The mother of an adolescent is very troubled by the fact that the son has started spending several hours late night (4-5 hours) on video game during the lockdown period. This is affecting his participation in online classes and other activities. Negotiations and setting limits have not been helping the situation and there are a lot of anger outbursts on both sides. There is no other support available to the mother. What could the counselor suggest to the mother?

Questions › Category: Excessive use of technology › The mother of an adolescent is very troubled by the fact that the son has started spending several hours late night (4-5 hours) on video game during the lockdown period. This is affecting his participation in online classes and other activities. Negotiations and setting limits have not been helping the situation and there are a lot of anger outbursts on both sides. There is no other support available to the mother. What could the counselor suggest to the mother?
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Prerana M asked 3 years ago
1 Answers
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Dr. Manoj Kumar Sharma, Dept. of Clinical Psychology, NIMHANS Expert answered 3 years ago
While the mother’s concerns are understandable, encourage her to be empathetic towards her son. Remind her that this lock-down is difficult for everyone. Rather than getting angry/instructing him what to do or not to do due to her frustration, she can try sharing her concerns. But most of all, suggest her to focus on having conversations with the son on other non-technology and non-academic related topics. She can try to involve him in other offline pleasurable activities. Let her use this as an opportunity to strengthen her relationship with her son. Once the lockdown is over, she can address this issue of excessive use of technology with the help of a professional or through SHUT clinic, NIMHANS.