Part of the reason video games eat up so much time is because they’re so engaging. It’s easy to get lost in their finely-crafted worlds, or get hooked by their clever progression systems that leave you saying “Just one more thing...” I can’t count how many times I’ve sat down to play Breath of the Wild for “a couple minutes” then looked up to see hours have gone by, or popped into Overwatch to play “a few matches” then realize it’s suddenly past my bedtime.
When you sit down to play a game, I’ve found setting a timer helps a lot. Set a daily limit for yourself and try to keep to it. Even if you don’t stop as soon as the timer goes off, you still become aware of how much time you’ve spent playing that day, and awareness is key. It can help to create a ruleset for your gaming too, like “I’ll only play games with friends” or “I can only play games on certain days of the week.” That said, don’t restrict yourself too much or you won’t keep to your goals. It’s okay to splurge every once in awhile and plan an occasional “free gaming day.”
There’s no way around it: some games require a much bigger time investment than other games, and giant open-world exploration games. I spent way too much time doing basically nothing in GTA V, have barely scratched the surface of Persona 5 at nearly 40 hours in, and would probably cry if I looked at my total time played during the golden age of World of Warcraft.
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