Social Media Gaming: When should we stop?

Suddenly it is 3am and you have been stuck on that level for the last hour.

With every single fail you have said one more time, until it became a whole hour. And even then, it is still:

If I finish this level I will go to sleep

It started off simple enough, around 9pm after the main news (assuming you still watch that).

One could be mistaken for thinking that all this time was spent on your favourite online gambling site because at least that comes with an actual tangible win. Not only you can have fun playing your preferred online blackjack games but also earn some money on the way, not every game gives you that chance.

But that was not the case.

There was the option to go out to have a drink with a few mates but having discovered Candy Crush (yes it is years after everyone else) you just can’t seem to get away from it.

And then there was that moment when you almost got fired at work because you were so involved in the game you forgot to send an email to a client.

Social media-based games do pose that clear danger, because they are fully embedded into a space you find it easy and even acceptable to spend a lot of time on.

Yet a study by Mehmarz Kahlour and Jhony Choon Yeong Ng from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China found below

We found that social gamers were willing to spend a lot of time and money on the game because by playing the game, they could: get an enhanced self-concept and self-efficacy, get a sense of community belonging, and distract themselves from the challenges in their lives.

This can’t be a bad thing you will say.

And yet it is all about excesses, often associated with out-of –control. With online casino games quickly becoming the rage, much has been written about how the risk increases for simple reasons such as your bank account being a click away, easy access to the games, fewer physical interventions and the sort.

Yet, the reality is what it comes down to it, much like anything else in life is balanced and responsible application. All the warnings about excesses can be posted on gambling sites but as long you look for any reason to ignore it you will. It doesn’t even have to be a good reason. It simply has to be enough to be a perfect excuse.

It is easy to blame the games themselves but the reality is, that is all on you. Gaming helps enrich your life and if you keep that in mind you will make sure that it never gets to the point where you are miserable.