched this video. It's a short movie about how people can't concentrate on things for an extended period of time, using MTV as an example.
I'm not going to say that that's a great video or anything, because he takes a "how stupid do you have to be?!" approach. The point that I got from it was how unaware we all are of these kind of things. I never even realized how often TV shows change shots to ensure our attention. I thought it couldn't be that bad, but I didn't even realize just how bad it was until I turned on MTV, and low and behold, 90% of shots were under 3 seconds. I ended up staying five minutes longer just because I became entranced by the "hyper-tons-of-different-shots-flying-at-you" type of TV, that I was completely unaware of. It really can be hypnotizing.
Now I'm not a big TV watcher, but after I came back to my computer, I realized it's just as bad online. Ten different tabs in a browser. I get bored of one thing, I switch to another. One youtube movie ends, switch to another. Finish reading one forum, switch to another, and by the time you're done with the one you switched to the original forum is ready to re-read again. From checking five different email accounts and instant messengers to playing every game on a site to making sure you read every new article on a news site, I realized how trapping even computers are.
This is obviously relatable to RuneScape and MMORPG's in general. We all know how addicting they can be. There's always something new to do, and you can never run out of things that need getting done. It's a system you can never beat. Once you're in the game, there are more and more skills you need to raise, more events to go to, more friends to chat with. Sure some of these things can be positive, but they're still part of the system. They still control you. They have your attention, and they're keeping it for hours and hours. And there is nothing more valuable than your attention.
The internet is my drug. I'm not going to say I'm addicted to it or anything in a psychological sense, but it's just ridiculous in general how so many people let this happen to them. From streaming from one sense of entertainment to another you lose sense of time and ignore life. Going outside and just enjoying nature or whatever is going on is what creates memories. Not a constant stream of passive entertainment. As a society I think we're all under the influence of something in one way or another. And so I ask you: what's your drug?
It's when you realize this that you'll hopefully do something about it. I'm not saying everyone's controlled by something, but a lot of us are. My challenge to you is to escape these things. Don't let yourself put off more important things by procrastinating into these habits. See what you can do when you devote yourself to anything productive. Or go with my philosophy on life: do something that'll create a memory. Leave the trapping cycle of passive immersion and make some worthwhile memories. Because at the end of your life, that's all you have. Your memories and experiences are what define and make you who you are. You don't have much time here, so make some good ones.
Comments
Darksonic45 posted on 04-Jun-2007 11:03
Sometimes the thing about addiction is that it gets old, no matter what changes. "Too much of a good thing...".
Falx posted on 05-Jun-2007 00:59
I have pondered whether or not i am addicted to many different activities i do many times in my life. At the moment i think i may be playing RuneScape a bit too much, and yet i don't seem to be too concerned either? This is a good passage and it made me think, and im sure it will make many others think also..
Thank you for yet again another great editorial.
Skatedog111 posted on 05-Jun-2007 13:04
I think I'm not addicted to the internet, if I was, I'd be on more sites then just rs related ones. I do think I am addicted to rs, way beyond I should be. When I ask myself would I rather play RuneScape and get that one level I've been working hard on for so long, or go on a date with a really hot girl, I really do not know what I'd do. To me this is sad, and I'm glad I thought about it, I'm definitly screwing over the girl for RuneScape.
kiwi db posted on 06-Jun-2007 01:30
Skatedog I'm with ya all the way - too much Runescape and no life (i ain't fibbing either)
As for who I'd class myself as - definitely a procrastinator. I have played many games other than Runescape and with each one i have been weary of how 'addicted' i am to it (Runescape is no different btw), and I think "I'll achieve this main goal then do something worthwhile" (i'm still waiting for that worthwhile something
)
who plays posted on 06-Jun-2007 14:25
I totally agree with you most people are somehow "addicted" to something. But my question is: "Is that wrong?" To me it isn't. Yes, indeed addiction has a bad name and yes, is isn't healthy all the time. But why should we be healthy all the time? Why should we do the most responcible things in life? I think everyone needs room to make mistakes and to just live their lifes. You only have one and if you worry too much about what you're doing is the right thing to do, I think you should just relax and start doing something fun.
And even if you choose something "important" over the internet (like the examples below), so what?! It's their life! As long as they still like what they're doing, still have friends, don't trouble anyone, don't neglect their families and don't screw up their future, it's totally ok with me.
Totally Off Topic: The similar Editorials are totally messed up. What does the corrupt fan sites and gold selling have to do with this?
Adam007 posted on 06-Jun-2007 22:14
I'm not saying addictions are morally wrong. Nor am I saying we should be healthy all the time. Being productive doesn't always imply being responsible, or not making mistakes/living life.
Taking the words right out of my mouth, you mention only having one life to live. It's not about worrying about doing the right thing. It's about doing things that are worthwhile to you. They don't have to be things like getting homework done instead of watching TV. They're things like planning an event with friends for the day instead of lazying around your house all day. Switching from a passive existence to an active one.
I'm trying not to take a "this is how to live your life" attitude, and I'm definitely not saying to drop all of these habits, but definitely try to focus living to worthwhile things that create memories.
Duke Freedom posted on 07-Jun-2007 08:23
To go further on what Who Plays said.. I think some things that we loosely call addictions might actually just be habits rather than addictions. Addictions are bad because they imply that you can't 'be happy' without something. Addictions are wrong, because they will ruin the persons life. It's not about whether it is bad for your health in this case, it's about whether it is bad for the persons overall happiness level over time. The more addicted you become to something, the more you'll need it to maintain at least some happiness. The worst alcoholists are unable to be 'happy' without alcohol at all and it is strongly arguable whether they are happy when they do drink - they certainly don't seem to give that impression usually.
In short, what I'm saying is that is that the person having an addiction is not going to enjoy his own addiction over time either, especially if the addiction is severe. If only the addicted person can realize this, he can overcome his addiction.
Anyway, to get back to how this relates to RuneScape; I'd say most people play it more as a habit rather than addiction. For example, one might say that this 13 year old kids always puts up the computer when he gets up or home from school is addicted, however you could also look at it differently and say that over time the habit was created to stand up with putting on his computer to play RuneScape.
I believe the difference between a habit and an addiction is that a habit doesn't cause 'emotial damage' if you consciously don't do it, whereas an addiction is something you can't really go without and if you do, you'll strongly miss it, causing unhappiness.
Adam seems to go a bit further saying that both habits and addictions are wrong (despite denying that
), because they create a passive mindset and thus don't create any memories. However, my stance is that this only goes for those who are really addicted.
Trojann2 posted on 14-Jun-2007 10:24
Or we can say what Rune_User91's Sig used to say:
"Go tell your friends you couldn't help them at MageBank because you were too busy getting high. Runescape, My Anti-Drug."
Unknowable posted on 15-Jun-2007 09:52
Internet's my drug too. It cheers me up a bit.
Oh, and my philosophy on life is having fun
refer http://gainscolumn.blogspot.com/ for details.
Turbo posted on 22-Jun-2007 18:31
I have been thinking along these lines a lot lately. I have also been thinking about the internet and our exposure to it. Not many young teenagers can spend a lot of money for the newest MMOs like LOTRO and then keep up the membership fee, but many still want to try an MMO. They see them all over, on youtube, advertising, magazines, and friends talk about them.
I have come to look at RS as a kind of a 'gateway drug' to MMO adiction. Olaying RS 8 hours a day, quitting and moving to FLYFF or WOW is not curing an RS addiction at all. It is just like moving from one starter drug to something harder.
This field of study (of MMO addiction) will take off from here on as MMOs take a more persistant place in our culture. I think in the extreme examples we will see people supporting themselves through gaming becoming more of an accepted thing.
Heck If you really wanted to just play RS forever, you could move to China and support yourself selling gold to the whole salers. At $6 per mil you would need to make 3mil a day to live comfortably. Doing that as a job 8 hours a day, you could easily accomplish that goal.