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| All it takes is a click to enter the virtual world of gaming instead of living! |
A few weeks ago I posted the Les Femmes lead article from the winter edition about screen addiction. You can check it out here. (Part 1, Part 2) After the print issue went out (I send it to all the priests in the diocese.), I received a message from a friend, a pastor at a large parish who outlined his own personal experience with a teenager in crisis.
It was compelling and I asked him if I could share it anonymously. He gave me a thumbs up. I think Father's sharing offers evidence of the seriousness of the problem, but also a good way to handle it. The boy's father did not try to deal this alone but apparently recognized that getting the help of the boy's spiritual "father" would double the impact of the intervention. So here's the story and perhaps you know someone else who needs to hear it. I'll call the boy Jimmy, not his real name. The situation happened a number of years ago and the man Jimmy became is doing well.
Hi Mary Ann,
I read your most recent article about addiction on the internet and I thought I would share a parallel story with you that confirms what you were saying. This was a number of years ago. Jimmy was very diligent, hard-working and intelligent, but became addicted to online video games. Let me start by saying thank God it wasn't pornography.
Anyway, I've only played one video game in my entire life so I don't know how it works on the internet, but apparently it was a game in which you, as the player compete against hundreds of others throughout the inte
rnet online earning points. Then you go up and down some sort of a scale of proficiency that only adds to the glamor and the attraction of the game. Poor Jimmy became completely immersed in it. He still did his homework and managed to keep up with school, but he rapidly descended into an internet hell.
Jimmy started spending most of the night on his computer playing this game until 3:30 or 4:00 in the morning. Then he would collapse from exhaustion. He would wake up in time to help me with the 6:30 a.m. Mass at the church and go to school, but then right away back to these games that would go on through the evening and night. He began to have problems. He stopped hanging out with his friends. He stopped showering and wearing clean clothes. He ignored this absolutely gorgeous girl that was crushing on him. The only thing that mattered was screen time.
His father discovered it and we decided to do an intervention. His father and I sat down with Jimmy and his dad started by saying that he was taking his computer away from him altogether cold turkey. To say that Jimmy was angry and irritable is an understatement! He began to cry and accuse his father. He looked at me like I was Judas Iscariot and said, "Father, I thought you loved me. I help you with mass every morning and now you're ganging up on me with my father.
I said to him, "Jimmy, you know that I love you and so does your father. The reason we're doing this is because you've become addicted to this and you can't see it because you're only 16 years old." But we can see it and we have to do this to help you."
Anyway, to make a long story short, Jimmy complied and got out of the addiction. Now he's an adult and gainfully employed, thank God
I suspect that your article will really hit home with many readers.
We live in a world where the powers of darkness have so many ways to access us and our children. Unless we stay close to Jesus and immerse ourselves in Him, it will be all too easy for the prowling lion to devour us! Jimmy was fortunate to have a dad who was paying attention and a good friend in Father. They intervened to stop the situation and get Jimmy back on track. How many parents are sleeping at the switch, busy with jobs and personal concerns? How many know what their children are looking at on the internet or on that little screen they carry in their pockets all day long? How many kids are not only playing video games, but accessing pornography and "sexting" to their friends? How many are slandering and shaming their peers?
Parenthood has always been a challenge. Read the Old Testament! But today the challenges are magnified and their number has expanded exponentially. Pray for parents to be wise guides for their children. Their are particular saints who strove to form and protect children. Here's a little litany of saints I recommend.
St. Joseph, pillar of families, pray for us.
St. Elizabeth Seton, pioneer of the Catholic school system, pray for us.
St. John Bosco, champion of children, pray for us.
St. Frances Cabrini, mother of orphans, pray for us.
Guardian angels of our children and grandchildren, pray for us.
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