To ask what your teenagers do with their spare time? It can't just be gaming surely...

[Flamingo1980]

I know no teenagers so I've absolutely no idea what they do 'these days'. So I'm asking because I simply don't know, I'm not judging or criticising.
I ask because my collegue at work told me that her son spends up to six to eight hours EVERY DAY gaming alone in his room and apparently all of his friends do the same.
I'm genuinely shocked and a bit worried about this. What on earth does that do to a persons mind? I KNOW I must sound like an out of touch fuddy-duddy (I'm 35) but I openly admit to being completely ignorant on the subject as as I said I don't know any teenagers at all.
'In my day' my brother spent his free time either playing football with his mates or building gliders or mountain biking etc.
Don't teenagers - indeed all humans - need sunlight, social interaction, exercise and fresh air sometimes?? Could this be why so many kids now have depression, adhd etc...?
Please reassure me this isn't all teenagers as I fear for the next generation of this is true..

In order of time spent, DD14 will:
Watch Netflix
Message her friends (snapchat/Instagram/what's app/iMessage)
Read
Play mindless games on small screens
See her friends (so they can wander round the shops or all watch Netflix or message other friends together)
Write songs, practice them on piano
Play board games with family

I find this whole debate really interesting. Clobbered seems to think her teen has a very different life from a teen on a gaming console but all the "at home" activities seem to be on a screen including random looking at things on the internet which I personally see as a real waste of time!

I have a pre teen and she spends hours out of the house engaged in organised activities, which is great. But when she is at home having down time we do seem to lock heads as she just wants to be on a screen either watching trashy TV, chatting to friends on I message, making movies etc and to be honest I see it as all the same as playing on a console.

I think I'm old fashioned but I'd rather at home they were playing board games, reading, doing hair/make up, playing outside or in the pool, cooking, doing craft activities and dd spends a reasonable amount of time doing those but I think screens are now pretty inevitable

It was interesting, in the recent BBC documentary on the murder of Breck Bednar, to see how sociable gaming actually can be for teenagers - I've previously been a bit sneery about gaming (I genuinely don't understand grown men who sit for hours on their X box/console - the type that sometimes come up in threads about idle DPs) but I realised I actually had a very old-fashioned understanding of what it is. It seems almost the 21st century version of hanging out with your friends.

My teenager will be 18 later on in the year :

Mainly locked in the loft (it's converted - no padlocks, yet)
Draws eyebrows
Is amazingly adept at applying makeup
Screams a lot
Has other teenagers up there for extended periods who also scream and eat a lot
Has a Saturday job as a beauty consultant in London (this is unusual)
Doesn't ever bring washing down
There are no cups in the kitchen cupboard they are all in her room
Occasionally appears for food or lifts
Is unapproachable in the morning and for 7 days in the month
Is amazingly lovely with her ASD 4 yo brother and invests a lot of time helping him with his literary difficulties
Is quite the dirtiest cow I have ever had the misfortune to come across had to put a dishwasher tablet in the sink in her room to remove algae
Is bloody good fun to be with, has a great sense of humour and I adore her

If she starts gaming, she's leaving

My dd is 14 and she spends her time drawing, listening to music or on her mobile phone texting friends.

wanking

What is the difference between plating shoot em ups on the computer and playing the same on a games console

My DSs will do non stop gaming if they have nothing else to do.

To stop this we encourage them to o sport and spend as much time in after school clubs as possible.

Both are now doing rowing that takes up a lot of time, as well as judo and Duke of Edinburgh. Of course homework and revising fr exams is also essential.

We have a deal. As long as they have done everything else they can do gaming. They also communicate with friends via text and various other social media.

DS2 does send hours gaming and I don't like it but as his rowing commitment grows and he is doing art GCSE that requires lots of after school time in the art club I am trying not to sweat too much.

DS1 will be 16 soon and am hoping he will be able to get a job in summer.

I also try to remember I spend a lot of time on the internet and if they were not gaming it would be mindless TV watching.

DD 18 socialising, sleeping, studying and working.
DS 14 practising guitar and piano, revising, duke of Edinburgh stuff and seeing his pals.

Neither have any interest in gaming.

DS is 16 & probably spends 5 hrs/day on 'poota, longer on non-school days.
Grumpy sod but Does not have mental health or neurological problems.

I could have easily spend 5-12 hours/day watching telly, reading books & doing puzzles at that age. I really don't see the difference.

All these teens sound very well rounded. I mostly spent my teenage years sitting in the park smoking weed.

Dd 16
Riding and looking after her horse
Revising for gcses
Playing sports
Laying on her bed chatting on snapchat/Instagram

PMSL Worra I am the polar opposite of my teen - I hate make up, resent having to brush my hair and generally dislike people - how she's even related to me is baffling !

My DD is 14, not into gaming at all and doesn't own a console. She:

Has her friends over/goes to friends
Netflix
Snapchat/Instagram/etc
Farting about with make up/hair straighteners
Scouts/Explorers
NOT tidying her room!

18 year old: Star Wars Battlefront, FIFA, talking to friends on whatsapp (ALL day it seems), watching films, going to parties

We have our Xbox downstairs, d3-16 is on it for an hour or so most evenings and weekends- American Football - It's not the Xbox1 that most of his friends now have, I think if he had that one he'd be on it more.

He goes out a couple of evenings and every Friday to play football or go to the cinema. At home he sits with us but on his laptop.

sport sport sport

My DS 16 loves gaming.

But he doesn't have six to eight hours a day free time!

Today for example he had school until lunchtime. Then he works in a charity shop. Later he'll grab some dinner before meeting some mates to go out.

Tomorrow he will play a football match and do his homework in the afternoon. He will do some gaming at some point.

DD also 16 doesn't game, but she does love youtube vlogs and telly.

But again, she's busy. School this morning. Drama rehearsals this afternoon....

Dd1 is 16.

Playing in 3 orchestras
Drama group after school
Reading
Watching various you tube stuff

I do think gaming is more popular with boys, most of the teenage boys I teach twll me they spend a lot of time gaming, but they do seem to have other hobbies as well, like football or rugby, meeting mates, etc

For a boy, if they are into their sport then it takes over their lives.

DS15
Hockey - training/playing/umpiring/coaching for school, club and county/national squads
Lacrosse - training/playing for club
Music - 2 instruments - lessons/daily practice/orchestra
Reading
Has set up an online business - has designed/populated website, negotiated stock, etc.
TV/gaming in time left over - which isn't much.

DD17
Reading.
Gym/running/walking
Reading.
Reading.
A bit of socialising.
More reading.

DS2(19) is at uni
He has uni work
His nursing placements
A part time bar job
He goes to the gym
He plays in a football team
He plays FIFA tournaments on the PS4

When DS1 was a teen he spent all his spare time out running , lifting weights, or down the gym. He did have a Saturday job and his schoolwork too.

Our's used their consoles more when they were younger tbh.

DD14 spends time mainly:
Drawing/painting
Stalking horses she has noticed in area
Uploading drawings to instagram and reporting to me every single time someone 'likes'/'favourites' one of them
Complaining about school/homework which is 'so unfair'
Complaining about younger sister 'getting into my stuff'/'looking at me and laughing'
Loitering around horse-related establishments in the drizzle, refusing to wear hood/waterproof outerwear
Texting incoherently to pals
Ignoring texts from parents
Playing the sims when meant to be doing homework, until shouted at
Horseriding
Refusing to cooperate in laundry logistics

She probably plays less xbox than me! But more on tablet/laptop. Certainly not 6 hours- we don't even have 6 hours in the house most days (she gets home before me, but only by an hour or so when she's finished loitering in town after school and getting ridiculously slow bus home).

ds (15) - sleeping (a lot), xbox, football (playing and watching) and general whinging in between :D

DD has paper round, goes shopping with me or her friends, spends hours perfecting make-up/changing outfits/doing hair, watches t.v. internet, baking, sports clubs, listens to music, sleepovers/friends over, photography.

DS has p/t job, plays football, pool and snooker, eats out, xbox, studying for gcse's, rides bike, watches t.v. collects coins, music and internet, parties, sees friends and gf and sleepovers.

For a boy, if they are into their sport then it takes over their lives.

this also applies to girls