On Video Game Addiction

I defy anyone to find a better modern personification of sloth than video games. Up till now the condemnation which that (in)activity has received has been the equivalent of a slap on the wrist, but video game addiction is no laughing matter, and I submit to you that it is a vice as strong as any other, and one which in some cases a man cannot be free of without the grace of God.

While I don’t know if I would go so far as to call video game addiction a mortal sin, someone has, insofar as it may be identified with sloth (a.k.a. laziness, idleness). We would be foolish to take it lightly, since in His parable our Lord said of the lazy servant who did not give his master a return on his investment (Mat. 25:14-30), “And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Clearly more is at stake here than our time and even our health. Our time, our lives, our very selves are all–I was going to say “gifts,” but I think “loans” is the better term. We do not belong to ourselves; we belong to our Creator. And He rightfully expects us to serve Him and our fellow man and to enrich ourselves with God-honoring and meaningful pursuits.

Let’s be honest: unless you’re standing in the middle of the village in Diablo II quoting scripture, you’re not spreading the gospel. Getting the red mushroom in Super Mario World does not qualify as spiritual growth. And healing your fallen ally in Call of Duty does not count as an act of charity.

But I think that gamers, in their most honest moments, agree–albeit grudgingly. They are less like the Byronic hero who remains defiant to the end than the “drunk who with one more glass fortifies his resolution to become a teetotaler.”

Obviously this message does not apply to everyone, but anyone who has ever experience real addiction knows what I’m talking about. Anyone who wakes up in the morning and promises both God and himself that today will be the last day he plays, later to promise that he will at least get some work done first, and in the evening to gnash his teeth and hate himself for wasting yet another whole day; anyone who has prayed for freedom and wished the damn machine had never been invented; anyone who has spent the best months and years of his life in idleness and has nothing to show for it; any such person as I am describing is in great need of the power of God.

He will probably get very little help from his friends and family, who think that he could just stop playing any time he likes, and they would never consider this to be on a level with cocaine addiction. More’s the pity, because he if his resolution is likely to last, he will need their help more than ever.

I speak from experience. My advice to you, if you suffer as I suffered, is to PRAY FOR DEAR LIFE; and acknowledge that, just like the alcoholic, cold turkey may be your only means of salvation. For me it got so bad that I finally had to take a vow to God never to play again. And although I did have a relapse, I can honestly say that I have never been happier. I can say that no one knows the meaning of freedom more than he who has known (and by the grace of God been freed from) bondage to sin.

“Against Idleness and Mischief” by Isaac Watts

How doth the little busy Bee
Improve each shining Hour,
And gather Honey all the day
From every opening Flower!

How skilfully she builds her Cell!
How neat she spreads the Wax!
And labours hard to store it well
With the sweet Food she makes.

In Works of Labour or of Skill
I would be busy too:
For Satan finds some Mischief still
For idle Hands to do.

In Books, or Work, or healthful Play
Let my first Years be past,
That I may give for every Day
Some good Account at last.

Travis Lambert

Interests: Apologetics; Classical and Medieval Latin, Literature, and Philosophy; Epic Poetry; C.S. Lewis; chess; travel; writing (novel, short fiction, creative nonfiction, essay, Latin composition, translation).