HO SHENG WEI Class 5A2 ( 2013 )
QUITTING IS HARD
How a boy managed to turn his life around , after being addicted to DotA .
When I was about eleven years old , I was very interested in computer games . Defence of the Ancient ( DotA ) was my favourite game as it is a real-time strategy game that requires all my concentration and effort . DotA began to take over my life . I thought about nothing but DotA and I spent my whole “ free from school ” life immersed in DotA . I did not see the addiction coming . In school , as I could not complete my tasks on time , I became a very notorious and hot-tempered boy in my EM2 Primary Five class . All homework and study gave way to this four-letter word – DotA .
The warning signs came . My friends would call me “ Computer Addict ”. My Term One progress report came back with 2 underlined scores . My Mid-Year Examinations came back with 4 underlined scores . I still returned to DotA . I could not pluck myself out of the world . The keyboard shouted to me , “ Come on ! Use me ! You need me to play DotA !” The books and worksheets on the other hand were boring . Nothing could beat DotA at all .
At the end of that fateful year , my report came back with a page full of underlined scores . The next school year , I was promoted to the EM3 stream . It felt more like a demotion . I was the only pupil in my EM2 class who was going down , not up . I was shattered . However , I was still playing DotA . I managed to become one of the top two EM3 students in my school – my saving grace after my Primary School Leaving Examination . I decided to enrol into Clementi Town Seconary School ( CTSS ).
Life in Secondary One in CTSS was fun . I enjoyed interacting with my peers in our 1A3 class and my life took a turn . I started studying , and managed to snag the first position in class during the Mid-Year Examination . However , DotA still enticed and hindered me from scoring my best . I had to go through promotion trials and tests before I was told by my Classparent that I was one of the three to be promoted to Secondary 2 Normal Academic ( NA ). I was overjoyed . Lurking around , however , was my omnipresent DotA addiction .
A New Year , A New Life – FINALLY !
The new friends and the new environment in Secondary 2NA made it all the more harder to cope . There were more subjects to study . However with my will-power , I managed to cope with my work . A teacher in school sent my name in for a volunteering camp . I complained about it at first , as it would take my time off DotA , but the camp turned me around . It was fun and it made me view life in a different way . I found my dream in life – to be a volunteer – to help others – and in order to do so , I had to help myself first . It seems easy , as you read this , how I managed to peel back the many layers I managed to wrap myself in . I found my answer , stepped out and quit . Quitting is hard , being an addict is easy – I learned .
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