Internet Addiction

[Stray Cat]

I can make a comparison between myself and my brother which is 7 years old. It differs 15 years between us and I am maybe a bit biased because my memory is crap. But I knew I was playing a lot with toys and friends when I was at his age. Yes I was playing too but not nearly as much as my little brother is. 

 

I had the dreadful 1 hour rule. When I arrived home from school I had 1 hour of gametime. It was maybe 2 hours on weekends. I know I spent most of my childhood/pre-teen playing in the sandbox or with Lego. Most of the time with my childhood friends too. Maybe my brother is arriving to that stage soon too. 

 

But the difference is that I had the 1 hour rule until I was 12 -13 at least. I recall my parents told me to shut down when they thought I played too much until I was at least 15. My little brother is probably using an iPad in first grade. He is also using an iPad at home a lot more than he should. But he is shutting down when told so. But he doesn't have any restrictions or rules.

 

Yes I know we live in a digital era now and it is different generations. But it feels odd and weird how it can be so different. I think we had our first computer 15 years ago with a slow ass Internet connection. Today we all got an individual PC/laptop.

 

But I think the new generation is going to have big problems later on if the parents aren't aware or somewhat strict with rules.

The same was true for me and I think it was beneficial to have parents regulating it.  Now that I control myself, I probably do a bit more than I should, but I know that if I start to go overboard I'll either a.) start doing bad in work/school or b.) get sick from lack of sleep so that keeps me pretty even.  The time I do have is always limited anyway. 

[Cyrillej1]

My parents were more hands-off with my sibling and I as long as we did well in school. Definitely had no time management on me xD. As long as I woke up and went to school the next day or w/e, they didn't really notice or care too much what we did. My parents were really protective of me, in a physical sense, like always wanting to know where/with who, etc. I was if I was on my own outside.  But being at home, playing games, computer, w/e didn't cause them any worry.

 

The internet wasn't really popular growing up, so I didn't indulge in that much until later when I was in like middle/highschool.  I had recently moved, so it was sort of a culture shock to me and I didn't really have any friends.. so I felt really lonely, and closed off from everyone. Some days, I'd go/come home from school and even at home, I wouldn't even utter a sound the entire day or just a few words of greeting. It felt like I was invisible, but almost like I tried to be because that's how I felt about myself.

 

At first I started the mmorpg out of boredom, but it was really fun exploring a new world, and meeting/talking with people on there. Sad to say, but the game almost made me feel alive.. gave me positive feelings, and such. Then it suddenly became a place I could escape to, but also a place I had friends in.  I think overall, what I became ultimately addicted to, was the social aspect of being connected with others when I played. Funny thing is, although I was playing so much, I was still doing well in school with my grades.. and this went on for like straight 2-3 years. Especially bad during the summer, where I all did was sleep, wake up and play, repeat, until school started again. Near the end, I became so invested into the virtual world, I started to have the urge to want to play it as much as possible (to better my avatar in there >_>; lol), but at the cost of time in the real world, I started to skip school a lot, faking sickness just to stay home and play.. and other things.  That's when my parents started noticing, and got really angry xD.  They finally had a strict talk to me about it, scolded/hit me, and demanded I stopped playing so much.  Soo~ I think that's what really snapped me out of it, because I realized my addiction to the game had gotten so bad, I had skipped school so much that I became truent (the school was even trying to scare me that I wouldn't graduate with so many absences, and the cops will come get me). I acted in ways I wouldn't have had before. It's almost like seeing an honor student doing well, and suddenly the teachers started seeing me skip a lot.  After that, my parents started paying attention to it more I guess, so I thought it'd be the best time to quit with everything that was unraveling.. I couldn't keep doing it. And I tried to stay away from MMOs after that... it's still very tempting sometimes, but I'm more aware now of the potential hold it could have on me negatively, so I always limit myself and stay away from unending online games.

 

Not only was the virtual world alluring, I think what really kept me playing was because I constantly played with one other online friend on there. Literally talked to each other every chance we got, every day we played...and I didn't want to stop, because I wanted to keep playing with them.  That's probably why, it was still a bit easier for me to quit the game, because I was still able to talk to them through chat/email after that.  At least to alleviate the despair and anxieties I felt after having to let it go. Overall though... I think it was because I was lonely probably and the time I had on the mmorpg filled that for me and made me forget my bad feelings for the time I was logged on.

 

Nowadays, even though I still play video games... it's definitely a different kind of mild addiction, the mmorpg was way way way worse and almost uncontrollable when in that addictive state of mind of always wanting to play more.  At least with my console games, I'm only interacting with the game and myself, so I can turn off and continue anytime I want without a sense of urgency.  The mmorpg almost keeps you playing because other people are involved, and progress passes on there even when you turn it off.

 

Sooo, if my parents had been aware and had that strict talk with me earlier, it might have stopped me earlier too...I dunno.  That's probably why I think a boot camp seems a bit extreme as an automatic solution. Though the addiction could be extreme, the people could just be dealing with emotional problems that if handled better or at least a stern talk, setting boundaries with parents would be enough. If someone escapes to the virtual world to avoid what they believe the world to be a horrible place with horrible people... doing something like drugging them and dragging them to be locked up into a boot camp, treated badly by everyone kinda just reinforces their belief too.  Some understanding, and trying to work it out at home first would be nice... instead of parents just throwing up their hands before even trying, and throwing their kids into jail military boot camp.. it's no wonder they act the way they do.  Sure, there could be some people who have it to the extreme where they Need the boot camp environment, but I also think there are people like me who just had some emotional problems that only needed a bit of understanding and sense talked into. Sending your child to boot camp without even trying to solve it at home first, could totally hurt the parental bond, imo..then makes it harder for child to trust, and could rebel more.

 

Just my thoughts~ from those days when I was extremely addicted xD.  Strangely, sometimes I do reflect back on those times fondly.. because it Was Fun, and still have memories of the exploration, adventures in the game.  BUT, If I could, I'd like to go back and time and re-do... those years/time wasted, I could have learned Japanese or something more useful in all that free time, haha.  

 

-Also, my highschool years are a bit blurred because I had spent so much time online... it's like two separate memories, one of the virtual world, and bits & pieces of my highschool life.

[edwd2]

I grew up in rural China and as far as I recall, this became a growing problem in the late 1990s when 网吧s became widespread everywhere and kids would sneak out of school or home to play those 2d shooting games. i went to those places once and got beaten by my parents when they found out lol, never went again. i was a good student but the temptation was real given all the pressure, on top of that, computers were really something new at the time, kids didn't have much for entertainment, even home TVs were rare. come to think of it i was never into video, but then i discovered visual novels three years ago hahaha.

 

this problem isn't limited to or worse in china though, I would estimate that the average american or south korean spends far more time on electronic devices than the average chinese but china has a much larger population at a much lower standard of living, incidents are going to be more frequent. the reason why online games like LoL or warcraft are far more popular is that no one can afford those sony or microsoft black boxes, so few bothered pirating the games too. also, when kids get out of high school and attend college, which is out of parent surveillance, things are gonna change lol.