Is it normal for a 14 year old to want so much screen time?

Well at 14, he's plenty old enough to understand she's working. So I'm not sure why you seem to think her working is going to make him want to be online.

many other more obvious reasons.

Sounds normal to me.
At that age my DB and I would happily spend as much of the weekend as we could watching films and going on the NES.

We went on bike rides, read, saw friends, etc too. But always keen to just chill out in front of a screen! I definitely would have been worse with a mobile but teens didn’t have them then.

🤣 excellent

video games are worse than recipes and newspapers because they don’t impart useful knowledge and are addictive.

Depends on the video game and the newspaper - I doubt many people on MN would argue that reading the Daily Mail was particularly useful

I know I'm fighting a losing battle though as MN hates video games with a fiery passion. Spending hours on a screen on a forum is fine though

@OneTaupePoster I have no issues with screen time I spend huge amounts of my time in front of one - doesn't bother me, lol.

I try to get ds out for irl interaction and his friends just tend to sit on their phones be that at each other’s houses, in the park etc.

video games are worse than recipes and newspapers because they don’t impart useful knowledge and are addictive.

@arcticpandas I never said you did resent them - I was speaking generally.

So many adults spend a good chunk of their free time in front of a screen but then get frustrated when their kids want to do similar.

Working & watching crap are two very different things.

I never said they weren't 🙄

My children ARE allowed to play video games and I do not "resent them socialising online with their friends". They are not allowed to play video games 24/7 though since there is more to life than videogames which they would forget if I don't intervene. And I'm almost always up for a board game so it's not like I'm smiling gleefully over my screen when their screen time is up.

'but video games aren't inherently worse than looking at recipes or reading a newspaper. We all relax in different ways.'

Of course they are. Particularly the effect of constant dopamine hits on developing brains. There are studies about how this is changing neural pathways. Some children are particularly vulnerable.

It may not be good, but it is normal. My 40 year old DP spends 2 hours a day gaming, more on the weekends. He watches YouTube, TikTok and Instagram Reels in bed at both ends of the day and watches 2ish hours of TV with me in the evenings.

It’s not for me, so I just get on with my own stuff but it’s not unusual. People are becoming so boring.

Working & watching crap are two very different things. He's 24 not 4, plenty old enough to fully understand that 🙄🙄🙄

They want 100% 24/7 screen time...

Have definitely been where you are! My now 18yr old ds was completely addicted, predominantly xbox games. We found it impossible and as parents, we had very different approaches to this. Over the years, we quite literally tried everything and had so many meltdowns along the way. But realistically it was almost impossible to fight. We hoped things would come out in the wash. When he was late 16/early 17 he started to reduce his usage slightly and became aware of more days without any use. When I asked him, it was because friends weren't online and he only wanted to play with friends and I realised a lot of his was social. He didn't have the same interest without them (whereas he did previously). He held down a part time job whilst being at college but otherwise it was really just xbox for a while. Then all of a sudden, he got a huge interest in the gym, cycling and hiking. The change in the last 12-18 months is massive. He now states how he wished he'd grown up in a time without phones, xbox etc. He doesn't do social media, watches a bit of tv and maybe plays xbox once every 10 days. He adores the outdoors and has done a complete 360. We were so concerned he'd be a permanent gamer at the age of 30 and waste his life away. They were horrible, tough years but I really think it's a stage for them.

We have a 15 year old girl and she likes her screens but in a different way and I'm a lot more chilled about it. She watches shows with me or on her tablet but generally chats to friends on facetime. But her and her friends spend a lot of face to face time and she's fairly well balanced (for a 15 year old lol) so I'm learning to not overthink it too much.

Fair enough .. but I think adult life is now such that it’s difficult for us NOT to be on our screens - iyswim

I don't disagree but I think the same applies for our kids. How many of them had to spend hours online during lockdown socialising, for example?

I read so many threads on here from parents who don't want their teens going out after school, or hanging round the park, or who hate the idea of friends hanging round the house - then they wonder why their kids want screens constantly?

@arcticpandas but video games aren't inherently worse than looking at recipes or reading a newspaper. We all relax in different ways.

I just find it ironic that so many people spend hours on MN talking about all kinds of rubbish but resent their kids socialising in the same way with their friends.

I show my kids what I do online which is mainly reading newspapers in 3 languages, bookreviews, MN, recipes etc. I have told them that if they want to start reading newspapers on their devices I'm OK for them to have the same screentime as I do. But since it's only videogames they're interested in..