English Chess Forum

I've posted this piece - My online chess addiction was ruining my life - on the media comment forum but I thought the subjects it raises perhaps deserved some separate attention. I certainly recognise some parts of Kenny's story from my own life (not least "I definitely couldn’t end on a defeat"). I wouldn't describe my seven thousand-plus lichess games in a couple of years as "addiction", as such - and nor, without more specific knowledge than I possess, would I say Kenny was, as such, addicted, since he seems to have been some way short of the kind of all-encompassing and self-destructive behaviour we might associate with, say, gambling or substance addiction. Nevertheless it's clear that he was exhibiting some symptoms of addictive behaviour, if that's a category, and I'd say the same of myself at some points over the past couple of years (though not recently).

Anyway, reading the piece, I found myself how much of a problem genuine addiction (and lower-level addictive behaviour) is where chess sites are concerned. Do we know anything about this? Has anything else on a serious level been written about it, either in the sense of individual accounts or of wider overviews? Have the sites themselves said anything about it, particularly whether they consider there to be any kind of a problem on any scale?

JustinHorton wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 05, 2022 4:13 pm

Anyway, reading the piece, I found myself how much of a problem genuine addiction (and lower-level addictive behaviour) is where chess sites are concerned. Do we know anything about this?

What's more recent is the ability to play on a phone, so as the author observes, he could play whilst on a bus. That wouldn't have been possible in the days when you needed a desktop or laptop plus a home internet connection to play.

I think even GMs have written that they play too much on-line.

It's been a potential problem from the late 90s to the current day - the opportunity to play is there 24 hours a day, and especially if playing short time controls you find yourself thinking "oh it's just another 5 minutes, I could stop any time I want". This could be said about most hobbies and life activities in general.

I'm pretty sure almost every player above the level of the absolute casual 'push wood once every few years' types has at some point felt the addiction of chess and spent far more time on it then they probably should but at the end of the day we only get one life, only so many minutes to budget towards our personal fulfillment, so if it makes you feel happy and you aren't hurting anyone then I don't see anything wrong with playing all the chess you like.