“BOOM, headshot!” yells the teenager after making a kill in his new first-person shooter videogame.  It is Tuesday night and instead of doing homework, the teenager is playing his favorite new video game.  While this may be fun, he isn’t doing what should be most important -- achieving high academic awards in school.  He comes home, plays video games, and then goes to sleep.  He doesn’t think about his future or whether or not he has homework or a paper due the next day.  This is the life of a teenager addicted to video games.

Day in and day out, teachers, parents, and other responsible adults constantly mention the ways in which drugs and alcohol can devastate the life of a teenager.  But not once has a teacher or parent mentioned video games.  Video games are addictive; they can possibly ruin, or at least dim, the life of a teenager.  When I was younger (in elementary and middle school), I would hang out with friends and play sports everyday during recess and after school.  Not once did I really play video games for long periods of time.  But now that technology has grown and free time is limited, there isn’t much opportunity to hang out with friends or play backyard baseball, football, or basketball.  Teenagers have jobs, important assignments, and other commitments they need to achieve.

So I started playing videogames, first for an hour or two a day, but I was still able to complete the homework I was given.  Then the games gradually started to consume more and more of my time.  From Playstation to Xbox, there are more and more consoles for teenagers to get addicted to -- sports games, fighting games, role-playing games…the list goes on and on.  And so do the hours I play, now up to six or even seven hours a night.  Now I push things off until 10 or even 11 o’clock at night.  In the past I procrastinated as much as possible but I was still able to get it done.

This year I haven’t been able to do so.  I’ve been even lazier, not doing homework at all, not thinking about college or even what my life will become.  Videogames are a drug and I’m addicted.  I don’t know why; they aren’t even very entertaining anymore.  I’d rather play backyard football or hang out with friends, but when my friends are occupied, I just slouch in front of my computer or television and play videogames just because it’s more pleasurable then slaving over a long academic assignment. 

I know it’s not the correct hobby or pastime to pursue when I have a four-page paper due the next day, but I can’t help myself.  I often tell myself that I’ll do it (my assignment) later, after I kill this boss.  But it keeps going; I keep pushing the work back and eventually it’s the last day before the quarter ends and I’m in front of my computer writing what was supposed to be turned in many days beforehand.  I’m trying to improve but it seems that I’ve already dug a hole too deep to climb out of.

Teachers and parents can try to help, but it seems it won’t do much; I will still be addicted and still have problems turning in work on time.  I’m not sure why; I want to succeed in school but I have a hard time putting down the controller and getting to work.  Even when I understand the material my grades show differently.  This is often because a grade book will show many zeroes or bad grades caused by a late turn-in or a sloppy piece of work.  For some reason, I can’t focus.  It’s hard being addicted to games and having to go to school.

I guess it’s like cigarettes -- once you’re hooked it’s extremely hard to stop and get off of them.   Even though in my heart I know I should go and do the work, I can’t.  I’m like a mouse in a never-ending maze, stuck wandering around, trying to find hope or some sort of escape.  But I can’t.  I can’t find an exit or a way to climb out of the maze that is the attractive and misleading spectacle of videogames.  I’m 17 and my life is already at risk.