{"id":46302,"date":"2022-02-18T12:42:52","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T17:42:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=46302"},"modified":"2022-02-18T12:42:53","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T17:42:53","slug":"how-video-games-help-me-stay-focused-on-school-joyatuoft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2022\/02\/18\/how-video-games-help-me-stay-focused-on-school-joyatuoft\/","title":{"rendered":"How Video Games Help me Stay Focused on School #JoyatUofT"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>One day, I was feeling nostalgic for video games that I played growing up. From child-friendly <em>Crash Bandicoot<\/em> to violent <em>Mortal Kombat<\/em> (I have an older brother to thank for that), I longed to play these games again but I no longer owned the gaming consoles to play them. My mind instantly turned to PC gaming as an alternative \u2013 maybe a few titles have been remastered for PC? I haven\u2019t stopped gaming on my computer since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2022\/02\/D4871002-2FA0-4A21-A029-64F768C18AA7-1-1024x768.jpeg\" alt=\"purple backlit mechanical keyboard\" class=\"wp-image-46311\" width=\"487\" height=\"365\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2022\/02\/D4871002-2FA0-4A21-A029-64F768C18AA7-1-1024x768.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2022\/02\/D4871002-2FA0-4A21-A029-64F768C18AA7-1-300x225.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2022\/02\/D4871002-2FA0-4A21-A029-64F768C18AA7-1-768x576.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2022\/02\/D4871002-2FA0-4A21-A029-64F768C18AA7-1.jpeg 1280w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 487px) 100vw, 487px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Video games have an infamous reputation for being a mode of distraction, especially for students. For me though, it helps me stay afloat throughout the hundreds of readings and term work I have to do every week. After a long day at the library, I would go home and play video games to unwind. Now I know that the format and style of some video games can make playing more time-consuming (<em>Valorant<\/em>, I\u2019m looking at you). Yakuza 2 Kiwami is a highly enjoyable but time-consuming game for me. So, when I know I have to get a lot of work done on a given day, I put it off and usually play it on a day where I\u2019m freer or have a lighter workload.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m terrible at video games, for the most part; I still play to plug myself into a different world, to give myself a break from the long hours of studying I put myself through. <strong>Not everything that\u2019s fun has to be considered a distraction.<\/strong> Video games, for me, are like mental fuel; they recharge me for the next study session. When I do back-to-back studying with little time for hobbies in between, I find myself dreading the next time I have to spend time on homework. I end up procrastinating and I would remind myself of that burnout feeling I got after studying consecutively. <strong>Video gaming prevents me from experiencing burnout and keeps me in a steady flow for school.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2022\/02\/Image-1-768x1024.jpeg\" alt=\"screenshot of digital weekly planner\" class=\"wp-image-46313\" width=\"439\" height=\"585\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2022\/02\/Image-1-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2022\/02\/Image-1-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2022\/02\/Image-1-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/files\/2022\/02\/Image-1.jpeg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 439px) 100vw, 439px\" \/><figcaption><em>Days of the week are written in Korean to help with my language study!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Although I want to clarify that <strong>I achieve this balance by planning out my week<\/strong> \u2013 recording deadlines for assignments and figuring out what days work best to dedicate to studying. For instance, I do most of my studying on my days off where I don\u2019t have lectures. When I do have lectures, I limit my studying to be lighter so I\u2019m not overwhelmed by the countless hours of sitting and absorbing class material. If I didn\u2019t keep myself aware of my weekly workload then video gaming would just add to the problem of procrastination and getting overwhelmed. But if done right, hobbies can be utilized to keep your studying habits in check.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-summary\">\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">\nOne day, I was feeling nostalgic for video games that I played growing up. From child-friendly Crash Bandicoot to violent Mortal Kombat (I have an older brother to thank for that), I longed to play these games again but I&hellip;\n<\/div><div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2022\/02\/18\/how-video-games-help-me-stay-focused-on-school-joyatuoft\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;How Video Games Help me Stay Focused on School #JoyatUofT&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div><div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2022\/02\/18\/how-video-games-help-me-stay-focused-on-school-joyatuoft\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &ldquo;How Video Games Help me Stay Focused on School #JoyatUofT&rdquo;<\/span>&hellip;<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":408,"featured_media":46308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[78,7230,138,622,15844,696,1837,27716,257],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46302"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/408"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46302"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46317,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46302\/revisions\/46317"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}