WIBU to get rid of my DC's gaming console?

[BergomotGreen]

Would IBU to permanently remove my DC's gaming console? It's causing so many issues in our household - to the extent that I am considering unplugging it and taking to the local recycling centre or Cex. Never to darken our doorway again.

Have any of you done this, or enforced long and sustained a tech ban?

What are the issues?

How old are the kid(s)?

No. It's not a popular opinion but I don't limit tech use in my house. As long as it is not affecting attitude or schoolwork, chores are done and he gets out and about socialising as well then he can spend his free time doing what he wants.

When my boys were teens I often took the controllers, cables and even the router to work with me fairly regularly.
We didn't limit tech until it impacted on school or they were waiting until we went to bed then started playing.

I understand you can now block, control time spent on consoles, television etc individually. That would have been a miracle when my boys were young. Mind you, there is so much tech available now that they just move on to something else.
I remember those years as being so stressful and full of raised voices. We were so, so tired. We have all survived, and they are terrific young men.

How old is your child?

Longest tech ban in this house was a fortnight and DD was without a phone/TV or anything for the full 2 weeks.

I remove tech all the time from DS11 if he's not doing as he's told. Every 6 weeks or so he finds himself banned for a week because he's not listening, has a bad attitude or whatever. I always warn them of the consequences and if they decide to carry on I don't feel bad removing stuff.

I'd certainly consider removing the games console for months at a time if I thought it'd improve things at hone.

Depends on the age of the child and what the issues are.
Refusing to eat, sleep, wash and do school work because they are on the console then yes - get rid of it.
Doing all those things just fine but spending all their free time on it - meh. It's their hobby, something they enjoy. So what?

If you don’t like the negative impact it’s having then remove it. I don’t understand why modern parents can’t seem to grasp this simple solution when they complain about YouTube/games/tech. If your child was eating crisps and chocolates and nothing else the advice would be to not buy them and provide healthy foods only. I was talking to lady the other day who was complaining her 9 yo was watching beauty bloggers and wanting to buy all the expensive products they advertise. She didn’t agree with it, why allow it? I can’t comprehend.

What issues are you having? I think it would make more sense to limit use and teach them right from wrong. But hard to say without knowing the issues and what you've already tried to make it work.

how old?

i restrict mine to two hours a day and taken in one session

he complained intuitively but i was in moveable and now he just accepts

13

and that’s weekend and holidays only

No. It's not a popular opinion but I don't limit tech use in my house. As long as it is not affecting attitude or schoolwork, chores are done and he gets out and about socialising as well then he can spend his free time doing what he wants.

This, exactly. Have had this in place for my two for years - they are 13 & 16 and even manage to share access to a singe console quite amicably.

What age is DS? Is it having an impact on any of the above? Why do you want to limit his use?

Agreed. My DH was a big gamer growing up and now works in the industry. I have an only child, too young to go to the park etc on his own, and he loves the Lego games as well as anything racing. Where's the harm?

I agree with a couple who have said its not so much an issue of how many hours per day they spend on it but more if it's causing them to be moody, not eat, go anywhere, shower, etc.

Why didn't this shit die out in the 80s like it should have done

Arbitrary rules for no reason whilst the parents sit on their phone but how dare kids do something they enjoy

Do it. So many children completely ruin their GCSEs because of addiction to their games. And you have already said it's causing other issues. They will be grateful for it in the long run!

That would cause huge resentment and issues you wouldn't expect, as well as removing the positive impact these things can have ( many many studies have proven this. Along with the only way to manage gaming disorder or any negative effects is parental involvement and mediation)

Instead take back your house, put it in a family space, and control it's use. Make sure you know more about what your child is doing on there than he does. And donate some of your free time to developing your own knowledge of how it's developing their brain vs the damage it can do and how to mitigate that. Put in a headset and ride the wave with your child.

If the above doesn't sort it or isn't relevant to the problems you are having, then the problems are not with the console, they lay elsewhere in your family dynamics. And I would argue getting rid of the console may not remedy those things.

That's hard work I know, but parenting on today's world is isn't it?!

I absolutely wouldn’t. Is your child neurodivergent? My son has ASD and he hated school and even college. Gaming was his only relief. Before he got into it he had bouts of severe depression. With the right balance of medication and playing his online games he isn’t leading a productive life but he is happy. That’s the important thing to me.