Now that Jake’s baseball season is over, he has taken to playing video games on Saturday mornings to help fill the void. The amount of time indoors has rapidly increased .Most of his games involve an adventure story that takes him through various levels until finally he confronts the protagonist’s main nemesis. Along the journey he can become quite engrossed in these games and borderline despondent when we ask him to turn it off for the day. Last week he was on the verge on winning Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles when we announced his gaming time was up. As he put away the console and controllers he assumed his martyr-like pose and sighed,
“Well, I guess I won’t be playing that game for a while…”
As veteran parents, Kaddi and I instinctively knew that something was wrong. We kept a close watch on Jake for the next month and noticed some disturbing signs. He would often stare blankly into space for several minutes at a time. He experienced a prolonged, constant, twitching of his hands, particularly the thumbs. And he couldn’t fall asleep without snuggling up to his Star-Fox game manual.
Recognizing that my son was in need, I responded with my most trusted parenting method – a good spankin’. When that didn’t work I was all out of ideas, and Jake slowly worsened. He stayed in his room most of the time coming out only for meals. Taxi rides were filled with silence marred only by the occasional dry-heave. We organized weekly support group meeting where Jake could sit and discuss his problems with other kids whose parents stubbornly regulated their video-game sessions. Despite our best efforts, his symptoms gradually worsened and he became more and more isolated from the rest of the family.
As a last resort, we took Jake to video-game counseling so that he could get some professional help. Our doctor immediately diagnosed him with NSA – Nintendo Separation Anxiety. Boys aged 8-14 commonly experience withdrawal symptoms if they’re gaming time ever exceeds six hours per week. Fortunately, we caught it early and with proper treatment (and less Nintendo) Jake will make a full recovery. To facilitate the healing, each night we encourage Jake to share his feelings as we all listen to the musical stylings of Kenneth Cope. I think he’s going to be alright.
Parents: Please talk to your kids about NSA. It’s never too late.
