I'm in 8th grade, but in an advanced program and I have a lot of homework everyday. As soon as I come home from school, I start working, and I usually end around 11:00. This isn't because I have a shit ton of work, but because I'm so addicted to video games that when a parent isn't around, I'll turn on a computer game and am unable to stop myself from doing so. A lot of the times I say to myself something like "Just one match" or "Just a few deaths" and then continue playing. How can I fix this?

Also, for those of you who will probably ask me to talk to my parents, my response is that there's no point. They usually end up going to work for 8 or so hours a day, and then come home and work till 2:00 in the morning. I also can't ask my sister because she has alcohol and drug abuse problems, but she's currently in therapy. I've considered suicide a couple of times because of how hard it is to manage everything while having to take care of my sister at home, but I decided that I was probably just feeling sorry for myself.

I'm actually supposed to be doing homework right now.

Have you tried not turning on the system

I have to do homework on it, since my family only has one computer.

I have a super short attention span and bad focus too. What kinda helps with me is printing off a lot of stuff and then either submitting it hard copy or typing it out after completion.

What also helps me is putting together an if- then plan on when I'll do homework and how long I'll allow myself to slack off. Usually after slacking off a bit I only force myself to do 15 minutes of work, but it's enough to engross me in whatever I'm doing

Not sure if that applies to you tho

Thanks for the reply, but that doesn't help me with my addiction problem. I usually end up playing for hours at a stretch, and can't seem to find the willpower to stick to a plan. I was supposed to be doing homework that last 30minutes, but I've been browsing the internet, even AFTER posting this question and acknowledging I have a problem.

Same problem.


If you're ever doing homework on a worksheet or something just work at a place where there is no distractions


be sure to do it first thing when you get home

It's because you are to young to realize that school is important. Your young mind tells you there are more interesting things rather than succeeding in school.

What I do not understand, is you see that there is a problem and yet you do nothing about it.

You act like the game forces you to play it. You notice the thoughts and do nothing to prevent the situation.

There is nothing to help you with. You are simply not mentally strong enough to prioritize the tasks at hand. You will grow over time, unless you push your self to realize that you can control your actions simply by realizing you want to play the game and then not doing it.

Have you tried setting up a schedule? I think there are programs that lock you out of your computer for certain hours, you can use that to make sure you study/do any work you have to

If you need somebody to talk to about depression or anything like it, shoot me a pm

I used to be the same way but now I can't play videogames, they are so uninteresting to me that I can only play for short periods of time before I have to do something else

You sound like you have a severe lack of motivation, have you considered asking to see a psychiatrist/therapist?

Maybe uninstall all your games.

Take regular breaks, set goals "just this set then play 1 match", schedule.

Unplug your computer until you finish your homework.

Don't you fucking dare to plug it in until your homework is done.