Children Concerned By Parents' Web Habits 381
praps writes "Children are becoming increasingly worried about their parents' Internet habits, according to a report just released in Sweden. Unsurprisingly, dads surfing for pornography is the most common problem, but chatroom addiction also featured in the report — as is a mother who has become obsessed with World of Warcraft. 'This summer she has been sitting up all day and all night and she forgets what's important to me,' wrote the woman's 13-year-old daughter. 'And when she's not at the computer she's like a lost soul. She just looks straight ahead and says nothing.'" There are also a lot of scammers out there who like nothing better than to find retirees who they can sucker into get-rich-quick schemes involving real-estate, stock options, and convincing the neighbors to be part of a "downstream" for MLM marketing ploys.
Re:WoW (Score:5, Interesting)
Hmm. (Score:1, Interesting)
Do you have a child?
Re:WoW (Score:5, Interesting)
You can't win the game... it's like a never ending soap opera or comic book. Actually providing resolution so people walk away is not in the plan.
There's always another carrot.
Erik
My DM is like that... WOW Addict (Score:5, Interesting)
He told me he has 7 70's.
Is this a problem?
WoW (Score:4, Interesting)
I guess that's... better than nothing, right?
Discovering the Internet (Score:5, Interesting)
As the years go by and you expand your personal scope of/for the internet, you ditch all the things you did when you first got on and really get down to business finally. Call it internet puberty if you wish... these people are just exploring things just like we all did at one point. Honestly, I think it is funny to see friends of mine who just finally get online and start talking about chat rooms or some flash game they found. It takes me back to the days when all the internet was there for was to entertain me. Now I am connected to the/a network nearly all the time, I make my living from it and if it went down for more than 6 hours, I might get the shakes.
Re:WoW (Score:2, Interesting)
These things are well on the way to being recognized as psychological/psychiatric disorders. They do cause significant social problems and that is, essentially, all that's needed to diagnose a behavioural disorder.
WoW is not bad, computers aren't bad, etc. But, as much as liberal ideals should be the norm, regulation has to be a part of game design and if gaming companies don't act responsibly (eg: somehow curtailing excessive use by individuals) then we'll see governments stepping in and ruining it for everyone.
Re:WoW (Score:4, Interesting)
When your online life is more stimulating than your offline life, you tend to stay online longer. Join a team of something (softball, volleyball, swimming, debate, soup kitchen, crafts, etc). Get yourself *involved* with your offline life. Unlike an MMO which is designed to keep you involved with the online life, offline you sort of have to choose your own density. I mean...destiny.
Re:Because (Score:4, Interesting)
>> So WoW not having an "ending" is hardly an issue -- people can get addicted to anything that offers escapism, and the fact that this mother is addicted to WoW is not a cause to point fingers at WoW.
> People can, and do, quit MMOs. I quit WoW not long ago. No big reason, no epic struggle, I was just kinda bored of it.
The question is, did you quit WoW because you found a more interesting way to escape, or did you no longer need an escape ?
If my girl was older and knew we surfed swinger... (Score:2, Interesting)
...sites, man would we have lots of 'splaining to do. "Concerned" would probably not cover it.
Of course, searching for other women or couples that the husband and I can tag team probably doesn't technically fall into the category of "porn" - but it could easily still fall into the "teaches the wrong things about sex."
*tripple checking that I'm posting anonymously*
Re:WoW (Score:2, Interesting)
Well, at least they're not hooked on heroin or crack..something that has physical addiction and physical withdrawals...that often lead the person to commit crimes to feed their habits after they run through everything else they own. And I don't think you'll go to jail if you get picked up with a couple of grams worth of listings of the gear and gold you own in WoW.
Former WoW parent (Score:2, Interesting)
Just to put that in perspective, it's about 900 hours in 650 days - about 1:25 a day, every day, seven days a week. Truthfully, that was about my playschedule, too - of those 650 days, I was logged in at least 600 of them... maybe more. My typical morning included 30-60 minutes of playing before work, as that was the only time I could be certain of getting on. Evenings and weekends were spotty with kid duty and "wife agro".
My son played, too, though he never got as far into it as I did. The nice thing was that it gave us something to talk about and do together. The bad thing was that it was almost all we ever talked about or did together.
Ultimately, I quit for several reasons. First and foremost, the game wasn't really fun anymore. It felt like work just to keep up with it. Second, a lot of the people in the game weren't fun to play with. That's part of #1, but it's also a separate item. There's jerks in the world, and maybe more on teh interwebz than elsewhere, but it seemed WoW had a disproportionate share. Third, the time was just too much. You couldn't sit down for a couple of hours and play the game and have fun, or at least I couldn't. So, after losing two jobs during those two years (related or not? you decide), I finally quit.
These last couple of months have been like coming out of a fog. Am I suddenly using an "extra" ten hours a week productively? Not necessarily. Am I no longer wasting time on the computer? Well, there's plenty of ways to waste time besides WoW. However, I can clearly say I'm better for dropping it - a better husband, a better father, a better employee, and better for myself, too.
Is WoW an addiction? Maybe. Did WoW cause my problems? I don't think so - I always saw my WoW as symptomatic of other issues in my life, not causal - but one could certainly draw some strong correlations.
As a parent, though, I'm glad to be out of that "world". I did have some fun, and there are things I miss, but overall the real world beats WoW hands-down.
Re:WoW (Score:5, Interesting)
I did manage to quit wow, and have since turned my addictions to spending time with my kids... but I gotta tell you... It was hairy there for a while...
Re:WoW (Score:3, Interesting)
I recall reading this article about some guy spending too much time on his second job - an online job. He would often get called, and new responsibilities were given to him. He had to take care of new people, he was always given new duties and he could never quit - people depended on him. It was a burden so heavy that it felt like if the world could end without him. It didn't matter that he got no pay for the job - it was too important to ask for pay.
That second job was World of Warcraft.
Re:WoW (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Because (Score:5, Interesting)
I've found that the real humor in quitting WoW is in their 'last gasp' message. I decided that school and money came before a silly game, so hit the unsubscribe reason and picked "I need the time for school". They helpfully displayed a little message that went along the lines of, 'You don't have to go! A lot of other people who pick this reason found that they have lots of friends they want to talk to in WoW!'
Irksome that they do it, but yeah, they just don't want to lose any subscribers.
Untrue (Score:4, Interesting)
There are plenty of studies that show an exposure to 'hard core' pornography at a young age has ill effects latter in life.
heh, pownography.
Re:The problem isn't the Internet... (Score:1, Interesting)
Says who?
I can't speak for anyone else, but I'd wager at least half of the once adolescent males here learnt more from their dad's porn stash then they did in sex ed classes. Formal sex education only glosses over the bar minimum of what you need to know, how tab A connect to slot B and so forth.
Everything else is kept in the dark unless you seek it out and pornography is a perfectly safe way of exploring your sexuality, providing you're not ~so~ young as to not have a full grasp on the meta level morals of our society.
Next they'll be saying that violent video games breed serial killers or that fiction novels don't contain enough truth.
So what level is your... (Score:1, Interesting)
kid? If you're going to raise kids, they should be the top priority. Other things are merely means to that end.
Having said that, there's nothing wrong with playing WoW or other games. Get your kids involved. Teach them how to team play, develop strategies, remember and calculate WoW's mathematical side, etc.
Re:Can't you meet them on SecondLife? (Score:3, Interesting)
>And that, good friends, is SecondLife in a sentence. You may think there's more to that game, but it's all a
>scam.
I myself operate a Zen meditation house, and a live music venue, and do quite a few things not mentioned in your sentence, and you've basically just accused me of "scamming."
Re:Because (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:WoW (Score:1, Interesting)
I'd rather mom be addicted to chat rooms than to the drugs and alcohol that neglected wives often turn to.
Life is not the Brady Bunch, and most people are OK with that. Only politicians and the super-religious can't seem to deal with it.
I have had customer experiences like that (Score:5, Interesting)
When I read this a situation that I ran into in January came to mind.
A couple of our regular customers come in to upgrade both of their machines (each parent had one - neither of the two low-end by any means). They priced out about 1500 dollars worth of parts and openly debated about maxing their (only) credit card out on the parts..
Normally, this wouldn't bother me - not any of my business how they pay, so long as they do.
Then, however, after deciding to go ahead and buy the parts - they start going on about how the husband was laid off in December and still hadn't found work - AND THAT THEY HADNT BEEN ABLE TO AFFORD ANYTHING FOR THEIR KIDS FOR CHRISTMAS less than two weeks before.
They're reason: If they dont keep up with WoW they may get kicked out of their Guild!
It may be none of my business, but I'm a parent myself and this just sickens me. I finally ended up having sudden 'stock shortages' and found a way to talk them out of the parts, but still...
Re:WoW (Score:2, Interesting)
All I am saying is that it is easier to shift a bunch of bits to give an optimal reward cycle than it is to shift, say, a rock-face to do the same thing. I'm claiming nothing about the absolute level of enjoyment one can get out of any pleasurable activity.
Certainly fun things can be addictive, but as a glaring example, both rock climbing and sex have a natural end-point, you get to the top and that's it for right then. Sure you can come own and do it all over again, but then the body has it's natural limits. You feel tired and fulfilled, and you don't feel like you need any more for a while.
Not so with games like WoW, which are specifically designed to be addictive. You can keep playing until you die from starvation, and people have.
Re:WoW (Score:2, Interesting)
Now, as for rejecting a BJ, I know there are times for me personally where the need for mental stimulation easily outweighs the desire for physical... But I would still reject a game to be with someone I care for.
Now excuse me while I go ponder the possible ramifications of a combination of a BJ and end-game raiding...
Re:WoW (Score:3, Interesting)
Correlation and causation, folks. Sigh. It's highly unlikely that WoW took a perfectly normal mother and converted her into a zombie like this. These symptoms are indicative of deeper psychological issues that manifest in an unhealthy obsession with WoW.
Oh, it is more than likely. When you're addicted to a game (be it non-computer, offline or online game), or to a discussion forum or to a chat service, then that fills your life. When you're not on it, you're thinking of what you'll do when you again have a chance to get on. Even when there's some time you're waiting (like in many online games) before you can do stuff, waiting for that time to arrive fills your life.
That's addiction. Not everybody gets addicted, but it is possible, and it is common, and just because you may not even understand what I'm talking about here (lucky you!), it doesn't make it unreal or unlikely. This particular mom sounds just like this. So called real life is a chore, a burden for her, and only things worth living for are in the game, interacting with other people *there* and doing stuff *there*.
Or is this just me? Anybody else here know what I'm talking about? :-)
NO FKNG WAY! YOU DON'T HAVE TO GO???? (Score:3, Interesting)
More on topic, I agree that kids get concerned by parents staring at a monitor, even my daughter gets mad at me when I start to play or I'm working, She tries to get my attention and she's just 1yo, Sure they know or they can associate the fact that you're "face to face" = giving attention to something that is not even a tall-speaking-hugging-something-daddy, on the most basic sense as for a 1yo girl.
If you have kids, and you can't just quit on gaming... at least bring them to the clan
Re:Oblig (Score:2, Interesting)
I quit becuase I was bored (Score:3, Interesting)
WoW was just entertainment to me, like reading books, watching movies, playing (other) video games, etc. I didn't play it to "escape" anything, just to amuse myself. I, like many Americans, have the luxury of having all my more basic needs (per Maslow's hierarchy) met fairly easily and thus have a good deal of time to spend on entertaining myself. For me, it is generally video games, though books as well. TV and movies occasionally, but I don't tend to find them good entertainment for the dollars or for the time.
Now if you want to define anything that's not work as "escape" ok fine, but you'll forgive me if I'm glad I don't like a life like that. I want to enjoy life as much as I can, and entertainment is rather enjoyable.