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Comment by chillpenguin | Hacker News Reader

I would say you should work on things that will have a bigger impact. Some things might be fun/interesting but the impact will be extremely low (or none at all).

Another tip is to vigilantly avoid time wasting traps like instagram, facebook, video games, pointless youtube videos, etc. This will give you a LOT more time to pursue other things.

But yeah, this is a tough burden for us to bear. I mean, it is literally the oldest problem in human existence: our short time on this earth. It reminds me of a song from ancient Greece (literally the oldest surviving complete musical composition)[1]:

  While you live, shine
  have no grief at all
  life exists only for a short while
  and Time demands his due.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seikilos_epitaph

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I bet computer and video games are an extra hard trap to uncover for many (in here).

For me personally they often have been and still are a much needed way to escape plus a conduit to a multitude of other interests and my professional career (not directly related).

OTOH and more often than I would like to admit these days its meaningless, consumerist time wasting at best and an addiction at worst.

Taking away from other things and relationships even.

Yet even with the same old games and principles and all the addictive aspects I’d still love it as a hobby (in low doses) but I’m probably also not the only one still fooling themselves that it’s more than that.

Maybe it’s time to finally move on again (feels very hard though).

I feel you. My interest in video games is what led me to getting into computers and becoming the software developer I am today. But the fact is, as you said, it takes away from other things including relationships. In low doses is probably fine, but the risk is that you are kidding yourself about how much time you actually spend. If you really can manage low doses, good for you! But many of us end up spending more time than we care to admit, and that is when it is a problem. Although, as you raise your standards for how your time should be spent, even 1 hour a day of video games might sound like a lot. You could be building relationships, or reading great literature for example.

For me personally, it works best if I cut video games out completely.

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