SL dependency, RL intolerance

After experiencing a major resurgence of interest in SL that followed a period of utter lack of interest in it 3-6 months after registration, I am more addicted to SL than when I first found out about it and signed on.

What's worse is, as my involvement in SL grew in the past few months, I also started getting headaches, fatique, dizziness, and inability to concentrate in RL. So I can sit at my job and barely keep my eyes open, but the moment I fire up SL, the headache goes and strangely I can concentrate enough to build things, carry conversations, and stare at the person halfway across the sandbox all at the same time. So in this sense SL has created a dependency in me, sort of a RL intolerance if you will.

I know this all sounds pathetic but some of it is a little tongue-in-cheek. However the headaches, dizziness, and inability to concentrate enough so that I can finish my Flash code part is true. Yes I have been to the doctor, even had an MRI done (what a fun experience that was!). For lack of a better word, my doctor said that I was in "perfect" health. The blood tests, the MRI and everything else came back clean. So we are all very puzzled.

Anyone else experience these side effects from SL?

Troy

not really, I only get fatique if I am on for too long :/

Troy,

Stay offline for a while. Get your bearings back.

Well. Seeing how it's my only real 'hobby' at this point (no money or free time for anything else, too dork for a social life, aspergers, etc) I spend alot of time thinking about it at work, even trolling the forums, and planning what I want to do when I get back in. It doesn't affect my work at all, and I'm still not the biggest dork here (damn WoW fanatics).
And it's okay to troll boards. I love this job... now if only I could run secondlife from here.

troy, i've always been this way, even before sl. basically, brain shuts down if not doing something that interests me personally. i've been told this was related to my A.D.D./O.C.D., and have always thought of it as a mixed blessing. the things i can hyperfocus on i do very well in, such as SL, writing code, and working on any random personal projects that excite me. i could easily spend all day(s) reading a tutorial and tinkering with something i want to figure out for myself, but at the cost of failing miserably at seeming doable tasks that don't interest me, such as calculus i'll sit down, open a book, stare blankly at it. read a paragraph. discover i didn't actually READ a word of what i just read, so read it again...then see something shiny across the room

that said, if this is something you only suddenly developed, it could be a sign of some other problem, and you might should talk to someone professional who knows this stuff better than us forum people :3

*edit* maybe i should read entire posts before responding to them xD did you discuss the possibility attention-deficit/obsessive-compulsive disorders with your doctor? a psychiatrist may be more what you're looking for in this case. and it doesn't make you crazy or anything :3 but if your normal doctor says you're healthy, i suggest you look inward

Yea..im 4 days in, and im already addicted

Strangely enough, i do absolutely nothing but chat, use items and chat some more.
Yet i keep on coming back

Do you stay up late to do things in SL, then get up early to go to work? Get at least 8 hours of sleep every night!

And eat an apple doused in red wine every day..?

I've always been this way too. I can focus intently on some things for hours on end, and others, if I'm not enthused about them, can only hold my attention for about eight consecutive seconds.

your shop screams OCD chip i love it

haha, thanks! I've never been diagnosed but it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest. I get an idea and the next thing I know it's a week later and I have a hundred hours into it. Now if only I could get into that mode to balance my checkbook or something.

So... it's not just me then?

My behaviors aren't quite so extreme.. but I'm definately better in SL than out. Take for instance this program I'm compiling now... not any more complicated than things I script in SL, but daaaammnnn it took me forever.

...and it just failed to compile, so I'm still not done...

It's all about interest, no doubt.

I've experienced this. Sometimes it can get pretty bad, too. I'd have to agree that it comes down to whether you are doing what you want to do - self-determined vs. other-determined. The only solution I have found is to try and do more of what you really want to do - in RL, not in SL. I wish it was a complete solution - no matter what I do in RL it's never going to be enough to be the me I really want to be.

How does it develop, though? Well, consider a third-world village before and after someone there gets a television. They might have all been perfectly happy before, not realizing how many possibilities (and fantasies) exist in the world. Expose them to a few, though, and suddenly the poverty and simplicity feels like prison.

DING DING DING jackpot!. I am suspecting this too. But who honestly sleeps 8 hours a night these days???

I sleep like 6-7 and yes it does not feel enough but until recently it was fine. The thing with sleep is the more I sleep the more I want to sleep. I don't wake up rested ever. I always wake up tired. And it's been like this as long as I can remember. Even had a sleep study done a couple of years back (yes if you too did not get a decent night's sleep day after day you would turn into the hypocondriac I am), and even that came out ok, no apnea or anything like that.

Well I will sleep 1 hour more from now and see if it makes a difference.

Thanks for all the fun and helpful posts you guys.

Troy

I've had symptoms of yawniness and at-work boredom since becoming a resident of SL last week (yep, the boy's a newbie). That's because I'm so enthralled with it that I've been staying up and playing until 2:30am, and the alarm goes off at 7.

The most interesting RL physical symptom of my being in SL is that I've had flying dreams, which I don't recall ever having before. When I'm in-world, I absolutely love to fly, so this isn't terribly surprising.

Oh, and hi everybody!

Sean