About a year ago I found my kids playing Pubg, (an online game) on their cellphones. After sometime I found that they were neglecting their studies. So we sat down and had a talk. I gave them an option of giving away their cellphones and instead getting a PS4, but only to be used on weekends, up to maximum of 3 hours a day. They readily agreed as PS4 was the next big thing according to them. They had an XBox 360 then in which they had lost all interest. So we went to the game shop and I got them a PS4 with all the shebang attached to it. Things were going ok, as they were playing three hours a day each on weekends only. Then came summer vacations and they talked me and my wife in to allowing them to play daily, 2 hours. Since it was summer vacations we had to agree, and they started playing it daily. After a week or so I started observing strange behavioral change in both of them. The things I noticed are:
- Wanting to play more and more of Fortnite.
- Refusing to give up the game when asked to.
- All activities started centering around Fortnite.
- Food, outdoor games, studies were neglected.
- They refused going outdoors to friends, relatives place.
- They would remain awake all night.
- They wanted to buy Fortnite cards, thus asking for more money.
- They became isolated from the family.
- A number of times my kids misbehaved with me and my wife.
- When offline they would show withdrawal symptoms.
This went on for sometime until I decided to talk to them. It worked only for a short time. When schools opened, the weekend only Fortnite sessions resumed, but then I found them remaining awake whole night and sleeping whole day. The worst was, they way my kids started misbehaving with us, something which they had seldom done before. They had online friends only now. My younger son stopped playing soccer altogether, he put on weight, would not socialize with us. This was high time, me and my wife had been observing the changes in their behavior and decided to put a stop to it. One day I just took away the PS4 from them and locked it in my office cupboard. When I came back there were questions and more questions. My elder son refused to speak to me, the younger one was still talking but sad. But I held on, and also told my wife to be strong as their withdrawal symptoms would now get bad for a few days and then finally subside.
It has been a few weeks now and things have become normal. They have started playing football, going out, having dinner and socializing. I signed up my younger son in a football club and he’s ok with it. This post is for all those parents who think that buying a PS4 or XBox they are doing their kids good. Well the answer is NO. It is simply not controllable. The addictive effects of these games are destructive in every way, something I learned the hard way. I felt sorry for a time for not being able to control them, but then later I realized this thing is not controllable, simply because there is no end to it. Please be wary of it, it will destroy their lives. It is addictive and the withdrawal symptoms are worse than anything I have seen so far. Please post a comment if you have observed any such behavior in your kids. Good luck.
My Random Ramblings 
My kids play fortnite on iPads. Their cousins on PS4. They’re 9 & 10 yo.
I do relate to some things , like withdrawal symptoms. If asked to cut it off , they would be like drug addicts kae buss ab dae dain , itni daer ho gei.
I won’t say their behaviour changed towards parents but amongst themselves, they would be more aggressive with each other over the game.
Their few activities like when there’s going to be an event on it, they would be asking to be back home by that time.
It had been time limit with them, now it’s compulsory for them to play outdoors .
The game is addictive, I agree but wasn’t it the same with Atari or stuff like that back in our times?
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First of all thanks for speaking out. I think in Atari you were connected to the person sitting right next to you. This is something totally new and different. Now they are playing with people they don’t know about, and sharing information about themselves. Worst of all there’s some new thing called as clans, so they make a clan and join it, not knowing who the people in that clan are. I got them the PS4 so that they can play online and don’t have this feeling that they are deprived of electronic games etc, but it turned out to be very bad experience. Its and addiction of the worst type.
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Well I am young and I play fortnite, but just a few months ago I started feeling like I am bored of it so I started playing many other games on my ps4. And they were not addictive at all.
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Good to know that. Stay blessed
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You’re a good boy 😀👏
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Game addiction is very real and I have been through recent research studies. The addiction happens in brain because of chemical imbalances so as per new research, consumption of physical substance is not necessary.
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I cannot disagree with you on this. And it is very sad, I see people glued to their mobile screens as if the world around them doesn’t exist. Same is the case with these console games.
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