The Candy Crush Saga has taken over social networking, phones, iPads, and laptops by storm. What’s worse is that it has taken over the minds of the players of this game as well, getting them addicted to it. This Techspirited article brings to your notice the signs of Candy Crush addiction, thereby providing you with tips to help overcome this game addiction.
Candy Crushed!
The U.K. Rehab offers a residential rehabilitation program to relieve people of their Candy Crush Saga addiction. It receives around 100 inquiries a month and costs around $5,000.
Candy Crush Saga needs no introduction, does it? This game was released on the 12th of April, 2012 on Facebook. The iOS and Android version released in the same year, and it instantly took over the social media platform like a storm, surpassing FarmVille 2, which was huge hit at the time.
This game is one such addiction that has engulfed many generations. It has around 132.9 million monthly Facebook players hooked on to it. Children and adults alike have spent hundreds and thousands of dollars on life boosts and extra moves. So much so that the app alone makes around $640,000 per day! So if you are one of those who have blown a small fortune on this game, are still very addicted to it, and wish to cleanse yourself off the game, you have come to the right place to read about it. Following are the signs of addiction to watch out for along with how to overcome it.
What Makes Candy Crush So Addictive?
❍ According to experts, our brain has nothing to do with the addiction. It is the hormones that feed the fire of any addiction. The true culprit isdopamine, a feel-good hormone, which is released during certain kind of excitement. This neurochemical is released in the brain, which feeds the pleasure response and the addictive behavior. It originally helps develop a behavioral response and discriminate between good and bad. It gives a sense of reward and motivation when a correct decision is made. Once the chemical is at play, it also takes care of the pleasure responses, creating addictive behavior, which over time becomes a major influence to make poor choices, leading to destructive behavior.
❍ Motivating words, viz., Sweet and Delicious are used to encourage and feed dopamine. Good feedback motivates the player to keep playing.
❍ Facebook junkies are the first to get hooked on to the game. It all begins as a recreation while waiting for someone to post something on the page. Once the game starts, the player realizes his/her friends who are playing the game and soon the player is bombarded with hundreds of game requests, thus getting the player hooked. Later, it is just a matter of need, ego, and courtesy that keeps the player to play the game.
❍ The game obviously begins with the simplest of levels, tempting the player with motivation and encouragement to keep on playing in order to get those three starts. As the levels go higher, the game gets tougher. This further helps keep the player hooked. It encourages the player to use the special tools to get a higher score. Once those are over, another round of encouragement pops up to buy these tools.
❍ The game deals the player with 5 lives and a long wait. The players would lose interest if they had unlimited lives. These 5 lives are allotted to the player to encourage him/her to clear the level successfully. If the player doesn’t complete in those lives, they have to wait for around half an hour to get them back or the player can choose to buy lives in order to keep playing the game. Losing the level hampers the dopamine level and the player’s ego, keeping him/her waiting or then buying lives in order to feel that sweet sense of satisfaction.
❍ What’s worse than that is the fact that there are more levels. The higher the player goes, (s)he realizes that there are more levels to conquer.
❍ The colors, animation, and the sheer simplicity of the game keeps the player mesmerized, long after he has stopped playing the game―thinking and obsessing about it.
Signs That You Are Addicted
❍ You adjust the time and date on your cell phone to get extra lives.
❍ You know the Infinite Lives trick.
❍ You match candies in your sleep.
❍ You get very antsy when you don’t have your cell phone in your hands.
❍ If someone is playing the game next to you, you can’t help yourself from backseat driving.
❍ There have been quite a few levels that made you quit the game for good, but you didn’t.
❍ You’ve tried for weeks or months to cross a level.
❍ You advocate why the game is much superior to rest of the puzzle games.
❍ No matter how long you take, or how many efforts you make at crossing a level, you never, ever, give up.
❍ You have exhausted your Google resources looking for Candy Crush strategies.
❍ You are sleep-deprived because of the game.
❍ You dream about the toughest level that you are on.
❍ You procrastinate from your work in order to play the game.
❍ You have an iPad, iPhone, and a laptop all hooked on to the game.
❍ You have multiple Facebook accounts to play the game.
❍ You believe you can beat everyone at the game.
❍ You pity those who don’t play the game or are not on the level that you are on.
❍ You are jealous of those who are on a higher level than you.
❍ You download the game for everyone on their perspective phones, but you are the only one who plays it.
❍ You sit in a room full of people with whom you could have a conversation with, but you choose to play the game instead.
❍ You’ve spent all the hard-earned money to go a level up or to get life boosts.
❍ You consider unfriending someone in real life because they stopped playing the game.
❍ Your ‘friend’ someone because they play the game as much as you play it.
❍ You feel akin with strangers who play the same game.
❍ The game is hampering your relationships, work, and health.
How to Overcome Candy Crush Addiction
❍ If it all started with Facebook, the beginning of the end of your addiction can start from there as well. Block the game and pages that keep you hooked to the game.
❍ Pay off any credit card debt that needs to be paid for the game. When the amount is in black and white, the reality will hit you hard, which will help you get over the game faster.
❍ This is the hardest part, but you need to clear the game from all your gadgets.
❍ It will get harder after here, as the temptation will be at its highest around other players. So, find another distraction to keep your mind engaged. Listen to music, read books, or go out for a run.
❍ Connect with the people who were far less important than the game at the peak of your addiction. Find others who are on a Candy Crush cleanse too or who despise the game entirely. If not, just take up a new hobby.
The most important thing to remember is that it is an addiction; therefore, treat it like one. Stay strong and be motivated. Avoid any and every form of temptation to play the game.