my 16-yr old son was addicted to Xbox. I removed it from the House last week. Now he is on his phone non stop and very snotty most of the time. I have purchased an online monitoring system but haven’t installed yet for his phone. Is it very important to take the phone or just monitor use? Also he says that because I took Xbox that he hates school and won’t try to get anything more than passing grades. He can be a B student without much effort under normal circumstances. I am considering taking away tv use during the week if his gpa isn’t. b average or close to it. Thoughts?
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TryingToKeepSmiling
Welcome Keep smiling !
I think it is a good idea to take away or disable his smart phone.
I would advise you to think carefully how you are going to approach his addiction. Being reactive rather than pro-active may not be helpful. Eg taking stuff away only to cave in and return it later is not helpful and may set up escalating cycles of bad behaviour in the addict; Take a long term view on this.
To help make those decisions it will pay for you to keep coming back and read about the helpful expeience of others who came here before you. Start with the link in my signature below for parents.
Here is a discussion about taking away smart phone
http://www.olganon.org/forum/i-need-help-parents-gamers/taking-away-smart-phone-0
The smart phone is just as bad as computer. Our kids brains will only heal when they stop playing. TV is not so bad ... maybe taking away everything all at once will be very hard. When he comes off media he will be in withdrawal and nothing else will motivate him until he starts to recover. Keep coming back to find out more.
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