Wow, Melanie pulls no punches as she candidly relives her trauma, "blindness" and optimistic attitude, "not my son".
This is a must read for ALL Parents, Grandparents, and Guardians. I am going to ask her permission to display this on our website, ParentDigitalAnswers.org
I lost my son to suicide by cyberbullying. None of us to see that happen to your youth. Take Melanie's course.
Everyone knows families that are unaware.
Just Do It. One of the most important decisions you will ever make.
Very helpful testimony. 🎮🕹️😵 VID GAMES have sucked the life out of so many young people. The slow creep morphs into the snowball rolling towards the cliff. Big BUCK$ involved in the marketing and keeping kids involved with their screens; wallets 💸 and ⏰ hours fall into the abyss. Sad seeing adult men with kids playing online games instead of reading books to their children. 🇺🇲 🇯🇵 🇦🇺 🇨🇳 🇪🇺 None of our families are immune, Semper Fortis!
Fortunately, the vast majority of gamers do not develop a problem with gaming, anecdotal evidence aside. It's really all about balance and moderation, as Aristotle knew. So let's not throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater now.
I was a heavy videogame user and still became a thriving adult - HOWEVER, that doesn't mean it didn't affect me negatively. Looking back i think it set me back socially.
I struggled making friendships and felt socially stunted. I think if I had limited my playtime it would have helped in that regard.
It did bring me benefits also: since I mostly played RPGs and story based games, it helped me learn English as a Venezuelan immigrant.
In the end was saved me and brought balance to my life was enrolling in high school sports starting my sophomore year.
Good post, though I'd say the very large majority of men that play video games and don't develop severe problems like your son suggest that there must have been some personality trait with your son that made them more addictive to him than to the average boy.
Either way, I think doing a full restriction can be helpful, as video games are just an unnecessary form of entertainment.
I've enjoyed video games my whole life, but growing up church service, family time and chores, sports, music performance, etc were a major part of my life. Had they started become replaced by video games, there would have been some intervention from my parents. We also had a rule for no M rated games growing up. I think I was also lucky in that my preference for games were either local multiplayer games (think super smash bros) or single player adventure games that involve puzzle solving and navigation and have a set end. I think the gamers that develop problems are often interacting with games where they have to continually compete with strangers and are shooting for some ephemeral ranking or completion status, only to have a new goalpost set for them in the game a few weeks later.
For example, the difference between spending 40 hours over a couple of months getting through a fantasy world in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as you try and figure it out with your siblings is very different to a kid in isolation grinding out something in world of warcraft, DoTA, Roblox, etc each day for several hours indefinitely.
However, I think for many parents that have trouble understanding what their kids are even doing it probably is easier to just cut something out entirely. The logic and simplicity of that is inarguable and the lost benefits of missing out on some video games is fairly small in the grand scheme of what life can afford you.
"Every family today faces a tornado of digital technology in childhood; there is no escape. But not every family has to be swept away by it." Thank you for naming it Melanie and not shying away from the harsh truths of parenting in a digital age. I appreciate your work.
Wow, Melanie pulls no punches as she candidly relives her trauma, "blindness" and optimistic attitude, "not my son".
This is a must read for ALL Parents, Grandparents, and Guardians. I am going to ask her permission to display this on our website, ParentDigitalAnswers.org
I lost my son to suicide by cyberbullying. None of us to see that happen to your youth. Take Melanie's course.
Everyone knows families that are unaware.
Just Do It. One of the most important decisions you will ever make.
Jeff Griggs. Jeff@ParentDA.org
Very helpful testimony. 🎮🕹️😵 VID GAMES have sucked the life out of so many young people. The slow creep morphs into the snowball rolling towards the cliff. Big BUCK$ involved in the marketing and keeping kids involved with their screens; wallets 💸 and ⏰ hours fall into the abyss. Sad seeing adult men with kids playing online games instead of reading books to their children. 🇺🇲 🇯🇵 🇦🇺 🇨🇳 🇪🇺 None of our families are immune, Semper Fortis!
Fortunately, the vast majority of gamers do not develop a problem with gaming, anecdotal evidence aside. It's really all about balance and moderation, as Aristotle knew. So let's not throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater now.
I was a heavy videogame user and still became a thriving adult - HOWEVER, that doesn't mean it didn't affect me negatively. Looking back i think it set me back socially.
I struggled making friendships and felt socially stunted. I think if I had limited my playtime it would have helped in that regard.
It did bring me benefits also: since I mostly played RPGs and story based games, it helped me learn English as a Venezuelan immigrant.
In the end was saved me and brought balance to my life was enrolling in high school sports starting my sophomore year.
Good post, though I'd say the very large majority of men that play video games and don't develop severe problems like your son suggest that there must have been some personality trait with your son that made them more addictive to him than to the average boy.
Either way, I think doing a full restriction can be helpful, as video games are just an unnecessary form of entertainment.
I've enjoyed video games my whole life, but growing up church service, family time and chores, sports, music performance, etc were a major part of my life. Had they started become replaced by video games, there would have been some intervention from my parents. We also had a rule for no M rated games growing up. I think I was also lucky in that my preference for games were either local multiplayer games (think super smash bros) or single player adventure games that involve puzzle solving and navigation and have a set end. I think the gamers that develop problems are often interacting with games where they have to continually compete with strangers and are shooting for some ephemeral ranking or completion status, only to have a new goalpost set for them in the game a few weeks later.
For example, the difference between spending 40 hours over a couple of months getting through a fantasy world in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time as you try and figure it out with your siblings is very different to a kid in isolation grinding out something in world of warcraft, DoTA, Roblox, etc each day for several hours indefinitely.
However, I think for many parents that have trouble understanding what their kids are even doing it probably is easier to just cut something out entirely. The logic and simplicity of that is inarguable and the lost benefits of missing out on some video games is fairly small in the grand scheme of what life can afford you.
"Every family today faces a tornado of digital technology in childhood; there is no escape. But not every family has to be swept away by it." Thank you for naming it Melanie and not shying away from the harsh truths of parenting in a digital age. I appreciate your work.