The W, A, S, & D keys on the keyboard I’m using to type this out at this exact moment are worn down to the freaking light beneath the panel. The L Control, L Shift, & space bar are also a bit worse for wear and don’t even get me started on my $12 Bluetooth Mouse.

Yeah, I guess you could say that gaming is a bit of a hobby.

And when I say hobby, I mean more of an obsession.

…and when I say obsession, I mean more of a general issue with my life choices.

Don’t get me wrong — gaming can be an incredibly fun way to spend time with your friends and family, especially when they are located across the country during the summer months. However, gaming can take over your life (and I know this first-hand).

I’m a huge fan of the incredibly popular video game, Overwatch. It’s currently one of the highest grossing games of the past year due to its highly relatable and diverse cast of heroes, team-based gameplay, and interesting lore. Many individuals such as Twitch Streamers have dedicated their lives to playing the game and developing a diehard fanbase. Blizzard Entertainment has sold over 35 million copies of Overwatch, adding an average of 2.2 million copies per month to its roster.

It’s not like I intentionally became an Overwatch groupie, but…I became an Overwatch groupie. Since purchasing the game, I’ve met many incredible new friends, learned about the gaming industry and its potential for growth, became more and more highly regarded in a community where skill ranking means everything, and loved every minute of it. With that being said, over the past 13 months, I’ve logged over 300 hours of gameplay; that’s the equivalent of over five 40-hour work weeks in a little over a year.

That’s insane.

And it didn’t stop at Overwatch, either — I’ve extended my gaming “tendrils” into both new games and the classics, such as Dead by Daylight, Minecraft, and Retro Tetris. I haven’t even looked at my logged hours on those fickle fiends, but I know it’s definitely not going to be a number to be proud of.

Gaming as a whole has developed from the old stereotypes and bloomed into a formidable industry with branches in movies, television, and other mainstream forms of entertainment. Video games are fun, but the caveat is that they’re addictive as all hell, and no one wants the image of the middle-aged guy living in his parent’s basement covered in Cheeto dust to resurface as the “gamer go-to.” C’mon, we’re so much better than that!

I’m not saying that you should put down your PS4/Xbox controllers or chuck your 6-function gaming mouse in the trash (god knows I’m not). All I’m asking is that you occasionally lean back in your chair, think carefully about whether or not finishing this last raid is really necessary, and ask yourself: “Should I really be up at 4 a.m.?” (Unless you are a literal being of night & shadow or your wife is in labor, the answer is most likely “no”.)

You can’t spend 4 hours a day staring at the same 15-inch screen — there’s probably some sort of cleaning that has to be done, some application to fill out, or some goddamn sleep to get slept.

So turn off your computer / TV, put your phone on airplane mode, and smell the freakin’ roses.