‘Bad Habit’ Gaming: Using It To Your Advantage

I don’t really know where they got the idea that playing video games is a bad habit, but apparently, Career Builder in MSN seems to view it that way. According to them, certain “bad habits” can be used to your advantage, and could even help you not get burned out in your career. Topping their list of “bad habits” would be, unsurprisingly, video games. Fashion comes in at second, while watching TV, swearing, gambling and staging your own rock concert in the confines of your bedroom follows suit.

They say, furthermore, that “a little time in fantasy land could be just what you need” in order for you to recuperate from that really  long, dreadful day at work. Dr. Kathleen Hall, founder of the Stress Institute and author of  “A Life in Balance: Nourishing the Four Roots of True Happiness” recommends 10-15 minutes of online computer play to refresh and get ready to work. Whoa…10-15 minutes only? That’s not even enough to get the party rolling! To quote from the article, “Even video games can have a positive effect if you keep your play time to a minimum. Current studies show that certain games and game time can actually help kids concentrate.”

It sounds like video gaming has yet again been unfairly stereotyped as the bad apple. Truth be told, there is no such thing as a bad habit. There are just habits that you either do in moderation, or do in excess, hence becoming a vice, even a danger. Gaming in itself is value-neutral. It’s actually up to the person engaged in it if it would become that “bad habit” that they were referring it to be, or if they would utilize it in such a way that their over-all well-being would benefit from it.

I don’t really know where they got the idea that playing video games is a bad habit, but apparently, Career Builder in MSN seems to view it that way. According to them, certain “bad habits” can be used to your advantage, and could even help you not get burned out in your career. Topping their list of “bad habits” would be, unsurprisingly, video games. Fashion comes in at second, while watching TV, swearing, gambling and staging your own rock concert in the confines of your bedroom follows suit.

They say, furthermore, that “a little time in fantasy land could be just what you need” in order for you to recuperate from that really  long, dreadful day at work. Dr. Kathleen Hall, founder of the Stress Institute and author of  “A Life in Balance: Nourishing the Four Roots of True Happiness” recommends 10-15 minutes of online computer play to refresh and get ready to work. Whoa…10-15 minutes only? That’s not even enough to get the party rolling! To quote from the article, “Even video games can have a positive effect if you keep your play time to a minimum. Current studies show that certain games and game time can actually help kids concentrate.”

It sounds like video gaming has yet again been unfairly stereotyped as the bad apple. Truth be told, there is no such thing as a bad habit. There are just habits that you either do in moderation, or do in excess, hence becoming a vice, even a danger. Gaming in itself is value-neutral. It’s actually up to the person engaged in it if it would become that “bad habit” that they were referring it to be, or if they would utilize it in such a way that their over-all well-being would benefit from it.