A Good Balance

[Johnny-Boi]

So, to preface, I'm a teenager who just bought a gaming pc, and I'm trying to figure out how much time (on weekdays) is enough to have fun, get progress, and still stay active in other areas of life, I'm also just starting school again. I'm thinking maybe like 2 hours would be a good sweet spot, but I'm really not sure, any ideas? I mainly play RPGs, and out of that mostly Skyrim. I know that this is subjective to an extent, but recommendations can't hurt. Thanks.

[AlphaDelta]

Ultimately, like you suggested, it is up to you how you spend your time. For example, my brother and I have very different routines in everyday life: He is constantly out of the house with friends if he isn't at work, rarely spending time at his PC. I, on the other hand, spend much less time out and more time doing some sort of activity on my PC/digital devices; whether it's gaming, media consumption, or just chatting with online friends. I would say we both have equally successful lives, although we spend our time in much different ways. You should spend as much time as you see fit and most enjoyable to you, without taking away from other aspects of your life, such as family/friends. Without knowing you personally, I don't think I could suggest any more than just saying don't waste all of your time at your computer.

[zeusthemoose]

It really depends on your schedule. And everyday will be different.

What I have found works best is getting all of my work and things I don’t want to do (like chores) done first. Then I basically see what I feel like doing. Some days you will want to be alone and game while others you want to spend time with friends and family. You can’t really put a time on how long you game for because some times you get bored of gaming so you only play a little while others you are in the zone and keep playing for as long as possible.

 

As I said above, everyday is different. Some days you will be swamped with homework and have no time to game while others you have none and can game for hours. As long as you are doing everything you need, getting enough sleep, and enjoying the time you spend doing recreational activities, it is a good balance. That’s one of the best parts of video games, you can play for 5 minutes or 5 hours and as long as you are enjoying your time, it is a good balance.
 

If you treat video games as something you need to spend a certain amount of time doing and feel that you must be productive in those games, you won’t enjoy it as much as if you treat it as a hobby and have fun with it.

[gloop]

I personally spend around 4+hrs on a normal weekday on my PC, through video editing and game dev/programming, with an hour or 2 for gaming in the evenings. 
 

I personally think I still get a good amount of sleep, exercise and a social life, which is  why I spend a good of chunk of my day in it.