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Well I want to start this thread here and see if we can get any discussion out of it and possibly some tips to help what I would guess is quite many people on this board.
To start of with, I'd say that we all as starcraft players have a need of getting mentally stimulated and that quite a lot. More so I'd guess than most other kinds of people which is why I think this is a good place to post this topic.
I have a hard time writing about this and formulating it into a problem and what solutions might be had. There has always been a thought that I need this kind of stimulation much of the time but I only thought of it as something good and just recently I've started thinking that it actually might be a problem and especially might become one in maybe 10 years.
Having lead a life of often being in front of the computer always thinking, considering, gathering information of issues around the world. Trying to solve starcraft problems, poker problems, watching a series or a movie and just having to play a flash game or browsing the web in the meantime or looking at 3 streams on TL constantly while browsing around because if not there is just not enough to make you feel content. I think many people feel like this these days, the human mind is made to make you satisfy it with information.
I feel that I have a big need to always get mental stimulation, it is difficult to go out just to take a walk to just relax in a manner I need music or a podcast to keep me busy and stimulated. Without this there is I would not call it stress but you just feel you are being unproductive with your time. A reason why starcraft is so good is that it just keeps you from thinking about anything else you just cannot do anything else at the same time.
Just to add the life I lead is a very happy one, have many friends a gf and all I could wish for but the thought of needing to so to say know everything at all times is quite bothersome.
Felt that I had to get this out and I've been considering whether to write and post it or not for quite a few days, sorry if it's not for this forums.
Anyone else here with the issue of needing this stimulus all the time and find starcraft to be one of the things which is good at it?
Any tips how to possibly decrease the need for this?
Or just any general thoughts on the topic at hand, I'd really love to hear your opinions and I'm sorry the post is as long as it is. I'm certain there are some aspects I forgot about that I meant to write too might add them later if I can remember them.
Thank you all for reading!
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Your post is all over the place. I don't see how your "many friends" or gf have anything to do with your "topic".
The only tip I have is to not post the stupid shit you think of while high, This topic is mental masturbation at its finest.
When you need to have 3 streams open at once to "feel content", it's called ADD and a doctor can help you with that.
User was warned for this post
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I myself really enjoy a break from mental stimulation when I get to enjoy a break from life. Try just taking a walk or a jog in some decent scenery, preferably away from traffic, with or without music. And just relax, don't worry about what thoughts pop up into your mind and just let go a bit.
edit: meant walk not talk, i can't type
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I feel you. It's not necessarily ADD; I don't have trouble focusing, socializing, or sitting silently in a car as I drive across the state. However, when I'm at home, it's like I constantly want to do something different. I play SC2 for awhile and then I'm like "Oh wait, I want to do this!" so I go do it, and in the middle, I have a sudden urge to watch Office reruns. Then in the middle of The Office, I start turning on random streams and SSF4 vods. It's like a neverending high of stimuli.
This is a pretty widely-studied problem in the internet generation. For me, it doesn't affect my life much, except when I start to procrastinate important activities. If it's interfering with your life, then it's a problem, but from the sound of things you're relatively normal and happy. Just enjoy it.
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Just spent a good hour or two watching the IBM Jeopardy computer shiz after clicking on it + Show Spoiler +, now just browsing Teamliquid and watching random Youtube videos but I need to start my homework!!!
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I know exactly what you mean, not sure what to offer as per advice but perhaps try doing something like reading for an hour a day, or any task that you need to focus on.
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Yea the same sort of thing happens to me i literelly cannot just do nothing I constnatly have to be stimulating y brain somehow, especialy on a computer. I don't think it's affected my overall life too much, but yea it can be weird. The posts above me are certainly interesting, thx for ur responses guys.
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I pretty much grew up with the internet and video games and I don't feel this way at all lol. Nothing I like more then a bit of quiet to get away from our hectic lives actually.
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intrigue
Washington, D.C9934 Posts
it's your habitual use of the computer. i also feel massive withdrawal when i'm on vacation (or some other prolonged absence from the internet), but my mind adjusts very nicely to the relative calm in just a few days. upon using the computer again i often feel just totally overwhelmed.
this mental state is peculiar to our generation and will only become more pronounced in the ones to follow. sometimes i just sit back and feel amazed after a quick search in google: 30 seconds ago i wondered what duck poop looks like, and now on this screen before me is hundreds of closeups of duck poop, videos of ducks pooping, articles on the diets of ducks and constituents of their feces, and comparisons to the wastes of other species. absurd, really
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I recommend exercising for 15 minutes a day.
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Maybe not the same thing but I leave streams open while I play games so I don't feel lonely?
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Get more sunlight, even if it is just sitting outside for 15 mins in the sun.
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Yeah idk, OP, I've got no advice because I seem to be stricken with the same affliction. I was excited to see your thread because I had been really wondering about this myself over the weekend.
I guess I'll just share my experience, it's pretty much the same as yours. I HAVE to be doing something while I'm doing something, almost as if Xzibit visited and put a brain in my brain so I can do stuff while I'm doing stuff.
If I'm watching a show or a movie, I'm always finding myself looking up articles, surfing facebook, or reading a forum. Whenever I'm eating, it feels like a waste of time to just sit at the table and eat, so I'll read, or put on a movie(which means I'll also be researching something at the same time), etc. Even when I lay down to sleep, I have to have turn on music, or turn on this talk radio show I like that comes on super late. If I don't I have trouble sleeping. I try to catch 6 hours of sleep maximum per night, I feel like I've wasted time if I go over that amount.
I'm currently learning Korean, but just like with HS and College, I can't concentrate without some form of background noise.
Even when I go out to smoke a cigarette, I pull out my phone and start a game, a Korean vocab app, or cruise TL/Facebook. I do this when there's a line I've got to stand in, as well.
Like you I lead a normal, happy life- lots of friends, no problems with girls, a job, a band, all great stuff. Also like you, I know it isn't ADD at all, but it's like I've got this weird need to be constantly productive.
I don't think it's entirely related to SC, if at all. This started for me a long time before I began playing starcraft with hopes of being competitive. Maybe Intrigue has got it right, maybe it's over-stimulation from constant computer/internet use particular to those of us who grew up in the computer age. I've been wondering, though, if this behavior has started to hinder my ability to enjoy some of the simpler things in life like just taking a walk, working out without music, or watching a movie. Maybe it's some weird aversion to being lazy? Some crazy desire to multitask like a god? I'm not sure, but I'll think about it some more and post another reply with more thoughts if they bubble up to the surface.
On February 16 2011 14:59 intrigue wrote:
sometimes i just sit back and feel amazed after a quick search in google: 30 seconds ago i wondered what duck poop looks like
Thanks. I hope you know that immediately after reading your post I had to go search duck poop before replying to the thread lol
Edit: to the first reply: I'm pretty certain the OP mentioned his friends/gf etc, as did I, to demonstrate that this isn't having an adverse effect on his relationships or overall contentedness with life.
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You should try meditation. I agree with meegrean's suggestion to get some exercise as well. I also think you should keep a journal and force yourself to write in it at least 5 minutes a day. You might be surprised how hard it is to do that.
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You can, and you should, force yourself to concentrate on single pursuits for periods of time.
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I'm like this but probably much worse than you. I get very bored with people extremely fast. I do a LOT of games, stumbling, videos, music, tv shows, movies, news, etc and it's only gotten worse once I graduated and have been too lazy to get a job. It's as though I'm extremely interested in what I don't know but then once I feel I'm not learning anymore about it I just completely ignore it even if it might be a friend. The unhealthy parts I think are the things that are very hard to understand and understanding them does not help your life like politics, news, philosophy, even a lot of stuff about science and games.
I remember realizing that I had gone to far when I needed to buy a bag of chips and it was driving me crazy that there were so many kinds and I had to take into account health, previous tastes, what others would like,etc. I also cannot sit through a commercial when watching something on tv, it drives me crazy I have to change the channel constantly until I find something interesting and then I spam the last button to check if the show is on while everyone yells at me. I also find I have trouble even leaving small posts, it's like if I post it has to perfectly explain what I'm trying to say and that makes them end up way longer than I intended them to be. Sometimes I will spend an entire hour just to post some stupid comment and then I look back and I'm like wtf what a waste of time, then I continue to edit the post as I find better or more accurate ways to explain it. I will often do things like cook, eat, brush my teeth, dress, drive, extremely fast like korean progamer fast because they are just mundane things then I'll get on my computer having gone light speed think of nothing to do and listen to a dance song on repeat for 2 hours straight while I daydream. Pretty fucked up?!? This could be you!
I look at my brother big house, rich, family, kids, lot of work and I just think how much it would suck to be in that situation where you cannot go on the internet, read, relax, not be stuck doing something you don't want to. I guess if you don't want to end up like me keep doing things you don't want to do just to teach yourself restraint, force yourself to keep in touch with ur friends, gf, try to act normal when you dont' want to and probably most important to get and keep a job. I gave up fighting it and now I usually just sit on my comp all day it's a lot of fun and I can trade the stock market which is fun it's like a new game but I keep getting bored of that off and on too. Sometimes I wish there was a switch I could turn on to be more normal and less obsessive about information but I dunno this is what I enjoy I guess we all do what we enjoy.
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Yeah I need mental stimulation pretty much all the time.
What I find stimulating: Science (it's what i do in school) Starcraft 2 (what i do at home)
What I don't find stimulation: Spending time with people. Having a girlfriend means a lot of this, and its pretty fucking annoying.
I think the need for mental stimulation is good, though it's also very good to relax from time to time. Try weed, you will find the oddest things mentally stimulating... =)
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Exercise helps me with this problem a ton. I bike around an hour a day, and do isometric ab workouts, and it makes me so so so much calmer. I'd give it a try if I were you, see how it works.
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I have that, too, though it gets harder every day to get the mental stimulation. As soon as i find a pattern in something i get bored by it, and sadly i'm extremely fast with finding pattern.
I learned programming because it's something complex, but now even that just bores me because for 99% of the problems i immedatly find the pattern and apply other patterns to solve them. It's just tedious work, no mental stimulation.
Walking, working out, etc... just boring repetition, nothing to distract me.
I think the main problem is that i'm trying to distract me from thinking thoughts i know i shouldn't be thinking (i have a serious depression), so i try to find anything that stimulates my brain to do something else than thinking, though i haven't found anything that works very long. This also causes problems when trying to sleep, since suddenly there is no more mental stimulation and it takes several hours for my brain to shut down.
ok, this post is not very coherent, but well... maybe i'm too tired...
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its called add
one of the many symptoms of add is the constant need for stimulation, which is why a lot of people with add play fast and intense video games (starcraft is one among many).
obviously there are a lot of different ways add can manifest itself, but the need for constant stimulation and mental challenges is one way, even if you aren't hyperactive physically
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EPT
