swedish boy avatar
swedish boy
25
6 months ago

Screens = my cocaine line 😜 how dad cut me off

So like… I been a total screen-junkie since I was 10. When I turned 13 dad gave me more freedom: weekends = free screentime. I gamed all day on PC/phone/Xbox. Dad said I got disrespectful, I ignored him, he pulled the plug, I freaked out and even hit him 😬. He held me, I cried, told him screens feel like drugs. Dad said it’s his fault for giving me freedom I can’t handle. He took everything away, and now I only get 1h per day, Sundays = zero. He installed apps so he can see everything I do and even block stuff. I was angry for weeks but then broke down crying, coz I missed it too much. Dad hugged me, took me on the boat, no screens, just us. He told me his childhood friend died from addiction and he won’t let that happen to me. He said I can’t blame myself, coz kids can’t handle that responsibility – it’s HIS job to stop me. Now I got used to it. I still miss my games, but I actually feel better. I can’t lie anymore, and me and dad laugh and have fun again. I even blame him when friends ask me to game, and he says that’s fine coz dads are supposed to be the “bad guy.” So yeah. Screens were my “cocaine line” 😜 but now I’m free, still only 13, and dad is my hero again 💙❤️.

Screens = my cocaine line 😜 how dad cut me off

Posts and comments here share personal experience — not medical advice. For treatment questions, talk to a clinician.

iforgotmyname avatar
iforgotmyname
5mo

This is still my escaping behaviour. Thanks for sharing.

Quacker Jacks avatar
Quacker Jacks
5mo

It’s easy to be addicted to social media and video games as it gives us that immediate burst of dopamine our brains crave that feels so good. You don’t have be a kid to be addicted. However, there are many other things that give our brains good feelings like playing with a pet, walking in the sunshine, laughter and exercise. It’s all about balance. Your dad sounds like a great dad.

swedish boy avatar
swedish boy
5mo

🤣🤣🤣 I was just thinking I would like say thank you in at most to sentence but then I got feeling and all words just came. It’s cuz I haven’t taken my ADHD drugs yet… 😝😝😝😝🤣🤣🤣😜😜😜

swedish boy avatar
swedish boy
5mo

Thank you! Yes and then time goes it has not been so bad cuz i don’t really miss it as much anymore but id I was like at a friends house and they got a really good game and we play for an hour or two then it all come back and i like start to try everything i can to break the control apps cuz i really want to play but it is like a good thing cuz after i tried to like break free from parental control that is normally easy with like vpn but not for me cuz dads computer wiz friend have like made it more secure and after like 30-45 minutes I give up and then i get this strange feeling of being calm and accepting. Its like i need to try but then i not succeed at al its like i feel free in my screentime cage cuz i realise its not up to me and its nothing I can do - dad is impossible to minipulate then it comes to rules (trust me i have tried everything for like 13 years lol) and the parental control security is also impossible and then i relax cuz its like a good feeling to not be able to control the situation cuz then its like i dont need to take responsibility for it cuz dad took that freedom and the responsibility that freedom gives away from me - i can be angry or sad or anything but its not up to me. Dad is all responsible for me and my digital life and its nice. It’s like it let me be a kid 100% and don’t have the stress that getting older gives me. And then I know it no use to argue all this fighting and trying to manipulate is not anything I need to care about. I feel safe as then I was younger. It’s like he took me back in time and took over responsibility I really now know I can’t handle. I see many of my friends that are even more addicted then I was that use hours every day to fight with there parents and sometimes they win so they never give up and I se how they are not happy in that. This maybe wierd but it’s like all this freedom and endless digital world without borders that my generation have with technology and less strict parents maybe is no freedom cuz most kids my age have this problem I think and there freedom and possibility to manipilate and break rules is to hard to handle so what was supposed to be freedom for kids today have instead become a prison that makes kids unhappy. Maybe it’s better if more parents do as my dad and take away that “freedom” that becomes a prison from most kids so we can get back our right to be kids again inbetween the limits that adult choose for us. Cuz I know for shure I’m the kid in my school that have the strictest dad and the least “freedom” to make own chooses and and have the smallest yard between the limits that he decided for me but my lack of freedom have taken away the prison of responsibility that all the other have and I’m more happy, have more energy, are never tired in the morning and are not late with schoolwork and don’t fight on a daily bases with my dad as all the other do and I’m the ADHD kid - not them. I really come to the lame conclusion that parents need to set more rules, say no more and be stricter about discipline with there teens cuz it’s really the responsibility of the parents. All this “let children do that they want” parenting strategy is not about be nice to kids I think parents do it cuz that take away the parents responsibility and feel nicer for them “I trust my kids!” “I listen to my kids!” “I learn my kids democracy cuz I don’t decide things over my kids head” “my kids think I’m a cool mom or dad that is more like a friend.” I don’t want my dad to be my friend. He is not that fun to play with och listen to music with. I don’t want to compete my dad to the lake to se who first gets in the water. I have a lot of friends I rather do that with. I want dad to be my dad! I want him to set rules for me so I can blame him being to strict and have the right to be angry at him without he giving me guilt but instead tell me off and demand me to respect him cuz he is my father. I want to have the right to think and say my dad is a dictator without him getting all emotional about like my friends parents do all the time “I’m sorry, I feel sad then you my loved son are angry. Can we talk? Can we find a middle way. Please son talk to me I’m so vorried. I don’t want my dad to cry cuz he is sad cuz I show an attitude. I want him to be that strict and strong dad he is that makes it clear for me that I just have to obey and if I don’t stop whine about it he will punish me for putting up an attitude. Cuz he takes responsibility for his own feelings and don’t give them over to me as a box full of guilt cuz I hurted my dad. I want to have the right to feel that I hate him (but I really don’t but it feels like that then he discipline me) without him giving me guilt for it. He just say: “son you can hate me as much as you like but you behave and show me respect and obey while you hate me or I will give you more reasons to hate me. Cuz my dad is strong. He is not my friend. He is my dad. Dad protects me and u trust him cuz he is never a teenager in his behaviour like other parents are. He doesent care for likes on social media. He don’t care that I call him a dino cuz he buy clothes that is just ugly and uncool. He don’t need to like “have time to taker care of himself” “find the meaning with life” get all nervous about what other ppl think. He is just like a rock - old and steady that never breaks and always do what he think is best for me so I can use my time to be a kid, a teenager, think about likes on social media and get nervous about what other ppl think and I can try to fin myself and all this thing that kids my age are supposed to do and then life gets to hard or the world seams to hard to handle for me I can go to my adult dad and he can still put me in his knee like then I was 3 and hug me and tell me that everything will be alright, that he got my back, that he will protect me from both others and myself and then I need him he almost allways have time for me cuz we didn’t used all time togheter to fight and argue cuz dad is impossible and a dinodictator that don’t really care what I think if he knows something is good for me - he just do it and takes responsibility for it. I really really love my dad! ❤️💙

fAmDiHlDy avatar
fAmDiHlDy
6mo

Your dad is an amazing parent, I'm so glad you feel better and understand that he is just trying his best to help you not to be bad to you when he takes things away like that. I'm happy you can have fun together again 💕😊

red87 avatar
red87
6mo

@swedish boy oh, i thought it might be

swedish boy avatar
swedish boy
6mo

? Don’t understand

LookASquirrel avatar
LookASquirrel
6mo

I stopped social media several years back and it really improved my mental health. You are lucky your dad looks out for you. I had to set time limits on my phone to be “dad”. 😉

swedish boy avatar
swedish boy
6mo

Yeah I guess he do a good job but sometimes it gets a bit hard. That’s why I write so much here cuz this is like a free app with no screentime. Dad say it’s good for me to talk to people here

red87 avatar
red87
6mo

i wish i could have fun with my parents like that

swedish boy avatar
swedish boy
6mo

Yes we have a lot fun together and sometimes he brings like all my friends out with boat - he got like a really big and really fast boat - and then he say to all my friends parents that he have two rules for kids on his boat 1. lifejacket and/or harness and safety line. 2 no electronics or smartphones. So then they also have to leave it at home and we all can have fun with same rules

red87 avatar
red87
6mo

???? one hour a day and none on sunday? that gives you time for nothing

swedish boy avatar
swedish boy
6mo

Yes and no games like are fun - so no fortnite. No Minecraft, no Roblox, nu nothing. I can play like kids games and like puzzle games that are not considered to be addictive and ALL good games are addictive. Now I can’t even play Pokemon go but dad have promised to look it up more after I told him about it cuz then I can play outside and stuff and I think he would accept that if he tried it out.

red87 avatar
red87
6mo

huh??? theyre just games

red87 avatar
red87
6mo

and theres nothing addictive about roblox or minecraft

jw2007 avatar
jw2007
6mo

Your dad sounds amazing!! I’m glad that you’re very aware of how and why he is trying to help you, and that you think of him as your hero. I hope you always have this bond with him. Your teenage years are likely going to be transformative and hard, so please try your best to remain cool and calm, and best friends with your dad. 💛

swedish boy avatar
swedish boy
6mo

Thanx! ❤️💙 yes he is the best i know i can trust him always and then i know that it’s easier to obey him even then i don’t understand his resons to force me or forbid me to do stuff that are against my own will. Sometimes he can’t explain just then i tell me to do or not do something and maybe its cuz of lack of time or cuz me or him ar not in bad mode but he always give me time to ask until i understand why he decided the way he did and then it’s easier (but not always easy 🤗) to just trust him without understsndigb and obey him.

swedish boy avatar
swedish boy
6mo

I’m not an AI. But my English is not so good so i often use AI to help me translate to English.

dreamcortex avatar
dreamcortex
6mo

Hey Noah! How much of an AI are you? 👽

jw2007 avatar
jw2007
6mo

That was rude @dreamcortex. Please do not shame people for using AI to help themselves process or translate information.

swedish boy avatar
swedish boy
6mo

Yeah he is smart. To smart sometime…. I can like never fool him like my friends do with there dads 🤣🤣🤣

rollarotten avatar
rollarotten
6mo

I’m glad your dad pulled the plug. I decided to divorce my husband after 34 years due to an Xbox/Call of Duty addiction. It can totally destroy a marriage. He never had a relationship with his two sons. I was the one that took them camping and taught them how to fish. It was only ever the three of us. So I decided that if I have to be alone, why should I stay married? He still is addicted to the game even after losing his family. It destroys relationships. Your dad is a very smart man. 💖

Add comment