Today I took part in an interesting conversation and I’m sure it’s one that many have been having in these times. I listened to 2 of my colleagues discuss video games like diner dash, candy crush, Farmville, paint by number, etc. I listen to them speak of the anxiety that these games caused them and it made me sad. These were not children. They were grown women in their thirties using their spare time to create fake realities… investing fake money toward their cyber world. There have been shows about an avatar like existence. They used to be sci-fi, but now this is our reality.
As I listened to them discuss how you could purchase fake money with real money to invest in a fake world, I realized how far down the rabbit hole humanity has fallen. They discussed how a lot of children have put their parents into debt by purchasing these fake goods for their fake games. As I listened to this, my heart wept because I realized how much life children and adults alike are missing as a result of these insidious addictions. The conversation was lighthearted and fun, yet for me this conversation felt very heavy. Again, it sparks my soul to carry forward the work that I believe in so deeply.
How did we allow ourselves to become so disconnected from one another that we would rather spend hours alone clinging to an alternate reality? One of the reasons that anxiety and depression are so rampant is a direct result of games such as this that suck people into a fantasy and deprive one of soulful living. As I listened, I heard how grown adults were being held hostage by the sound of a notification from the latest game that they were playing beckoning them to bake their cake, feed their sheep, or tend to their crop. This is in the same fashion an addict runs from silence, boredom, or noise in their mind toward their drug of choice. I listened to them explain their excitement as they got some imaginary goal achieved within this fake world. Addicted to the dopamine infusion that each game induced.
They described these games as fun, but I saw these games as stealing precious moments of their lives from them. As they talked about checking their phone 1st thing in the morning to make sure all of their goals in the game were met before heading to work, again on lunch, and again when they got home, it sounded more to me like bondage than it did fun. I agree that the occasional game can be entertaining, but what I am talking about is the addiction that many are suffering from and don’t even realize they’re suffering from it. An addiction disguised as innocent and harmless… yet moments of connection, experience, meaningful work, and accomplishment are missed as a result.