Anyone have teens with no video gaming?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My two teen sons play games on their computesr, but we don't have any gaming systems, x-box, etc. Our teen daughter never plays.

Games on the computer are so much more sophisticated than games on the boxes. My son is only 13 and after going to a few programming camps in the summer has developed MODS for the PC that he has published (!) for minecraft. DH and I are in IT and when it comes to programming and publishing, he is wayyyy ahead of us. He even asked us to buy him a server, which of course was a no go, that is thousands of dollars even with him building it. His gaming is not all encompassing. He plays travel sports and is an excellent athlete and is in all honors classes and is 2 grades ahead in math and is tracked for Calculus by 10th grade.

Our approach has always been balance and we rarely say no about stuff like technology, but once again, DH and I have made great careers in technology. I had an old IBM-PC at home that ran on DOS and played Doom It is important for them to learn to self regulate, or else when they do get their hands on it, it will be all consuming, as we have seen that with his friends who have very strict restrictions, they become zombies at our house and my kid ends up standing there asking if they want to play basketball in he court and he can't get his friend off the sofa.

[Anonymous]

Video games are ruining young boys/mens lives. Do not allow the systems in your home.

[Anonymous]

What my kids who are into gaming do not do is watch TV. They will spend time on Reddit and on rare occasion binge watch a show on Netflix (Stranger Things over break). Unless it is a big game of some sort they don't watch sports on TV. I don't think they are unique in that. The impact of that is going to be interesting in 10 or so years on pro sports.

You do have to keep an eye on things as a parent though. Thankfully our older kids are up on current gaming issues and advise us as well as their brother. For example, the CSGo gambling was a problem that we were able to largely avoid due to brother supervision. Others in our parent group were not so lucky.

[Anonymous]

btw all your non-gaming homes - your teenage sons want to play our PS4 nonstop when they are at my house

[Anonymous]

We don't have a video game system, mainly because we lack space.

Yes, it's a shame. I would have used it myself
But that's what we get for buying a tiny space in a great school district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My two teen sons play games on their computesr, but we don't have any gaming systems, x-box, etc. Our teen daughter never plays.

Games on the computer are so much more sophisticated than games on the boxes. My son is only 13 and after going to a few programming camps in the summer has developed MODS for the PC that he has published (!) for minecraft. DH and I are in IT and when it comes to programming and publishing, he is wayyyy ahead of us. He even asked us to buy him a server, which of course was a no go, that is thousands of dollars even with him building it. His gaming is not all encompassing. He plays travel sports and is an excellent athlete and is in all honors classes and is 2 grades ahead in math and is tracked for Calculus by 10th grade.

Our approach has always been balance and we rarely say no about stuff like technology, but once again, DH and I have made great careers in technology. I had an old IBM-PC at home that ran on DOS and played Doom It is important for them to learn to self regulate, or else when they do get their hands on it, it will be all consuming, as we have seen that with his friends who have very strict restrictions, they become zombies at our house and my kid ends up standing there asking if they want to play basketball in he court and he can't get his friend off the sofa.

What kind of games on the computer are you referring to? (the more sophisticated ones) I'm OP, and am glad to read everyone's comments. For a bit there, I thought maybe we were the only ones without some kind of gaming system. My 13 year old is making video games on Scratch, and I think would be into other programming as well. (we steered away from programming camps in favor of the more physically active ones... not sure if that was a mistake?)

[Anonymous]

High school girls generally are not into gaming. The ones that game are a very rare exception.

Your question should be about teen boys specifically.

[Anonymous]

Not in our house either; but my brother has had a horrible online gaming addiction for 15 years. He failed out of two colleges because he was staying up all night gaming and slept through class every single day. He couldn’t get his act together until he was 29 and he still games a ton but at least he has a real job and is self sufficient. Anyway the nightmare of watching him self destruct over gaming made me extremely against having any sort of system in our house. Surprisingly it was never an issue. My brother is an extreme case, but it can’t be an addiction.

[Anonymous]

Computer games can be all sorts. Some very active games like rocket league and CSGo. Many old games as well. Take a look at Steam. My kids get most of their games off Steam.

[Anonymous]

One of my girls has no interest in them, the other plays with her older brother online after he's home from work and she's home from school. They live 1,100 miles away, so it's a great way for them to connect. My other two adult sons also play online with each other sometimes after work. They've never let gaming interfere with their work, and they manage their time wisely, always going to bed on time to get up in time for work. It depends on how you approach gaming in your family. If you make it taboo, it could backfire, some kids are truly not interested, it totally depends on the kid, but you always have to stress boundaries, and teach them to put work first. We've never had a problem. My younger son has an older system, but he'd rather draw. It's there if he wants to use it, he just chooses not to, unless he suddenly feels the urge to build something on Minecraft.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:btw all your non-gaming homes - your teenage sons want to play our PS4 nonstop when they are at my house

LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Video games are ruining young boys/mens lives. Do not allow the systems in your home.

this. it really isp ointless. it lowers sperm count as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High school girls generally are not into gaming. The ones that game are a very rare exception.

Your question should be about teen boys specifically.

at the school i'm at, bringing a nintendo switch in a backpack is very popular (many boys do) - and when they get it out, all the girls want to play mario kart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How prevalent is video gaming with teens these days?

Will kids raised without any kind of video game system be completely out of step with their generation?

Yes. They will be out of step.

You do know that gaming isn't the devil?

[Anonymous]

DS plays FIFA and CoD on XBOX, but he usually only has time on the weekends. We have no set restrictions for gaming as he isn’t a big gamer and doesn’t choose it over homework or activities.

DD only plays games on her iPad or phone now that she’s 17. Usually puzzle games or trivia. She used to be a big fan of Guitar Hero and Just Dance when she was younger.