It’s not hard to see parallels between meditating and playing video games. Both activities force participants to step out of their head, to temporarily forget their mind-made illusory self, and to become free from thoughts and worries.
But there are also some key differences between meditation and video games, which I will get into in this article.
Do Video Games Count as Meditation
Gaming, swimming, running, rock climbing, making art, dancing and watching a captivating show can all be meditative to some degree. These activities fall under three categories, some of which can overlap and fall into more than one category.
- Forcing us to be present
These are the activities like making art, dancing, rock climbing and performing. They get our adrenaline pumping and all of our focus is forced to be here and now. Gaming to some degree can fall into this category. - Hijacking our thought stream
This involves activities that totally interrupt our inner monologue. They include TV, movies, podcasts, books, and scrolling on our phones. Gaming also falls into this category, which is why gaming more than the other activities can feel more meditative. - Time to reflect and observe our thoughts, mind and body
Certain activities, like swimming, cannot be done with headphones in our ears pumping someone else’s thoughts into our brain. This creates a unique opportunity to be free from input and allow us to turn our attention inward and to better understand our minds and the nature of our thoughts. This is vitally important as this was our natural state of being before books and card games existed. Other activities included are running or walking without headphones, yoga, cycling, and most other activities such as brushing our teeth and doing the dishes if we do them without distracting entertainment.
Most humans for most of human history spent most of their lives just thinking. There was nothing else to do. Like the monkeys, we too would sit, relax and reflect for most of the day. We need this. But, it is different from meditating.
The Difference Between Meditating and Gaming
As meditative as activities like gaming can feel, it does not train the brain to be calmer, more focused, and more joyful after the activity is over. Meditation is not about sitting, it is about how it affects the rest of our day and our life.
Gaming can become an addictive activity because it feels good during the activity, but afterwards we are left longing for excitement and fun.
Whether it’s your favorite TV show or video game, it feels good to zonk out for a bit. There is nothing wrong with enjoying the pleasures of this world mindfully. But if we need something outside of us to bring us happiness, then we are not truly happy.
Food is necessary to live. But if we use it for comfort and happiness, we will eat too much and become sick and miserable. Whatever we rely on for happiness will begin to own and control us. We become possessed by our possessions.
Furthermore, the more we rely on incredibly stimulating games to make us present, the less able we are to enjoy a moment of peace and quiet. Very quickly, watching the gentle oceanic quality of our breath in real meditation will become impossible.
Meditative and meditation are very different. Meditative is anything we enjoy mindfully. Meditation is the practice of developing patience, peace and presence. Meditative is relying on something to make us present. Meditation develops our abilities to become present for our entire life.
Meditation is not just sitting still. It is the practice of maintaining single-pointed focus on the here and now. It trains us to rise above our thoughts, develop inner stillness, and expand our awareness to the subtleties of life. Stimulating entertainment and pleasures dull us to the nuances and subtleties of life. They make sunsets and the night sky a bore.
It is simply by developing our higher awareness, which can only be done when all gross distractions are removed, that we can observe our negative and chaotic thoughts with peace and happiness, that we can notice stress in the mind and body, and through peaceful witnessing, all chaotic disturbances dissolve.
Can Video Games Help Us Be Present
Unfortunately, video games are neither here nor now. They are escapist activities that allow us to teleport into other worlds and realities. Through reinforcing our desire to escape, it trains the mind to crave escape and life will become dead and dull. The more we play, the more we subconsciously tell ourselves that real life is bad and worthy of escape.
But, video games do simulate presence because these artificial worlds are so captivating of our attention. However, the key to lasting happiness is to feel that presence without needing hyperstimulation. When we can watch our breath with the same intensity and duration as when we get absorbed into a video game, then we awaken to life. When we awaken to life, there is no pleasure or experience that can compare.
Video games are a wonderful and harmless activity. Families bond and real friendships can form. But an unhealthy relationship to video games can cause problems. The relationship is everything. If we relate wisely to video games, they will bring us nothing but joy. If we are unwise, they can cause real harm.
Luckily, meditation can help us enjoy video games even more because we will no longer believe that they are the answer for our happiness. We can enjoy them for the leisurely activity they are, and when we stop playing we will feel no longing or craving because we have discovered the greatest source of joy on this earth — the joy within.
