How much is too much screen for 13-15 year olds and when do you need to worry about addiction?

[Bluevista62]

I have two perfectly normal teenagers: good at school/sport/have lots of friends but when they sit in front of their XBox or computer they are away....they can sit for hours if I don't monitor their screen time. This morning my 13 year old got up at 5.30 am to play a new beta version of Destiny, waking me in the process. He would sit there till lunchtime if I let him. I won't, but it is a drag to be in this constant "get off there now" routine. Any insight? How many hours a day is normal/ok? Anyone read any studies on what this type of involvement in violent games does to an evolving brain?(they are all violent no matter how gorgeous the graphics) Many positives I know but when it interferes with daily life....

We don't have any rules in our house, except that they should get off when they are told to, but only if there are good reasons (to us that is!) to do so. Having said that as we all enjoy gaming the booting off is generally to give someone else a go. Our only real rules are consoles in family rooms only, and a certain amount of vetting, which generally means no real life violence games (ie shooting aliens, zombies is fine, but graphical violence to people isn't). So we don't have COD or GTA. ds is mostly into strategy PC games now and dd is into JRPGs.

ds has also been enjoying Destiny, although there is no way he'd get up that early. He got up at 11.30 this morning. If he ever woke me at 5.30 there would be serious trouble!

Your teen got up at 5.30am? I am!

My teens spend a huge amount of time on their screens, but it doesn't really interfere with our lives - does this make it OK?!

DD is not REMOTELY interested in screen games, but spends every waking moment checking her gadgets for social media updates.

DS would rather be out with his mates/doing/watching sport, but does play the odd bit of Fifa if it is bad weather/he is really bored. He wanted GTA a while ago which he played for a bit, but now only gets out if certain mates come round in bad weather (ie about twice a year!) However, he does spend most of his time indoors checking his gadgets for social media updates.

I don't set limits but they all know that gaming is done in spare time, like watching tv. If chores, homework, family life and real-life socialising were being bumped in favour of gaming then I'd unplug it (and have done).

Consequently it rarely goes on during the school week, is on for maybe a couple of hours each day on weekends and can be on pretty much as you describe during the holidays if we're not going anywhere and they haven't made plans with friends.

Thanks all. Very helpful. The beta has finished and normal life has resumed! (My own adrenaline must have been a bit high.)Phew!

I cannot tell you how many hours are ok but I do know that there have been a number of studies that have clearly proven that playing violent games increases aggressive, antisocial and egotistical behaviour.

In Germany they seriously considered to ban all violent video games becasue it was linked to school shooting. I do not know if they have actually done it.

Gaming and internet addiction is also real and has been included in the psychiatric textbooks a little while ago.

I have watched a number of good documentaries on these topics and I am sure you find these studies on the net by googling them.

Recently we have banned ALL screens for 2 months for DS15 for various reasons and, honestly, we never had a happier, friendlier teen in the house before. It was teenager heaven! DS said so himself.

Now the ban has come to an end and old bad behaviour is coming back. Obviously, the end goal is that he learns to self-regulate but at the moment he is still far away from that. So, we have a schedule (1 hour a day in term and 2 hours during holidays).