We did it. We sat down our 6 (nearly 7) year old today and explained to him that we were packing up the video games and electronics in the house and they were going to be put away.
We are hoping to stick to it this time. We’ve tried it on lesser scales before and they have found their way back in to daily life. Especially when you are in Texas and it’s summer. It’s too hot to be outside, and you work from home and you just need them to be quiet for 30 minutes while you finish this conference call, please…just…here…play the Xbox. Combine it with a Veteran who suffers from PTSD and a TBI who just needs a few minutes of not being jumped on, add in a couple of international flights, some long car rides and church on Sunday mornings when you just need them to sit still for 45 more minutes so you can hear the preacher without them demanding to know if it’s time to go yet and suddenly game boys, and tablet computers, and cell phones are mana sent from heaven to make your life easier.
Until they don’t – The Xbox needs to download an update, the battery on the tablet is dead, the game boy isn’t recognizing the cartridge and you no longer recognize the child in front of you. Recent studies have shown that in young children addiction to video games and electronics can be as hard to break as a drug or alcohol addiction and the symptoms can be just as scary. Especially in a child so young.
I get it… The world is a technological one. In order to succeed in this world our children are going to have to know how to use a touch screen, connect up devices, create an excel sheet and navigate video chat and that’s at a minimum! Our technology changes every day and we want our kids to have a head start on everyone else, we want them to have the best chance to succeed in the world but there comes a point where we have to stop thinking about the future men and women they will be, and start thinking about the children they are today.
I remember being a teenager and the internet was a new and marvelous thing, and my mother telling me I couldn’t stay up till 5am chatting and playing neo pets (I had a Shoyru named Zippo. He was awesome) and the outright tantrums I would throw about it. It would on occasion make me feel physically sick. My head would hurt, I’d be anxious, Pacing, my stomach would knot up, I would be irritable, and angry and I’d do just about anything to be allowed back on that sweet sweet dial up and I was 14 – 15, far more equipped to deal with those feelings than a 6 year old and here I can see the exact things happening in my child. Except its worse because technology reaches into every aspect of our lives. Its transportable, he can turn off the xbox and open mine craft on his tablet while we travel to the store and if we don’t have a data connection he can pull out his game boy and play any number of games. He can go to his bedroom and watch youtube videos without his little brother climbing on him. Gone are the days of shared family computers that sit in the living room where your dad can see everything you are doing, and you better get off by 6pm because he’s expecting a call and after that it’s your sisters turn. And it takes 36 minutes to illegally down load a song from napster provided no one interrupts the connection (not that I would have ever done that of course)
It was hard explaining to him, that this isn’t a punishment, that he isn’t in trouble, that we love him and just want him to be healthy and learn all the things little boys should learn and that his electronics stop him from having fun. There were some tears, and I’m sure as things continue there are going to be some more especially when he realizes this isn’t a temporary for today only change. So wish us luck, because I have the feeling we are going to need it not just for him, but for us as well. We are going to have to be far more engaged as parents and work on our patience in ways we haven’t before.
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