16 year old romantic overseas online relationship

[Newyork2]

My 16 year old son here in England has told me he is in love with a girl he has been talking to in America for the last 5 months. He attends further education college 3 days per week and on those evenings after college and for the rest of the week he spends every minute online either gaming live and/or talking to his online girlfriend. I have spoken to her myself so know she is real, however my son is hardly sleeping which will ultimately affect his college work and I am just so worried. the girl is 18 and when I've asked what she does and wants to do with her life she has no plan. Can anyone give me any advice on this situation please? thanks

It will probably blow over OP. The lack of sleep thing is a worry so perhaps suggest he calls her early in the morning?

I've had this. They ended up at the same uni (surprise surprise) and fell out very quickly.

It'll pass.

Not my experience but my DF had this with her DD and it did blow over.

Agree a plan with your son for when he is online and when he sleeps. Turn off the wifi if necessary so that he gets enough sleep.

I would also lock away his passport and be careful with your credit cards just in case he does feel like going to see her in person one day. (A student at the school where I work did this, all turned out OK in the end but it was stressful and made it onto the news).

We’ve had this too and it blew over once the initial thrill calmed down. She’s a nice young woman (who definitely exists) and they’re still occasionally in touch but just as friends.
In DS’s case she was the first person he called his girlfriend and I think it was a safe way of dating for him - they could talk and flirt online or on the phone but couldn’t get too involved because of the distance.

Thank you allso much for your advice - do any of you have advice for how to ween him off the online gaming part too? Gosh its so hard being a parent in this technical age isnt it

Does he have any other hobbies? Maybe try to encourage him towards those as well as / instead of gaming. And see if you can restrict the hours spent gaming, at least on weekdays.