On Sunday, The New York Times published an article on the risks associated with using teenage devices during quarantine – and as you would expect, they went straight for the guilty parenting test bricks. There are photos of a family devastated by games, and the quote ‘I let you down as a father’ comes in the second sentence. There are also curious comparisons with drug addiction (“There will be a period of epic withdrawal” after quarantine, warns one addiction expert) and vague claims about the impressive nature of young brains.
Before trying to turn off the juniors Playstation Plus subscription, it’s worth putting things in perspective. We are in the midst of a global crisis, and the past ten months have been difficult for everyone. We have seen historic jumps in depression and drug abuse among adults, and it is becoming increasingly difficult to achieve healthy escapes. Digital entertainment has gotten many of us into one piece over the past year. For many children, this is one of the few places to lead a semi-normal social life, and therefore many experts have emphasized a balanced approach rather than a direct isolation. Digital interaction is an incredibly valuable thing, and it is irresponsible to reject it because of abstract screen panic.
The article briefly gets socialized online, but saves it for some sort of ironic reflection at the end. After a parent cut her son off from Xbox games for a few weeks, he says, ‘I feel bad when I try to limit him. This is his only socialization. For many children, this is the whole point: online spaces like Fortnite are the only way to hang out with their friends. Real socialization is going on here, and as long as contact with people is a health hazard, these are the only places where it can happen. It is important for children to hang out with other children, so turning off the screen time is actively isolated and damaged in ways that are much more concrete than the screen time. The only reason to reject it is the lingering idea that socialization somehow does not count.
What we see has less to do with screen time and more to do with the age-old problems of teens’ social lives. There are many healthy and social things you can do online, just as there are unhealthy and separate things you can do offline. Whether it’s just happening on a screen is not the main issue. It’s okay to worry about unhealthy spaces online, whether it’s eating disorder culture on Instagram or sewage on Reddit – but the problem with the spaces is that it’s unhealthy, not that it’s online. Tossing the internet because the problem is just confusing things encourages parents to cut off one of their children’s unhealthy social outlets.
On some level, I understand the anxiety here. Parents may also be depressed and anxious! There’s currently a lot you need to stress about in the world, and watching your child play Xbox through it all can make you feel like you’re watching Ed Westwick play holocube Children of men. I’m sure it’s alienating to watch your son play Fortnite all day, but if you’m so worried about losing contact, it might be time to pick up a controller and spend time in their world.