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Teens who game seem to have two seasons: knowing that they’re probably gaming too much/too late into the night (school year), and feeling like they can game as much as they’d like (hi, holidays coming up).
Whether it’s summer break or Christmas, Thanksgiving long weekend, no school = less structure and fewer responsibilities, which is often seen as a free pass to game as much as they want. This is problematic in too many ways to count, not least because it keeps them stuck, takes away from family time, and causes fights.
[How does it keep them stuck? Time and energy are their most valuable resources for growth – when these resources are overly channelled into gaming, growth and the potential it unlocks are stunted. There’s no meaningful goal setting or plans to achieve those goals, exploring new hobbies or interests, nurturing relationships IRL etc. Their quality of life on just about every metric is degraded.]
I don’t have a magical solution for your teen to start gaming responsibly, but I do have some insights and strategies you can try out starting today to help your teen game LESS while they’re out of school and only wanting to game MORE. Check out this Q+A (one of our most popular ever). Skip to 1:31 to dive right in.
Tis the season to be in the real world!
Kelsey
