Take the Tech Away

I am so angry with a news story that I heard on my local NPR station, WBEZ (of which I am a loyal subscriber.)

The story dealt with youth addiction to technology. One parent came on with her anecdote about her child who, as she described, played video games all day and all night throughout his teens and into his twenties.

The editorial continued with therapists and others who talked about the fact that it's not technically a medical condition that can be diagnosed.

What has me so angry?

TAKE IT AWAY! SMASH IT WITH A HAMMER!

I have to tell you, my small loyal following, that parents piss me off. Say no. Take it away.

Your child will scream, yell, and maybe even assault you.

SO THE FUCK WHAT?!?

Be a parent! You bought it for them.

Let me ask you this - would you rather waste the $500 you spent on the XBox and however much on games, or the thousands of dollars that therapy costs?

As a more macro discussion, the desire for people to outside of their families for therapy is getting out of hand. That's a pretty rich statement coming from me - from a family whose members have sought therapy here and there on a consistent basis.

However, this tech addiction is a tangible problem that is easily solved, or at least has an easy beginning to the fix. Take it away. Make rules. Enforce rules. Two working parents? Fine - unplug it and take it to work with you or lock it in your car until you get home.

For any parents of younger children, please use this as your cautionary tale. Make rules, enforce them, and force your kids to say, "please," and, "thank you." That's just a peeve of mine that is loosely related to this topic.

Remember - you are not their friend, you are their parent. You get to be their friend when they are in their twenties and on their own. Until then, you are a friendly police officer.