Speaking of Teens
Episode #45: Your Teenager and Gaming; Is There A Problem? And What If There Is? With Jeremy Edge
Does your teenager dream of making millions by playing video games? Streaming to millions of adoring fans and landing huge sponsorship deals? Do they play on an e-sports team or dream of going to a top e-sports college? No doubt our job as moms got a little harder when gaming became a “sport” or something you could make millions of dollars doing. The argument that they’re “practicing” or “working” when asked to shut down the game and go to bed has become all too common.
And even if they don’t have those lofty aspirations, gaming can still become all-consuming for many teenagers and can cause plenty of friction in the family.
How do you know when enough is enough? Does their single 8-hour bender of Fortnight indicate a real problem? An (gulp) addiction even? If you’re threatening daily to throw the gaming console into a wood chipper, is that just your issue? Should you just buy a headset and learn to play Call of Duty and chill?
This week I’m talking to Jeremy Edge, a licensed professional counselor specializing in problematic screen use…including gaming. We discuss all things gaming including boundaries, when you should worry, and what you should do if there’s a real problem.
This is a very actionable episode – don’t miss it!
Access TRANSCRIPT here.
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Sources, Resources and Mentions:
"Powered Up" online courses for teens and parents
Escapingthe.com Experience Summer Camp in Dallas Texas
Are you addicted to video games quiz
ITAA (internet activity 12 step program)