In the face of the outbreak of the coronavirus, students everywhere are stuck at home. In this strange time, it can be super difficult to be productive; and a lot of students are choosing to spend their time playing video games. Since restrictions for Covid have been in place, video game sales have skyrocketed, and video game usage has increased by a whopping 75%!
Although it can be harmful to spend too much time hunched over a keyboard, your love for gaming should not be discouraged; instead, you can use gaming as a way to develop good studying habits and practices. We've compiled some helpful tips here to turn procrastination time into productive time:
Use Gaming as an Incentive
Use gaming as a reward system for completing daily tasks. Weaving game time into a daily workload has proven to benefit motivation, productivity, and much more! Reward yourself every time you finish a section by playing a single match, or try out playing 10 minutes for every 30 minutes of work you complete.
Predetermine Your Game & Screen Time
Before starting a session, set a time limit (no longer than 2 hours at a time). This will prevent you from getting stuck in a loop of “just one-more” or “we can’t stop on a loss.” Plan out a daily schedule, and focus first on planning out times for tasks you have to get done first, like chores or homework. Once you know how much you need to get done in a day, you can figure out how much time you have to play.
Take Breaks in Between Sessions
After a session, take a break from gaming for at least as long as the session itself. Stand up and complete hand/wrist exercises to help prevent fatigue and damage.
Give your eyes a break too! Looking at screens for too long can give you eye strain, headaches, and more. Every 20 minutes, look at something (that isn't a screen) 20 feet away for atleast 20 seconds.
Connect Your Game Mechanics to Math or Statistics
When you are gaming, you’re actually often subconsciously using math.
Try making those subconscious calculations conscious. It can be great math practice - in a method much more fun than reading word problems out of a textbook! Challenge yourself by making up word problems with the games you play. What percentage of games did you win today? How many quests can you complete per hour?
Say, for example, you're fighting a boss. You're firing rockets at the boss, and each one does 120 damage. You've managed to get the boss down to 520 HP and you have 3 rockets left. Will you be able to defeat the boss with only the rockets you have left? Or will you have to switch to another weapon to win this battle?
You can find the answer with some quick algebra as you play:
3 Rockets * 120 Damage Each = 360 damage total
520 HP - 360 Damage = 160 HP left
Answer: You'll have to switch to another weapon to win!
Learn to Code Your Own Games
Everybody has an “I wish that the game would let me do this…” moment. Why not make the game? Besides being fun, it can also be practical. Learning to code through a game engine like Unity can help you create worlds, characters, games and apps of your own, while also being a pathway to numerous career opportunities in sectors such as medicine, engineering, or software development.
Use your game time as research time for your own projects. What makes your favorite game fun? What feature made your least favorite game frustrating?
Set Goals for Yourself
When beginning a gaming session, identify a goal or area of focus to pay attention to, such as communication, accuracy, or movement. This leads to mindful gaming. A goal-oriented mindset that helps develop healthy habits that transfer to other aspects of your life. Communication, collaboration, creativity and critical thinking, are just a few of the key components us gamers have to excel at, in order to improve.
Too much screen time has long been considered bad for kids and adults alike, but scientists have recently found that lots of digital screen use isn't necessarily very harmful.
What matters more is how you use your screen time. Even if you're looking at screens more often right now, that's okay! As long as it isn't interfering with your responsibilities, and you're using some of that time to learn new things, grow as a person, and communicate with friends and family, you don't need to be too worried about the extra time you're spending online.
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