do you still a consider yourself a normal person if gambling is your only hobby?

[Finestream]

I have a friend who doesn’t really go out much to socialize with people. Since his work is online, he spends most of his time in front of the computer. He told me that, to avoid boredom, whether while working or during breaks he just gambles on anything: sports, roulette, and slots.

These days, people can easily find more entertainment online, which is why they tend to spend more time there.

So, do you think this kind of behavior is still considered normal, or is it something to be concerned about?

[yenerbatmaz]

I don't think it's normal at all. If your friend continues like this, he will have psychological problems in the future.

Even being on the computer all the time and never going out is a big problem, but if he has a gambling addiction on top of that, his psychology will be damaged in a very short time. I hope that doesn't happen.
If you are friends with your friend, it would be nice if you tried to help him, my friend.

[panjul07]

I think it depends on where do you live, if you live in a place where most people are already "modern people", it can be said as normal but if you live in a place where most people still thinking conservatively, most people will think that you are not a normal person
For me myself who live in a small village, it is still something that can be considered as abnormal because being socialize is something important, if I do not socialize frequently then most people around me will start to talk about me.
All in all, it is better if we can follow the habits in the place where we live, at least try to socialize where we think we need to do it.

[Mr. Magkaisa]

I have a friend who doesn’t really go out much to socialize with people. Since his work is online, he spends most of his time in front of the computer. He told me that, to avoid boredom, whether while working or during breaks he just gambles on anything: sports, roulette, and slots.

These days, people can easily find more entertainment online, which is why they tend to spend more time there.

So, do you think this kind of behavior is still considered normal, or is it something to be concerned about?

As days, months and years goes by, being at home is getting more normal now.
Specially work from home is more often to workers as the main job is online. So this is being normal now and will be more in the future.
I am also a house person as my work  and business is online and i dont go out frequently. if I do, it is a family gatherings.

What is the nefgative effect?
Health! Lack of sunlight and outside activity, which will result to weaker body and poor eyesight
More money to spend to casino online

[justinlamode]

I have a friend who doesn’t really go out much to socialize with people. Since his work is online, he spends most of his time in front of the computer. He told me that, to avoid boredom, whether while working or during breaks he just gambles on anything: sports, roulette, and slots.

These days, people can easily find more entertainment online, which is why they tend to spend more time there.

So, do you think this kind of behavior is still considered normal, or is it something to be concerned about?

Gambling can actually appear like a a hobby to people but I don't support that because there is a thin line between that and addiction. In other words, if your gambling have gotten to the point where you regard it as hobby without which you feel bored or incomplete, then nothing will stop you from developing bad habits such as borrowing to gamble, using money meant for other things to gamble and others.

Furthermore,  making a hobby out of gambling may appear advantageous on the surface in the sense that it will make losses less painful and normal. The truth is that under such situation, one will approach gambling casually and not will ignore so many things, hence a time will come when one will take appraisal and realise the damage that would have been caused by such level of careless.

Therefore,  advice your friend to develop hobby in games and other things and gambling strictly for money and not hobby so he will be serious and careful.

[Charles-Tim]

If he is not spending more than 1% of his weekly income on gambling, that should be good. But if gambling is taking money from him than he expects, he should not be doing that. I prefer to spend limited time on gambling and I do not gamble frequently which I think is the best. But how he spend on gambling will determine if it is good or not.

But everything should not be about gambling. He is doing online works. Which means he is looking at the screen very often everyday. Gambling online means he is looking at the screen also. He should spend some time outside to limit the time he is spending looking at the screen.

[seoincorporation]

I have a friend who doesn’t really go out much to socialize with people. Since his work is online, he spends most of his time in front of the computer. He told me that, to avoid boredom, whether while working or during breaks he just gambles on anything: sports, roulette, and slots.

These days, people can easily find more entertainment online, which is why they tend to spend more time there.

So, do you think this kind of behavior is still considered normal, or is it something to be concerned about?

That behavior is not based on his gambling activities, the main problem of your friend is the home office. the fact of working at home without interacting with real people is complex and can be bad. In the past i used to work that way for years, and those who say that home office is the best that you can have, they have never been alone for weeks or months.

If he gamble is his free time, i would say he find a good way to have fun. But he must be careful and gamble with the brain and not with the emotions.

[bubilas]

I have a friend who doesn’t really go out much to socialize with people. Since his work is online, he spends most of his time in front of the computer. He told me that, to avoid boredom, whether while working or during breaks he just gambles on anything: sports, roulette, and slots.

These days, people can easily find more entertainment online, which is why they tend to spend more time there.

So, do you think this kind of behavior is still considered normal, or is it something to be concerned about?

Playing in your free time during breaks is a bad idea. I know this from my own experience, it is very distracting and does not allow you to start thinking productively about work later. I used to play computer games and poker at work, and because of this I had a feeling that I was a very bad worker, although my productivity did not drop at all. Perhaps I was even better than others. But now I was not sure of this myself and I did not like it. Although I must say that time at work began to go much faster and a day in the office passed as if in a second.

[danherbias07]

In this era? Yes, that is normal. Those who don't like to come out of their bedroom or their house can entertain themselves using the internet and there are many ways to do it. Gambling is one but it's a damn expensive hobby and it might ruin your financial including your savings. Then, there's the social media too which could be browsed the whole day with different types of entertainment.

I do believe it's normal nowadays, and it's not like someone will judge a person based on not going out. The pandemic made a lot of people change their minds about people who are staying at home for the entire day.

[Text]

I think that’s not very common for people who work online and spend a lot of time alone. It seems like gambling is being used more as an escape from boredom rather than purely for entertainment. It’s probably not abnormal but if gambling is his only hobby and it’s starting to affect his mood, finances and overall well-being that’s not good. It becomes alarming and unhealthy if gambling turns into a compulsion rather than a choice.

[alani123]

Speaking from personal experience, I used to have many many hobbies. Hikking, going to concerts, trading, writing, reading, cooking and movies... Well fast forward a few years after being a student...
The 9 to 5 grind as well as picking up a few more responsibilities, a house, a family and a sidegig, now there's no time to do almost any of that. Gambling is a fast to do hobby that requires only money and nothing else to give you a thrill. It's not cheap but very accessible. So sadly many people today have gambling as their only hobby and waste a ton of money on it too.

If we want to solve this, it's not going to be easy. Things are tough today and there are no easy solutions to these problems. A full time job should ideally be 4 days a week, 6 hours a day but of course they're not gonna let us unless we fight for it. Go figure. Sadly these things are gonna keep getting worse so long as there's no big changes to how our life is with stressful work, large costs, low salaries etc.

[Pi$$]

Going out from home to have still consist of expenses, there is no difference if he stays at home to spend the same amount of money in gambling that he would spend if he went out to have fun. I like the fact that there are still individual who like their privacy so much, they will do anything to get what they want at the comfort of there home.

Gambling is a fun thing to do so it can be a hobby to few people. To me, it is a thing i do to ease stress and double up some pennies perhaps i will be using to do other fun activities.

[ajanwalker]

Even if a person lives in a big house, spending time without going out will negatively affect a person mentally.
Sitting in front of the computer for a long time will damage his health.
I think your friend is young and because of this, he may not be affected right now, but as the process progresses, problems will start to arise.
Due to Covid, the number of home office workers has increased a lot, but your friend's situation is very different.

[crwth]

I don’t think it’s going to be a healthy way of habit just because it can be addictive, and it is probably already addicting to him just because he does it during his breaks, and that’s usually for rest. The ease of access makes it much harder to stop, and I hope he can control his urge to gamble.

I know some people who do it for entertainment and feel that there is nothing wrong with it. I hope that he can take self-checks just to be sure.

[Ambatman]

Currently can't relate so would say it isn't
Cause I have quite a bunch of hobbies which may change in later years though.
I know he makes use of his computer alot
But gambling isn't the only thing online to take as an hobby.
There are games out there that don't take much time like Chess
Or surfing the net for videos or socializing online.
Engaging in just gambling can easily lead to addiction (if it isn't already)

[Swordsoffreedom]

So, do you think this kind of behavior is still considered normal, or is it something to be concerned about?

I would say it is normal. Since his gambling purpose is to pass the time. He gambles in his free time. Also, his main purpose is not to make money from gambling. I can definitely say that your friend does not stake a large amount in betting at all. It is just a means of entertainment for him. So he spends a small amount on it.

I have a friend who doesn’t really go out much to socialize with people. Since his work is online, he spends most of his time in front of the computer. He told me that, to avoid boredom, whether while working or during breaks he just gambles on anything: sports, roulette, and slots.

When our only purpose in wagering is to make money, and we want to make money only from staking money on something by leaving our job or business, then the possibility of becoming addicted to gambling increases. However, if we spend a small amount of money on wagering, and we play only in our free time, then the possibility of becoming addicted to gambling decreases to a great extent.

These days, people can easily find more entertainment online, which is why they tend to spend more time there.

Since Online Casinos are now easily available. So the spread of gambling is happening rapidly. Earlier we needed to go to the physical casino. But now we can gamble on smartphones or computers.

[Tungbulu]

Having gambling as one’s only hobby is indeed something to be concerned about. For me, There’s absolutely Nothing wrong with spending much time online, as long as you also earn money from doing so, because it’s not as if spending more time offline is actually that profitable too. But what I find disturbing is having gambling as one’s only hobby, because there are dozens of ways one can spend time online and maybe distract themselves when they’re bored. Personally, I’d rather just scroll across Facebook and instagram Reels or playing online video/mobile games when I feel bored, than actually gambling. Yes, gambling can indeed be quite thrilling and rewarding at the same time, but excessive gambling can actually lead to a lot of negative emotions and outcomes, so it’s best to spend less time on it and more time on other things too before it starts affecting you negatively.

[rachael9385]

I have a friend who doesn’t really go out much to socialize with people. Since his work is online, he spends most of his time in front of the computer. He told me that, to avoid boredom, whether while working or during breaks he just gambles on anything: sports, roulette, and slots.

These days, people can easily find more entertainment online, which is why they tend to spend more time there.

So, do you think this kind of behavior is still considered normal, or is it something to be concerned about?

An hobby can be anything that's entertaining to you as long as it doesn't put your life at risk and if that hobby interferes with important things that you are supposed to do then it's considered abnormal. If gambling is done moderately then it isn't weird to have it as your only hobby. But there's a down side to this, for most people they got addicted to gambling from making it a hobby, be careful when you get bored, this might be a trigger that leads to dependency. Even though you take it as a hobby you still keep things balanced.

[bitzizzix]

I have a friend who doesn’t really go out much to socialize with people. Since his work is online, he spends most of his time in front of the computer. He told me that, to avoid boredom, whether while working or during breaks he just gambles on anything: sports, roulette, and slots.

These days, people can easily find more entertainment online, which is why they tend to spend more time there.

So, do you think this kind of behavior is still considered normal, or is it something to be concerned about?

It all depends because I also have a friend like that, never goes out except for very important things and spends most of his time in his room and if I need him I have to go to his house. And all the time is spent in front of the computer and often gambles, and according to the story he only gambles with very small capital, only when he wins he plays again or sometimes uses the bonus or free game that is used. And I don't see anyone being harmed by him, even harming those closest to him including family because addiction will have an impact like that and everything looks normal.

[Z-tight]

So, do you think this kind of behavior is still considered normal, or is it something to be concerned about?

It is not normal to me, even if he is gambling responsibly. If your only hobby is gambling, then you need to add other things to it quickly. I like gambling and a whole lot of other things, if gambling is your only source of fun, with time you may turn into an addict and start gambling irresponsibly.

It is recommended to socialize, meet people, do different activities, this helps the mental health and helps you shift focus from that thing that your mind is always on, you should recommend this to your friend.