So this little ditty of a news item popped up: Boy collapses after playing World of Warcraft
First thing that popped into my mind, is how the news got ahold of this? Next was how distracted would a parent have to be to not notice the kid is on a game for 24 hours? Why did it take the kid having a seizure for the parents to realize that sitting on a game with little food and sleep, may be something they want to restrict?
Next David Brown (author) goes to the shrink view and yadda, yadda. The entire thing smacks as a scare, with nothing really of substance. For instance, why did Mr. Brown totally ignore the fact that WoW has parental Controls?
Every day of the week is broken up into 30-minute segments, and each segment can be set to "able to play" or "unable to play." As mentioned above, players cannot log in during a scheduled break, and if a player is already in the game when a scheduled break is set to begin, the game will automatically disconnect the player.
Mr. Brown, in my opinion, is a lazy reporter going for sensationalism over substance. What could have been a practical, informative artical, is now just another finger wagging hit piece.
7 comments:
Great post, Lee. Too many parents use video games, television, and other electronic gadgets to babysit their kids. Yeah, I know, a liberal with family values. Who knew?
Forbes had an interesting article about Americans being the hardest working people in the world. A 70-hour workday is becoming more and more commonplace.
Europeans get four-eight weeks vacation—with some countries that take two-hour lunches: the standard in America is two weeks and work through lunch.
Another problem is 80% of single family households are run by women, who make on average 77% of the man's dollar. Many single mothers must work two jobs to survive. Unfortunately, since women more often bear the responsibility for child rearing and household chores, they are less likely to be able to compete in the marketplace.
This is a social issue that must be addressed: men must participate equally with women as concerns household chores, and men (or women) should not be expected to work a 70-hour week.
The challenge lies in how we balance work and life. If we work less hours, fathers and mothers will have more time to spend with their children.
You are absolutely right: Mr. Brown, in my opinion, is a lazy reporter going for sensationalism over substance. This is my take on the situation, and there's no easy answer.
Left you a comment.
Thanks Stella, we agree it’s a great post (gloat alert!)
Seriously, this is an age old problem with modern twists. There are many ways to ignore your kids, Prior to all our electronics there was the Pub or Bar.
Sadly there is no solution, only ways of modeling behavior with a hope that someone someplace will learn and apply the lessons.
I have friends who put in 50 to 60 plus a week, it is a choice, that choice is based upon location and or lifestyle. It is still a choice. Is this a problem? I really am not sure. There are outcomes from this choice, to be sure.
I have a good idea that here in the US an eight week vacation would be used as for another income. You’re getting paid two times to work once.
This is a social problem, with a lowering of family values and an acceptance of sitting back and hoping for a solution, when there already is one.
You deserve to gloat, Lee.
;-)
You are absolutely right: 50 to 60 hour work weeks are ruining families. It's a terrible problem.
As I mentioned, women often can't work this many hours, but I did and could barely get myself to have fun on the weekends. Not only are long workweeks impinging on family values, they are endangering Americans' health.
Bravo to you for writing this post!
I have to disagree that the long work weeks are ruining families. Historically, such long work weeks have been the norm. It was common for our ancestors to work 12 hours days, 6 days a week.
Many people, however, could work from their home, as their home was also there place of business and customers came to them.
WoW can also be a great parenting tool: eliminating Wow and the thread thereof can be a powerful motivator, once you successfully addict your kids to it :P
The long work week keeps people from spending time with family and kids. Which may or may not be true. There are many non-work related ways to avoid committment.
Way back when, you worked with your folks side by side. Unless you were the silver spoon crowd.
My work weeks often get up to the 50 to 60 hour range (or more). Throw in travel, I it looks like I spent a lot of time away from the family.
The trick is to prioritize the time that you have available. My free time revolves around the family. I coach volleyball, participate in Girl Scouts & Boy Scouts (including being trained as a leader), attend and help with school events, etc. My work is flexible enough that I can work from home at time - often at night after the kids go to bed. That takes away from personal time that could be spent in other ways, but it is a sacrifice that is worth it for the family time.
We also made a choice to have my wife be a stay-home mom. As the kids get older, she is starting to get more time on her own. However, that still keeps a family connection going that we feel is important.
With my youngest child, spending time TOGETHER on WoW is a new way that we are continuing our bonding process. I am teaching her how to get around and we work together on this as well as we could with something like Stamp Collecting. It is just another hobby outlet if used correctly (just as Stamp Collecting could lead to an unhealthy obsession if followed incorrectly).
Another good friend who works many, many hours makes sure that he spends every Sunday at the beach with his children. Again, setting a proper priority for away-from-work time.
A blanket plan to reduce working hours is not the solution. What is needed is an understanding that time spent with the kids/family is important.
There is really a lot more to say on this topic, but there is a start.
coming from someone who works 12 hour shifts i used to work 6 days a week like that. Not only was it actually hurting my body but i was unable to communicate with the ones around me. Though keeping me busy usually helps i still see that if you let a child play ANY games for longer than an hour it can impact them. In my family an hour a day is ALL you got rather it be on computer to the PS2. We were also not allowed to watch TV until our homework was done (besides a 30 minute break after school for winddown.)
Working 12 hour shifts practically leaves no time to families. Such as children usually get an hour to two hours of homework DAILY depending on grade level and courses. They also have chores. Not only that but they may do extra-curricular activities. If you leave at 6 am and dont get home until 7pm (that includes traffic time) and yet your kids are just finishing soctor practice and still have homework. When do you get time to spend with them?
i agree 12 hours shifts DONT work well with families and they can easily over stress just ONE person out. That one day you get of you just want to lay down and breath and sometimes between bills and needed errands you dont get that.
I agree with Lee. Its the parents that let that child go unnoticed for 24 hours without food and a break. I dont even let my roommate go 3 hours without a snack or a break in her video games.
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