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Comment by thegainz | Hacker News Reader

I've recently given up a big temptation/distractor in my life. I packed up my gaming desktop and gave it away, and now I just use my laptop which I long ago set aside as school-only. This thing couldn't even play games if I wanted to, but it CAN ssh and compile code.

I mean, after 9.5 years of playing DotA, what's the point? My grades have improved and I'm overall happier as I invest more time learning skills that I truly want to gain, all while traveling lighter.

I think I hit a breaking point when I was living in my last apartment. I had too much junk around that I didn't want, need, or use. And because there was enough of it, I didn't have a real place for anything and didn't feel like cleaning it. My apartment wasn't dirty, but it was perennially untidy. I did not like that at all.

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Good for you. I'm often tempted to do the same, I still play 2-3 hours a day of PC games most nights after work. It isn't healthy but then if I didn't I suspect I'd binge on netflix or even just regular TV instead. I think eventually I'll grow out of it and do more reading, cooking and other activities, but it'll take a decision on my part to make that happen.

I find I have about an hour before bed where I really shouldn't be trying to be productive (because if I keep coding or whatever, it'll actually prevent me from sleeping), where some nice video games or some passively-consumed video content can be slotted in guilt-free.

Now, I'm not saying that's the only time I relax, because that would be a lie. But it is a time that at least speaking for myself, I have to relax or I can't sleep.

I used to do the same thing. Went to the gym instead.

The good thing about watching TV is that you can exercise at the same time. A few years ago, I realized that my time in front of the TV at night could easily be spent while also lifting weights and riding a stationary bike. My health benefitted greatly from that realization.

Congrats! This was really difficult for me. I recently packed up my desktop as well (three weeks in so far) and I'm starting to see much more self-engagement in activities I enjoy but were easy to push aside to play fallout instead.

My wife and I have been trying the KonMari [1] method of tidying up recently and this dovetailed nicely into that work. Note that I don't necessarily agree with everything the method prescribes, but it was an interesting exercise either way.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Kondo#KonMari_method

One of the skills I truly want to learn is game development (not just for games, though). I'm learning Unity at the moment. I find that to be much easier to do on a powerful PC, although it wouldn't be a total obstacle if I just had a laptop.

Good for you.

This is why the last console system I purchase was the PS2. I can't trust myself not to binge on games.

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