Okay, so I’m not really sure how to structure, or even write all of this, so bear with me. I want to talk about those of us who are “chronically online.” This is mainly for those trying to become big famous content creators. Examples include TikTok stars, YouTubers, and Twitch streamers. And I want to talk about my experiences with it a little bit. I will explain how I started and why I quit. I’ll also share honestly the aftermath of it all.

It all started for me in early 2012. I discovered Twitch and thought it would be fun to stream a little mobile game I played called “Arcane Legends.” Back in the day, it was an amazing little mobile MMORPG. The game was created by a studio called Spacetime Studios (much love to Gary Gattis and Cinco Barnes).

The game was luckily available on Chrome. This made it possible for me to stream it. At the time, streaming to twitch directly from the phone wasn’t possible. Honestly, I had no clue what I was doing back then. I streamed off and on for a couple of years. I made friends with the developers. I also put on some fun events with Arcane Legends. But I eventually stopped playing, and stopped streaming.

A year or two later I picked streaming up again. I decided to get serious with it because, who wouldn’t want playing video games to be their job, right? So let’s fast forward several years. I woke up at 5 am to go to work. I slogged through work, hating it and doing a very poor job because I didn’t want to be there. Then I rushed home to eat some shitty microwave food. I went live from 4:30 pm until 11:30 pm, doing zero household chores, just to repeat that every day.

Needless to say you probably don’t need me to tell you the aftermath of all that. I was desperate to become a full time streamer and leave my “shitty construction job” behind. I had such an unhealthy mindset with streaming and became obsessed. Either I was streaming my flavor of the month game or obsessing over the home page. I was trying to find the perfect game for my “strategy” to blow up on Twitch. Yikes.

Well, if you do need me to tell you the consequences of all that, here they are. I gained 100 pounds. I lost most of my friends. I gained “friends” who never really cared about me. They only talked to me when my views were good. Ultimately, I sunk into a pretty deep depression. THANKFULLY I managed to keep my job. Fuck that would have sucked to lose, because now that I’m invested into it, my job is pretty nice. You can imagine how my house looked through all of that too, well let me tell you, it was bad.

The good news to this story though, is I don’t stream anymore. I’m not sure if I ever will again to be honest with you. I quit about 3 years ago as I got into a relationship, that also ultimately failed. I stayed away from streaming and became a viewer again. Let me tell you, life has been so much fucking better. It’s actually insane. My house is kept tidy. My depression is gone. I’m working on losing all that weight. I’m thriving at work. Most importantly, I have friends, and a pretty decent group of them at that.

So, why am I sharing all of this with the internet? Fuck if I know. I think it’s good to share our experiences with things like this. There are consequences of going deep into a path like content creation, or even being addicted to video games. I support anybody that wants to try to become a creator. When its going well, it’s really a load of fun. Please, if you’re reading this, and considering being a streamer, or a YouTuber. Whatever the flavor of the month is, keep it healthy. Don’t let it overrun your life.

Let me leave you with a quote. -Digi

“You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will.” — Stephen King