re: Dad makes son play outside after playing PS4 all day

You have to understand that when you were growing up, your clique had some set meetup spot, right? Before cell phones, every clique had them. Maybe it was someone’s house, a gas station parking lot, the food court in the mall, a record store or what have you. You needed a set meetup spot because ofherwise, once you left the house, it was impossible for your friends to find each other.

For your kids, that x-box is that meetup spot. They go online and that’s where their friends are waiting for them. Rather than waiting to browse the stores at the mall or play a pickup game of pinecone and stick baseball, they’re forming teams and playing call of duty or the latest rpg.

It’s the exact same thing.

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Top 30 lessons not passed on

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We have taught our now grown children (all girls) all of those, except 2, 11, 17, and 23. Sure glad we never had to fight over excessive video game use.

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For your kids, that x-box is that meetup spot. They go online and that’s where their friends are waiting for them. Rather than waiting to browse the stores at the mall or play a pickup game of pinecone and stick baseball, they’re forming teams and playing call of duty or the latest rpg.

It’s the exact same thing.

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Actually, it's profoundly different and it's showing.

For one. As you pointed out earlier. There are literally millions of people out there they can play with.

The direct result I've personally seen from this in dealing with younger people is spectacular narcissism. Now, most people confuse narcissism with selfishness.

But what I'm talking about is that tons of these people seem to have NEVER learned their role in the reactions they get from people. And why would they?

When I was young, if I said shite that pissed off all my friends, there weren't 30 other kids waiting to play with me. I learned normal socialization. Because I was face to face with them, I learned what immediate social feedback looks like on the faces of other humans. And, my pool of humans to interact with was limited.

Online completely obliterates that imperative. And, I see it in young people at work.

Used to be, if you had an a-hole at work, even he kinda knew he was an a-hole. He knew why people didn't like him. He just didn't give a frick.

I deal with people now who genuinely have no fricking idea how it came to be that NO ONE in the organization can stand them. It's a truly amazing conversation to have with someone.

That’s actually a very good point. Relative anonymity and a lack of proximity allows for trash talking that has no edge limit. In face to face trash talking, you find out where the line is when the batter steps out of the batter’s box and whip’s your arse. There’s no threat of physical confrontation on the internet (unless they agree to meet at Sonic), so they just say the exgiest things they can think of. Since the holocaust is basically the worst thing ever, it makes holocausd jokes and ripping on Jews the funniest, edgiest, trollingest thing they can do.

The real world doesn’t have anonymity. The real world has proximity. By not spending enough time interacting face to face, they’re not learning those social skills. They’re not learning where those boundaries are or should be.

We’re just creating a generation of lazy, entitled, edgy f$&ks.

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That’s actually a very good point. Relative anonymity and a lack of proximity allows for trash talking that has no edge limit. In face to face trash talking, you find out where the line is when the batter steps out of the batter’s box and whip’s your arse. There’s no threat of physical confrontation on the internet (unless they agree to meet at Sonic), so they just say the exgiest things they can think of. Since the holocaust is basically the worst thing ever, it makes holocausd jokes and ripping on Jews the funniest, edgiest, trollingest thing they can do.

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Even insults lose their real meaning in the online world.

IRL, an insult is likely related to the target. "Hey, you're fat" is because, well, the person is fat. And, you see how that person reacts.........instantly. As a kid, you grow up learning what human reactions look like if you actually deal with humans.

Now, insults are just pulled from a grab bag. Hell, that dude in the game room you're calling a fig might not even be a dude. He might just be some chick with a dude's handle online.

More like "dad kicks son off PS4 and makes him go outside b/c he wants to sit his lazy arse down and watch TV for the next 6 hours while he jerks it to internet porn".

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You have to understand that when you were growing up, your clique had some set meetup spot, right? Before cell phones, every clique had them. Maybe it was someone’s house, a gas station parking lot, the food court in the mall, a record store or what have you. You needed a set meetup spot because ofherwise, once you left the house, it was impossible for your friends to find each other.

For your kids, that x-box is that meetup spot. They go online and that’s where their friends are waiting for them. Rather than waiting to browse the stores at the mall or play a pickup game of pinecone and stick baseball, they’re forming teams and playing call of duty or the latest rpg.

It’s the exact same thing.

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I hear what you're saying... but my kids are 6 lol.

Limiting time is easy because they'll do whatever I say at this age. But it just needs to be limited probably even more so they stay balanced.

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Our Xbox is available to our kiddos on weekends only, and they have to "check it out" just like a library book.

It is also given to them with limited time limit which is earned with good behavior during the week.

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One of your kids is destined for the local sex offender registry. And it'll be because of shite like this.

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Your d-bags took this way out of proportion. Checking out means that we keep in our closet so they can only play it when they earn it.

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My son knows I'll whip his narrow arse if he plays when he's not supposed to.

Eta: he just cheated to beat me in Horse. Do yall let your kids do shite like trick shots behind the goal, for example? Little fricker.