Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Flip

Original poster

Help! ds 13 welded to laptop

22 replies

fizzbuzz · 04/02/2007 09:34

ds would play crappy computer games 24 hours a day if poss. Happily sits on sofa ALL day with laptop until I lose it with him .

When I eventually remove it, he says "What else is there to do?" and then becomes welded to tv

He has lots of friends and is sociable and confident, but just wants to play games all day.

Doesn't seem interested in going anywhere or doing anything because he just wants to play his games.

As I said is perfectly happy, but I am at screaming point.

OP posts:

GhostOfMumsnet · 04/02/2007 09:36

I can get like that on MN!

noddyholder · 04/02/2007 09:37

My ds is 12 and would do the same if he wasn't such a skateboarding nut!He is out skating all day but the minute he steps through the door he is glued to the computer!I think they go through this stage tbh when he gets interested in girls you'll not see him for dust!Does he go out with his friends at all?

Original poster

fizzbuzz · 04/02/2007 09:52

Yes, he does go out with friends sometimes, but he is crap at organising his social life. I always say to him about Tues or Wed, try and sort something with your friends for weekend, and don't leave it to last minute, but of course he always forgets/can't find them at school/ etc. Then all his friends are doing stuff by the time ds gets round to sorting it

It is v hard Ghostofmumsnet, when I am also always on here and probably would be all day if I could....but do as I say not as I do!

He really is Mr Sociable, but the games he plays are online, and against real people all over the world, and he is completely addicted.

Just like me really....gulp...

OP posts:

brandy7 · 04/02/2007 14:21

same problem here, except its MSN hes chatting to his mates and girlfriend too. hes 12 and had been with his g/f all day yesterday,he came home, got straight on msn and even though i kept nagging him he was still "chatting" 4hours later

hes grounded for a week now so im going to limit his time on it, the constant tapping in my ear does my head in

rosylonginglily · 11/02/2007 11:20

I was going to start the same thread about my ds 15! I'm really worried that he's going to waste his life away in virtual land, he has no wish to do anything else! I have decide I need to take action and find the energy from somewhere to force him into doing some voluntary work at weekends or something real life related.
Maybe I should just be grateful that I know where he is and he has no inclination to drink, take drugs, or stay out all night like alot of 15 year olds. sigh.

rosylonginglily · 11/02/2007 11:28

Oh and he has a girlfriend in virtual land..in fact they got married in one game, now they play another game together and are planning to marry in that game too! She's in LA
At least he can't get her pregnant

themoon66 · 11/02/2007 12:31

Another one here. 15 year old DS who lives in virtual land. No social life at all, unless his one friend msns him on a friday night to arrange to meet in town on Saturday. Even then, they only go to the warhammer shop and Waterstones, which takes all of one hour.

Even when his mate comes round, they are both then glued to the laptop together, watching manga cartoons.

DS has now dropped karate, which he only did on a Thursday night anyway. Now he has no visible hobby apart from staring at the screen.

I worry he will lose the limited social skills he has and grow up to be some sort of hermit/recluse.

southeastastra · 11/02/2007 12:36

hi moon how's mick and keef

yes my ds(13) is the same and sometimes doesn't even get dressed until about 5pm. my ds(5) is getting the bug too.

themoon66 · 11/02/2007 12:55

Me rellies are fine last time I looked SEA

DS is still in bed fast to sleep as I type. He was watching manga till about 3am... I went to the loo about then and heard his chair creak, so I know he was still up.

ThePrisoner · 11/02/2007 15:22

Thinking back to my teens (where a "computer" game was only a contraption plugged into the TV and involved moving two little "lines" to use as bats to hit a ball!!) ... I spent a lot of my time just watching TV. I was addicted to watching as many films as I could in a day. I also used to read avidly. And didn't get up till lunchtime.

My mother despaired of me then (and still does, I'm sure). Things don't really change, do they?

Original poster

fizzbuzz · 12/02/2007 21:00

No change since first post. Ds still addicted....glad to know he is not alone.

What have I bred!

OP posts:

Original poster

fizzbuzz · 12/02/2007 21:03

Makes me glad to see same names on theae posts.

Makes me feel less like the parent of a strange alien!

OP posts:

clerkKent · 13/02/2007 12:50

DS is the same. When his friends come round, they bring their own laptops so they can play games sitting in the same room as each other - there does not appear to be any other contact between them!

Molesworth · 13/02/2007 12:55

Yes my 13 yr old ds is the same too, although he doesn't tend to MSN during the week, but binges on it at weekends and in the hols. I have to bribe him to go out and get fresh air

Original poster

fizzbuzz · 13/02/2007 14:21

My ds plays dss on xbox, online and in seperate rooms. They also talk to each other on msn in seperate rooms, but in the same house you understand!

OP posts:

budgie · 17/02/2007 11:11

both of my kids too - it's such a relief to know there are lots of them out there. dd spends all hometime on msn or bebo or whatever having inane emotiocon conversations with people she has just spent all day at school with. ds just games and games and games. apparently he's a known name on WarcraftIII and everyone flocks to his clan? group? thingy? whatever when he starts or joins a game, so in his world he's popular and big and famous - he just looks like a no-mates geek to us boring adults.

I think there's something deeply evolutionary going on with the teens/games thing - to do with growing up and power and control and escape and locking horns with the old guys in the clan - and it's something some of them just have to do. Better in the virtual world than real world.

cheeryface · 17/02/2007 11:18

my 11 year old ds would do 24 hours if i let him too.
he isn't very willing to mix and doesn't have any friends really so i limit him, he gets about an hour a day on the pc and and a couple hours of tv. the rest of the time he just argues and fights with his brother !

random · 17/02/2007 11:34

Another one here with a Ds14 who spends hours and hours playing World of Warcraft on the pc.he has loads of friends but seems to prefer his virtual friends..agree with budgie though about the power and escape thing he seems to get great satisfaction from his raids and quests or whatever he does on it..Still at least I know where he is either on the pc or in bed

Original poster

fizzbuzz · 17/02/2007 20:49

LOL at World of Warcraft. Perhaps we should swap their user names, and they can become cyber buddies!!!

But then they may talk about us.........

OP posts:

Original poster

fizzbuzz · 17/02/2007 20:57

Also ds has told me his form tutor plays on World of Warcraft

Where does it end?

OP posts:

RustyBear · 17/02/2007 21:03

Think I should probably compare the names on this thread with those on the 'help me get off mumsnet & do my house work' ones.....
The words pot, kettle and black spring to mind....

I'm not sure I agree that computers make teenagers unsociable - even if they're playing games for ages, it allows them to join in conversations at school - after all the standard advice for people who want to make friends is 'find people who have interests in common'

And MSN is their way of socialising - especially for the girls - at least they're not spending money on the phone....

heypickme · 19/02/2007 15:23

My ds is 15 and doing his gcse's this year, do you think i can get him to study, everytime i say something to him he says relax mum i have it all covered, chill. He is addicted to Pokemon....... i tell you if i hear pikatchu one more time i will scream.

He stays in his friends most friday nights and his friend stays here on saturdays but all they do is play ps games or on the computer chatting on msn along with my dd who is 12, she is addicted to msn too and habbo.

I do have to say though my son and his friend do love going cycling at the weekends and even then i am on at him, where are you, who are you with, when will you be home etc..... Not sure if he can win lol

At least he is not out mugging people or into drugs etc...........

I am not sure there is anything we can do for them or to them to make them change

Flip

Swipe left for the next trending thread