Real men DO NOT play video games. #toxicmasculinity

do you want to stay in a relationship
with me or do you want to play dumb video games and are any of the games partnership is that I'm certain in week that if I played video games it upsets you that much you're going to break up with me the games in the last few years I've traveled all around the world partly by choice partly because of the conditions of my divorce and going to visit my daughter and I see government propaganda for so many different things you know propaganda for joining the army sure but some of those propaganda for really specific social issues like are you sure you're not racist oh look at the mirror and ask yourself how prejudiced you are today I remember one public service campaign of this kind it was like are you sure you're spending enough time walking your dog don't neglect your house pets they're all these sort of sanctimonious often somewhat pointless public information campaigns I would love to see a billboard I would love to see an advertisement campaign up that said choose life choose reality the only way to win is not playing the game and I'm not talking about gambling here I'm talking about the epidemic of the video game playing far beyond video game addiction it's an issue that governments around the world are going to have to start to take seriously and that you and I as humble citizens in democratic systems we're gonna have to step up and start to take it seriously - do you want to stay in a relationship with me or do you want to play dumb video games that are any of the games so the girl was joking here but the guy wasn't she decided to confront this guy and pretend that she was demanding that he did he quit video games but the guy did not know it was joke he did not know what setup and when she demanded to know who would you choose are you gonna choose to be with me or gonna choose to play video games his answer was that he's gonna choose to continue playing video games that's probably true but at the same time it keeps me sane like you would be studying you could literally do anything but video games obviously the fact that you chose the video games for me a hundred percent it's nothing like me coming up to you Gabrielle either you start wearing makeup or we're done that'd be ridiculous and overbearing and unbelievably controlling and I hope that you try to break up with me is it is it comfortable to your girlfriend when we make a visit has your girlfriend ever missed an appointment refused to show up and participate in something you wanted to do because of makeup how many hours a day does your girlfriend spend putting on makeup is she spent three hours a day put her makeup has your girlfriend ever stayed awake past midnight because she was just sitting there in front of the mirror putting on makeup it's really not comparable at all is it I mean think about how you'd feel the positions were reversed what if your girlfriend didn't show up for and didn't participate in something anything that you really care about doing because she was busy playing video games because she cared more about playing video games then doing that thing whatever was he wanted to do whether that was climbing a mountain or making love to each other or spending quality time doing some activity or another I don't know whatever it is that matters to you in your life short-term or long-term whatever it is you're trying to make progress towards as a goal if your girlfriend were not doing that because she was busy playing video games how would you feel about her it's not it's not like wearing makeup at all I heard about any other couple saying something like that I'd be like oh it's over that's ridiculous that's childish I'm just saying video games are me like make your choice video games so I wanted to remake the video talking about when to know when ready to quit video games because I had to think about it more and I have to think about like what really got me to quit video games and I think it was again I lost the value in video games I thought they I didn't think they were cool anymore I kind of saw them as pathetic and stupid you see it it's just something really pathetic I don't know how it happened I didn't make the decision to see it like that it just one day happened and I think it had a lot to do with just seeing other people mesmerised with the game and kind of looking at it and saying wow that person is pathetic that person is such a lame nerd like this stuff is stupid this stuff is useless you know and here he is like mesmerized by it and taking it so serious so it's interesting he for him the trigger or the breaking point was him perceiving this in others right like for me I can perceive it in myself I'm not capable of enjoying playing a video game now as an adult in the way that I could enjoy it as a child you know I'm to be blunt I'm not stupid enough anymore and I mean like I can remember the first day I ever played Sonic the Hedgehog 2 when I was a kid and I was already old enough when that happened that I was aware like wow this period of my life is ending like I remember the first day of played Santa - I was excited and him feeling that excitement I was already aware then like this is a really childish kind of excitement and like this is probably the last time I'm gonna feel this way plank video game and it was I mean that was it I think Sonic the Hedgehog - that was the last time I thought when Sonic the Hedgehog 3 came out I didn't really care who's you know I had some kind of detach interest now that's interesting you know what are they doing with the series you know what you know like but like you know that was just like a newspaper story it was just an interesting thing happening in the culture whereas the first time I played sonic the hedge - you know I lit up I was I was happy okay the last time I tried playing a Sonic the Hedgehog video game I was sitting on the toilet and I had Sonic the Hedgehog on a mobile device I was like well you know whatever I'm gonna be sitting on the toilet for a while I could try playing some catch-up and like after like two minutes I stuck this is a horrible drudgery there's no way I can enjoy doing this like none there is there's nothing about this that's enjoyable or interesting or entertaining or fun for me it's not just the case that I would prefer to be reading a book while I was on the toilet it's it's not that convenient to read a book in the bath it's really not I would rather just sit here and think about something meaningful rather than do this kind of drudgery this busy work of playing this game I really think when you're an intelligent person you apply your intelligence to every element of your life your diet your exercise your recreation your work you know I don't think it's possible for an intelligent person to step back into that fundamentally childish and childlike and stupid mindset that's necessary to enjoy playing video games and sure we all have to question to what extent in our own lives being intelligent is a choice and it's a choice that brings with it its own joys and its own miseries sure but I'm forever cut off from that childlike and childish experience so what really got me to quit video games is I realized it was just really pathetic and lame and stupid and I would pretty much rather do anything with my time and again I could think about all the different games and just like I I have to admit I think it was other players and seeing how pathetic the interaction was with them that that really made me realize how pathetic video games actually are I I and I just stamped out of it and I quit playing video games because again I'll that's how a lot of people see video games to be honest you know a lot of people who don't play video games they see it as a pathetic waste of time like why the [ __ ] are you playing that [ __ ] stupid so wasting time you're not making any money or not doing nothing with it it's a waste of [ __ ] time and then a lot of people you know who defend video gives a little wood but it's a shiny object to me and it you know it's relaxing and but it's stupid it it legitimately is and again you can be mesmerized by it and think it's not stupid that's that's again I used to think it was really cool but at one point it just it just I realized it wasn't so that's really the real way that I quit my video game addiction you can you can be working on two projects say and one project starts making a ton of money starts making thousands of dollars and the other project you may have liked it too but it made no money or like five dollars so you have one project making thousands of dollars one project making five dollars of course you're gonna be like oh you know I'm gonna I'm gonna forget about the five dollar project and I'm gonna invest all my time in the thousand dollar project sometimes again it's about finding a replacement that truly is just like obviously a better choice and the other project is just a [ __ ] waste of time okay and it's a no-brainer and it's the same with like video games like wow this is pathetic you know it's unhealthy its addicting you know everything about it is pathetic and then maybe could be like working out and dating and all this [ __ ] and you're like wow that's I'm getting so much more out of this you know so it's like you know it's a clear winner you just have to realize it and and and see that better option as an option and and then I think again that's the the real way that you get out of a lot of addiction thing and especially video game addiction you have to find something that's better and I think a lot of people struggle you know they quit video games and they have nothing to replace it with they try to replace it and they can't and then they fall back to video games and they defend video games and that's [ __ ] sad and like one time I remember I was playing this RPG game and I paid somebody $25 for a super rare item that was extremely hard to get and that was the only way I could get it was to pay for it and for $25 to get the rarest one of the rarest the best weapons in the game to me it was worth it you know it was like a [ __ ] micro transaction but for weeks if not months he thought he was the coolest [ __ ] for getting $25 like months later he was still bragging about how he sold an item for $25 and I was like god damn that's [ __ ] pathetic one you don't even have the rarest item in the game anymore and two you could make $25 working a [ __ ] job you know half the day a couple a couple of hours minimum wage so a lot of you guys know if you follow my instagram or my snapchat that I sold my $5,000 plus set gaming setup and I quit gaming full-time at like I'm just completely and a lot of you of my fans out there on YouTube and Instagram have been like oh why is Rodney why he's Rathbone like cameos gave me except what has happened to me this is crazy I don't got a lot of fans out there but I got a few okay 200 plus and I care about you guys like I might not be like one of 10 million subscriber youtubers and a lot of my friends like make fun of me because I think I'm a big hotshot which I don't think of a big hotshot but they laugh at me because they think like oh you just got 200 fans and he's acting like you got a million no it's just because I care about you guys you see and I need to tell you guys why I'm doing what I'm doing so it might be complicated for you guys to understand but gaming it's a great way to make millions easily like for at night tournaments twelve million dollars if you win the world 20 million always would win the World Cup it's crazy like Booga he's a millionaire multi-millionaire because you won the World Cup in third place they have all they got like a million dollars like it's crazy with you can win but it's not a good way to spend your time people get like all kinds of diseases from sitting in their chairs 18 hours out of the day it is so unhealthy like ninja he streams 12 hours a day then he stays up only on his plasma TV that and just watch his Game of Thrones until 2:00 a.m. it's so unhealthy and like I don't know how to explain this but I used to be really strong I used to go out and farm and work on my tractor and work with my dad outside on the big barn with our goats and our animals and our dogs go outside run and play have fun with my friends go out to a concert or something and no I'm stuck here gaming isn't that interesting for him it was the physical deterioration that made him reconsider his lifestyle choice for different people it's different things I hate I new First Nations people Native American people what everyone say back when I was living in Saskatchewan and a lot of them had a kind of childhood memory of that that up to a certain point in their youth they were really strong and really healthy even it's just cuz they kind of ran around lifting boats in and out of the river kind of miscellaneous outdoor activities like that and then at one point it all stopped as video games and television you know increasingly took over their life took over a few hours per day in their childhood when they weren't in school or weren't you know eating sleeping showering so on and so forth there's a totally hypocritical youtuber called pat the nes punk and I saw his commentary on China's new government policy to try to limit young people to playing online video games for three hours a day and he wants to act like three hours days not three hours a day is nothing how many hours of the day do you have in which you could be reading a book in which you could be developing your mind or as this kid says when you could be in some sense develop your body even if that's just in kind of freeform you know outdoor play how many hours day do you have when you're not in school not doing the grocery shopping and not asleep three hours a day is an unbelievable drain in your productivity three hours a day is an unbelievable limit to your mental and physical self cultivation but it's interesting that for this kid the turning point was recognizing his physical deterioration as a result of playing video games and he had the fantasy that he could earn millions of dollars doing it and losing health it's Louise you know I've lost a lot of my muscle up and trying to gain it back by working out and playing outside and going with my friends working on our farm and all kinds of stuff it's just so much better also ever since I've stopped gaming my grades have gone through the roof it's crazy like A's and B's pluses in all my classes it's it's crazy hey these C's and even an F and my classes before it's a crazy weight can change it's crazy and I want to start working on my future guitar my music I'm I'm very talented God given me gave me a gift sorry God gave me a gift from music I have almost relatively perfect pitch in my ears and I had no idea until I started music and it would be purposefully pitch perfect that my parents had allowed me to listen to music when I was younger but they didn't believe in music we just sang hymns in church every Saturday or Sunday and that's all I learned but now I know that if I had listened to music I would have perfect pitch in my ears and my guitar playing in three years I've excelled like crazy like I'm as good as people like my friend Ashley who's been playing all our life I am almost completely good as her or better yet I haven't playing for three years when I go to college I'm going to Berkeley music Institute University it's in Boston if you don't if you guys don't know what it is you should look it up I'm gonna start whoopin my own and working really hard for the x4 you three and a half years now um to get prepared and get a scholarship so I'm just gonna start pursuing my career music and otherwise you guys or follow me or subscribe to me for my gaming content if that's the way only way you want to watch I suggest unsubscribing from me there you go that kid got a new dream a new sense of direction motivation to study motivation get high grades he has a specific idea about going to college having a career as a guitarist he may have unrealistic expectations of career as a guitarist just as he had unrealistic expectations of being a professional video game player making millions of dollars before but nevertheless obviously turns whole life around and it started with this awareness that whoa he was withering away physically playing video games and obviously he was at least aware that his studies at school or with a whirring way I think he doesn't have much of a concept of the extent to which he might have been with her in way intellectually also but interesting that kid turned it around here by contrast is some kid who did not quote I just learned that I got kicked out of college my first year on my own really lucky to get in the University of Florida and not have to worry about tuition and I wasted it all I wound up there knowing that I had a gaming problem but I told myself as I always do that I could control it after dropping two classes and failing another my first semester you'd think I'd get some perspective but did I learn anything of course not I failed another two classes can't go back now though burnt that bridge I still refused to give it up I'm not even good at the games I play I just can't get away from the distraction I think to myself that I should be taking care of some other responsibilities but oh I could finish that later I have time I lie to myself so much I lie to everyone I can't remember the last time I was completely honest with someone I say that I want to change but then I don't change my parents say that I must not really want to change that this has been my choice I can't disagree with that I need to recognize this problem as something inside myself something I can kick but I also can't let my addiction have any hold life it needs to go if I'm ever going to be able to live on my own and support a family it's difficult though because I don't really know what motivates me I don't have any goals for life I've just lived my life up until this point the easiest way possible and that doesn't really involve thinking about what I want to do with my life I think one of the most profound and disturbing ways in which video games exercise a corrosive influence on people's lives is that it trains them to enjoy only what is familiar and under their control and fully known video games present you with a simulated world in which you control what happens you control everything to a much greater extent than you can in real life in which you understand what's happening in that world it's knowable to you you know how to win you know how to lose you know the rules of the game and precisely what we need to be prepared to do in life is to take risks and do things boldly with courage where the outcomes are really unknown and if you think I just mean something like going to Cambodia to do humanitarian work I don't you know when I do research projects I go to the library and I boldly and courageously try to research something that to me is unknown the first time I decided to do a research project on Sakhalin Island which in Japanese is called Kuro futo it's just like man nobody's written anything about the history the political history of this enormous island that's just north of Japan and I'm vaguely aware from like checking Wikipedia politically it was contested between China Russia and Japan these three countries fought over okay when I'm going to the library to take that book off the shelf and start doing that research project and to write an essay for it alright I know this doesn't seem to connect to bravery or courage in the same way as I don't know going to the jungle and chopping your own firewood which I've done and boiling beans over a wood fire and doing humanitarian working I mean risking getting malaria the biggest threat to my health and my life there were mosquitoes that's the truth right um you may not think that's courage but it's a kind of courage it's a kind of boldness it's taking your curiosity and saying I'm gonna strike out into the world try to mix in this and what am I gonna discover I don't know maybe I start doing this research and I figure out there's no story to tell there there's no essay to write there and now I've got to take on a new direction I've got to go back to the drawing board I've got to start with a blank sheet of paper and start a whole new research project a new essay that can happen or it can be that I start doing this research project and I expected the Russians to be the bad guys but the Russians in earnest be the good guys or you expected you expected the Japanese to be the bad guys you expect the Japanese would be carrying out a genocide there against the indigenous people and then you find out the history wasn't like that at all you're gonna challenge you know your own assumptions you're gonna challenge your own ignorance and you're gonna learn to cope with you know doubt and self doubt and uncertainty you're gonna learn to have a productive active analytical relationship with things you don't know and things you can't control because that's the nature of man's struggle with reality is a struggle with the unknown and when you're playing video games you're training yourself just to enjoy this much more narrow and shallow experience of a world where everything is under your control everything is now