Is 3 hours or more of video games a day a sin?

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Angel7

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Can several hours of video game playing a day be a sin?

1-2 hours seems normal right.

but does 3 or more become a sin?

I believe i have read this in an examination of conscience paper online.

but is it true?
Thank You
 
Playing a video game in of itself is not a sin unless you are playing something that promotes disordered behavior.

If you are playing games (or doing anything else) instead of taking care of other, more pressing responsibilities, then the sin is in the act of being slothful.
 
If you are playing games (or doing anything else) instead of taking care of other, more pressing responsibilities, then the sin is in the act of being slothful.
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This. Video games are mindless entertainment (for me anyway) and are a good way to separate myself from reality after a stressful day or week. So, when I have extra time, if I have nothing else that I should be doing, I will spend that extra time playing video games. It’s no different than people who watch TV for three hours a night which is actually below average if memory serves.
 
After meeting the obligations of your state in life (work, studies, interacting with family members and friends, household chores, a little exercise, PRAYER, getting enough sleep, giving back to the church or society by some kind of regular volunteer activity, etc.) how much free time is left over?

If it is three hours, it may not be wrong to use that time for video games. Or you might choose to spend some of that time reading, watching TV, playing games, or going on the Catholic Answers Forums.

If you spend that much time on video games every day you may need to prayerfully consider if this is how God wants you to use your time. And also consider what type of video games you are playing.

We can’t tell you one hour is OK, two is venial sin, three is mortal sin. But your question shows you have an idea that three hours may possibly be too long. In my opinion it isn’t a mortal sin unless you are neglecting other duties. Even then, the sin might not be a mortal one. But, of course, if we love God we try to avoid deliberate venial sins as well.

Now here’s a challenge. Lent is coming up. Would you be willing to reduce your video game habit to two hours a day during Lent? Or possibly give up video games once a week? I think God would bless you and by Easter you might have a clearer answer to your question.

Some of us have a tendency to spend that long on these forums and we need to ask ourselves the same question about them…
 
Angel7 said:
Can several hours of video game playing a day be a sin?

1-2 hours seems normal right.

but does 3 or more become a sin?

I believe i have read this in an examination of conscience paper online.

but is it true?
Thank You
Click to expand...
Nope not a sin. However, you could probably find something better to do with your time if you’re spending that much time everyday playing video games.
 
Angel7 said:
Can several hours of video game playing a day be a sin?

1-2 hours seems normal right.

but does 3 or more become a sin?

I believe i have read this in an examination of conscience paper online.

but is it true?
Thank You
Click to expand...
i would say no only if it leads to sin

sometimes this does it for me, when things don’t go well in games I get frustrated and sometimes angry, that can be sin for me, but playing the video game isn’t, but i can lead to other sins. not to serious I think in my own life but it does lead to sin.

not saying it is the same for you but I don’t think its a thing like if you play video games 3 hours a day you are sinning it will vary from person to person.

what if someone has a job as a video game tester he will spend his entire day playing video games and it goes to his Job

these are one of those things is you have to examine your continuous and discern if over playing video games leads to more serious things, not taking care of your self, becoming over angry and so on and so forth.
 
3 hrs a day playing a video game might not in itself be sinful - but what are you not doing. Remember many sins are sins of omission.
 
There is, of course, no hard and fast rule about precisely how much time is okay. (“I better wrap up this game in the next 30 seconds or I’m going to have to go to Confession! :eek:” ;))

It really comes down to stewardship of your time. We don’t want to be slothful. If you are single and spend three hours playing video games on a Friday night/Saturday morning after an exhausting week of work, that’s probably not a problem. If you’re married and you lock yourself in your game room for 3 hours while your wife is taking care of the kids and the grass sits uncut and the bills sit unpaid, then it probably is a problem.

We do spend an inordinate amount of time in front of screens, though. Between computers, TVs, video games, etc, many children spend 10 or more hours a day in front of a screen of some sort. That can be problematic.
 
what if I think i can finish stuff (like homework, big assignments) later? can I play or should i finish all i have to do first?

also, I have heard that it is a venial sin to not pray atleast once a day.
can I also pray later? if there would be no opportunity to play video games later?
or should I fulfill this obligation before playing.
 
Angel7 said:
what if I think i can finish stuff (like homework, big assignments) later? can I play or should i finish all i have to do first?

also, I have heard that it is a venial sin to not pray atleast once a day.
can I also pray later? if there would be no opportunity to play video games later?
or should I fulfill this obligation before playing.
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i don’t think these are questions we can answer, you must examine your conscience and determine if it would be better to do things before I go and play video games or is it ok if I play video games and do that stuff later.

if this stuff really starts to bug you go talk to a priest or a very trusted friend who can help you out with this stuff.

we can only help you so much here.

God Bless.
 
Angel7 said:
what if I think i can finish stuff (like homework, big assignments) later? can I play or should i finish all i have to do first?

also, I have heard that it is a venial sin to not pray atleast once a day.
can I also pray later? if there would be no opportunity to play video games later?
or should I fulfill this obligation before playing.
Click to expand...
I’m no expert on sin other than being quite guilty of a lot of them, but I would say that as long as you are doing the things you should be doing (homework, praying etc.) it shouldn’t matter what order they are done in. The only real question then is are you putting forth as much effort as you would otherwise? If so, then have at it. If not, then maybe you should save your gaming for after your responsibilities as a reward to yourself 🙂
 
I would say like mdrummer, that as long as you fulfill your responsibilities, the order you complete them isn’t necessarily as important.

However, being weak human beings that we are, I know that I would have a difficult time tearing myself away from the “fun” things to turn my attention to things like homework and prayer. I would highly recommend that it is a much healthier habit to develop to pray first, work second, and play third. If you don’t develop such healthy habits now, it will be much, much more difficult for you to develop them later on.
 
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