X-Box is ruining this country

We have an X-Box, my wife, my son (18), and myself all have laptops, all have smartphones (Android rules BTW), there are 2 tablets in the house, my son has a DS, etc., etc., etc.

While my son is now 18, this has been the usual tech scene in my house for the past 6-10 years for the most part. Tech changes as time changes of course.

My son loves football (playing in real life on a team, X-Box football, and watching it on TV), loves spending time outside fishing, camping, hanging out with friends, but he can also live for 3 days straight on a new video game and little food and water while either holed up in his room or over at a friends house. We also spend time together playing some sort of football game on a rainy day or after our two teams just finished playing live on TV...we'll replay the game on Xbox for fun.

X-box has been a way to spend time as a family, and although I'm not much of a "gamer" myself, my wife and son (my wife is my son's step-mom) have spent hours upon hours upon hours playing games together bonding over their love for certain games.

X-Box has nothing to do with being rude or inconsiderate...parenting does. X-Box can be a way to blow off some steam, enjoy some time together as a family or it can be a baby sitter if that's the way you want to use it. That's not always a bad thing. It can be if you let it get out of hand and that's all your children do, but when I needed some "me" time to get some things done, I didn't mind if my son spent a couple of hours trying to level up or complete some "mission"...it worked for him and it worked for me. However, tv or computers or video games do not replace me as a parent nor does he ever pick a weekend of video games over a weekend of bowling, or fishing, or camping, or hunting with his dad or even his uncle, even at 18 years old, my son wants to spend time with me just hanging out...and I find that pretty cool.

My son is addicted to the stupid xbox as well. I kind of want to run it over with my car. He will be 10 in two weeks. I shut it off and force him to go outside and play but if he had a choice, I think he would sit there all day with that headset on. He always says "Everyone else gets to go on it whenever they want or have _____ game!" Guess what, I am not raising "everyone else." I am scared he's going to be one of those obsessed grown men sitting around with the headset.

He does great in school and he does play outside (he's thin and he eats healthy) but I still think that thing needs to go. (My husband bought it for him. He's a sucker for begging. I am not. LOL)

There's been a lot of commentary on here about limiting what your kids DO. . But not about what they WANT to do. I don't want the game sitting in the house beckoning to him when he's at school and outside and at gymnastics and everywhere else.

I've seen real addictions and I know what they can do. They take over a person's mind so that the person becomes single minded of focus and will do ANYTHING to get that next fix. . I think this particular aspect of addiction is the same for gaming (for some people, not all). I don't see the benefit in bringing what I consider an addictive drug into my home. I expect that will inflame a lot of readers, but that's my take on it.

What if your kid starts to love basketball or other sports as much as he loves video games? To be good and make the team, a lot of time and practice is needed.

You think gaming is a distraction, just wait until he starts to notice women. Are you going to ban them from your home as well?
Anything can become addictive if you let it, I think you are overreacting a bit. Set guidelines and stick to them.
Kids want to have fun, good luck on changing that behavior.

Nah GO TES series!

Daggerfall and Morrowind were epic, then the downhill started with Oblivion... but yea, the series is just epic.

You do not like xbox? Tough... I think gaming is awesome, I program in obj-c, c++ and c# for fun, work as apple technician and play games for fun when not programming...

Much better life than most people I think play games, develop own programs and know how to repair anything IT related which.. is basically everything now today really...

So I say let the kid enjoy xbox... you only are a kid once, then work starts and then other obligations etc, I am lucky but still...

I say let kids be kids... If he is suffering health issues from it however, then that is another story..

I am an original Atari generation kid (Xbox now) and No I don't have a problem with consoles at all.. This comes down to a parenting thing as far as I am concerned and feel it is up to us to dictate how much time they get to use it... Best of Luck

you see a problem for sure but you're putting blame in the wrong place. It's the parents that use these things as tools to keep their kids out of their hair. both of my sons own a DS, we own a wii, and a PS3. My kids play hockey and soccer, they go to karate, they go on a bike ride with us every night after dinner, they walk to and from school. They are children and it is my job to limit and supervise video game and TV time, most days they have to choose between the videogames or a TV show because only a certain amount of time is allowed in front of electronic toys......it's totally up to the parents if they want to take an active role. seems to me you are not surrounded by lazy kids, but by lazy PARENTS.

This is mostly a parenting thing yes but I'm also one of those weird parents that refuses to buy that crap.
I think it's a waste of money and can think of better things to spend a few hundred dollars on. Maybe I have a different mentality than most being a single parent who's had to not only make the ends meet but keep them tied; I just don't see the point of them.

One more reason I don't want one, is I don't want the daily battle to limit gaming time. . It seems that it would be just one more thing to add to my list of stressors and I REALLY don't need any more of those. .

(and then there's the real danger that I would get addicted myself!).

if you set limits from the get go it won't be a battle. I set a timer and when my boys hear the ding I don't even have to bat an eyelash for them to turn em off, fold em up, and put em away. They know it is just how it is, the way it has been since they began playing. the problems arise when you are inconsistent (ie, let them play all afternoon while you get stuff done, then the next day they don't get why you won't let them play through lunch again)

Just a few other points addressing some comments made up to now:

No, PS3 sucks, X-Box (especially with Kinect) rules.
Wii is for ... well let's just say I don't like Wii.
Not only do I remember black & white TV, but I remember when the screen was round.
I remember when I was the TV remote: "Lou, get up and switch to channel 6".
I remember when color TV became affordable.
I remember spending loads of time outside playing as a kid.
I remember spending loads of time inside reading as a kid.
I remember spending loads of time watching TV as a kid. (Of course in the 1950s we only had 3 national networks.)
I remember when parenting became a job instead of what you did naturally and that, folks, is really the problem today.

I gotta say that maybe the people who are calling this a parenting problem, and not a console/electronics problem, are too young to remember what life was like before computer gaming.
Me? I remember black and white TV.
We were so much more active. Bike riding from one kid's house to the next looking for something exciting. Pick-up-football and basketball and kill-the-pill for hours. All day baseball in the summer. Swimming and tennis on the off days.
I have two teenage sons. They turn on an electronic game before they eat breakfast, and from what I can tell, their friends and other age-mates are no different.
The games are too addictive. And, I am not so worried about the lack of activity they cause as I am the lack of imagination and socialization that occurs because the kids always have their nose on a screen.
I do not think I am perfect because i did not have computers in my life, and I don't think people who have grown up with them are necessarily deeply flawed. But I have noticed my kids missing out. I have definitely seen that my older son became very isolated because he could sit with the games and tune out his troubles.

It's a parenting problem, I can say that with barely being able to remember B&W TV and growing up in the Nintendo, SNES, and Sega Genisis generation but somehow played outside all day and might play some video games at night....MIGHT.

I've got 2 kids, a Wii and as PS3. We might play either of the 2...once or twice a month. We like to be outside, but sometimes it's fun to play the console on rainy days, or nights when it's just me and the kids.

Too many parents find the console as a cheap babysitter.

Just a few other points addressing some comments made up to now:

No, PS3 sucks, X-Box (especially with Kinect) rules.
Wii is for ... well let's just say I don't like Wii.
Not only do I remember black & white TV, but I remember when the screen was round.
I remember when I was the TV remote: "Lou, get up and switch to channel 6".
I remember when color TV became affordable.
I remember spending loads of time outside playing as a kid.
I remember spending loads of time inside reading as a kid.
I remember spending loads of time watching TV as a kid. (Of course in the 1950s we only had 3 national networks.)
I remember when parenting became a job instead of what you did naturally and that, folks, is really the problem today.

I disagree with your final sentence. I think back in the day, parenting was a lot easier because there weren't so many perceived and real dangers and so many products and influences geared at kids. Kids basically went outside to play and that's how they learned to interact with each other and with the world at large. Now, we have to be much more vigilant. It DOES take on aspects of a job. There are dangers that didn't exist before that we now have to worry about. We, as parents, do need to know what our kids are doing and analyze whether it's healthy. There's a TON of information on the internet to help us make the right decisions (including information on Video-Game addiction).

Also. . the natural inclination of a parent is not always the best. People basically haven't evolved since the cromags appeared. Do you think the same instincts that allowed the human race to survive then, still apply today? And do all parents have the SAME instincts when it come to raising children? Hardly. It's up to us to think about what we are doing and research parenting styles and discuss parenting with our fellow parents to try to form a strategy that works best for our particular kid(s). Parenting IS a job. . but it's a labor of love that we do because there's nothing more important to us than raising healthy children. If I could be paid to parent my son, I would quit my 'real' job in a heartbeat!

I have to agree with you here. Now a days I have to protect my kids while they're at school from bullies because the schools no longer crack down, protect them from pedophiles while playing sports because you just can't trust anyone anymore, protect them from other kids because younger and younger they are doing drugs and having sex, protect them from prime time TV because so much sex is allowed on it now, and protect them from the internet (which is often required for assignments. whew. I'm tired! I remember walking all over town and coming home at dark, I don't know a parent now that can do that. I live on the quietest, prettiest, snooty cul de sac I've ever seen, and I don't let them play out of my sight.

Excuses...

There have always been bullies. There have always been pedophiles. Etc. etc.

My kids walk and ride their bikes and play outside, just like the rest. And statistically, there are half as many child abductions and acts of violence against children today than there was 40 and 50 years ago, back when there was little education of such things.

Parents need to stop being so paranoid and teach their kids about dangers, then let them be kids. I feel sorry for any kid, especially a teenager, that is not allowed to ride their bike or walk through their neighborhood. It's really sad.

Just a few other points addressing some comments made up to now:

No, PS3 sucks, X-Box (especially with Kinect) rules.
Wii is for ... well let's just say I don't like Wii.
Not only do I remember black & white TV, but I remember when the screen was round.
I remember when I was the TV remote: "Lou, get up and switch to channel 6".
I remember when color TV became affordable.
I remember spending loads of time outside playing as a kid.
I remember spending loads of time inside reading as a kid.
I remember spending loads of time watching TV as a kid. (Of course in the 1950s we only had 3 national networks.)
I remember when parenting became a job instead of what you did naturally and that, folks, is really the problem today.

I disagree with your final sentence. I think back in the day, parenting was a lot easier because there weren't so many perceived and real dangers and so many products and influences geared at kids. Kids basically went outside to play and that's how they learned to interact with each other and with the world at large. Now, we have to be much more vigilant. It DOES take on aspects of a job. There are dangers that didn't exist before that we now have to worry about. We, as parents, do need to know what our kids are doing and analyze whether it's healthy. There's a TON of information on the internet to help us make the right decisions (including information on Video-Game addiction).

Also. . the natural inclination of a parent is not always the best. People basically haven't evolved since the cromags appeared. Do you think the same instincts that allowed the human race to survive then, still apply today? And do all parents have the SAME instincts when it come to raising children? Hardly. It's up to us to think about what we are doing and research parenting styles and discuss parenting with our fellow parents to try to form a strategy that works best for our particular kid(s). Parenting IS a job. . but it's a labor of love that we do because there's nothing more important to us than raising healthy children. If I could be paid to parent my son, I would quit my 'real' job in a heartbeat!

I have to agree with you here. Now a days I have to protect my kids while they're at school from bullies because the schools no longer crack down, protect them from pedophiles while playing sports because you just can't trust anyone anymore, protect them from other kids because younger and younger they are doing drugs and having sex, protect them from prime time TV because so much sex is allowed on it now, and protect them from the internet (which is often required for assignments. whew. I'm tired! I remember walking all over town and coming home at dark, I don't know a parent now that can do that. I live on the quietest, prettiest, snooty cul de sac I've ever seen, and I don't let them play out of my sight.

Excuses...

There have always been bullies. There have always been pedophiles. Etc. etc.

My kids walk and ride their bikes and play outside, just like the rest. And statistically, there are half as many child abductions and acts of violence against children today than there was 40 and 50 years ago, back when there was little education of such things.

Parents need to stop being so paranoid and teach their kids about dangers, then let them be kids. I feel sorry for any kid, especially a teenager, that is not allowed to ride their bike or walk through their neighborhood. It's really sad.

Agreed, that sounded like a whole lotta paranoid.