Online slots are a popular form of entertainment. But it can also be a source of financial stress and addiction if you start to feel like it’s taking over your life. If you want to stop gambling on online slots, it’s important to understand the psychological triggers that make it hard to quit and empower yourself with cutting-edge tools that change your behavior.
Understanding the Illusion of Control
Gambling is different from other forms of addiction in that it relies on the powerful force of random reinforcement. This means that rewards are distributed randomly, causing players to develop distorted thoughts regarding their level of control over the outcome.
Often, these thoughts can lead to a cycle of increasing risk-taking and accumulating debts. This can quickly devastate a person’s finances, threatening their relationships and their health.
Challenging Fallacies and Superstitions
When you’re trying to stop gambling, it’s important to challenge your beliefs. For example, many problem gamblers believe that they can win a jackpot on a slot machine, or that they can get better odds by betting larger amounts of money.
These beliefs can be very damaging to your financial well-being, but they aren’t true. It’s also essential to understand that winning a jackpot on a slot machine is not likely to happen, and it’s unlikely that you will be able to win back all your losses.
You can’t control how much money you’ll lose, so it’s important to set a limit on your wagers and stick to it. You should also avoid progressive slots, which offer a jackpot that increases each time you play.
Reducing Stress and Anxiety
Another common problem gamblers face is excessive stress and anxiety. This can be a factor in making risk-taking decisions, so it’s important to practice self-care and mindfulness to reduce your stress levels. Meditation, yoga and deep breathing exercises can help you relax and focus your mind on the present.
Finding Other Activities You Enjoy
If you’re unable to quit your gambling habit on your own, consider alternatives that can take its place. This could be rekindling an old hobby, spending time with people you haven’t seen in a while, or going for walks and exercising.
Creating New Routines
Changing your daily routine can be difficult, but it’s crucial to do so if you want to stop gambling. It can be easy to start a new activity without considering its impact on your current habits, but if you want to stop gambling, it’s necessary to take the step of replacing the activity with something that will occupy your mind and make you smile each day.
Incorporating these changes into your daily life can help you build a solid foundation for lasting addiction recovery. In addition, they can keep you motivated and help you establish a new normal.
The next time you feel an urge to gamble, try to resist the temptation by putting your phone or tablet away. You might also find it helpful to block the websites or apps that you use for gambling. You can do this with an app such as the Freedom App, which allows you to create and manage recurring blocks of time.