Video game time limits

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I came to terms with the fact that computers and VGs are obsessive interests for my son, so it ends up being harmful to limit them. However there are certain tasks/ chores he has to accomplish each day before he's allowed to touch the computer, and, he has to share the computer with family members. Beyond that, I don't limit it. He also has a bedtime. Otherwise, I don't think he'd sleep (and there have been times, when I haven't intervened, that he did not sleep at night in order to use the computer). He also will forget to eat unless I remind him, if he's on the computer.

well i'm a 27 yr old aspie with ptsd, anxiety, etc, and i'v played video games (pc and gaming system) all my life, i first started playing the atari (gosh thats old, then the nintendo, then so on the playstation 2. and of course computer games as well. I think you really need to understand that your child who has autism/aspergers has very narrow interests. The only thing that i really want to do is play games/web design, or youtube right now (i play games 12 hours a day, i take a few 30 minute walks (leave my game running) . when i was in school, and younger i still played games for 2-3 hours a day, and would have to get my homework done and was even involved in sports.

But if your childs interests are only video games, and do not like sports. and doesnt want to do anything else, then don't restrict his time, cause he can learn quite a bit in a game. like cordination, problem solving, like what the other people have mentioned. Of course it's different when your an adult and you cant keep a job now (overworked, and completely shutdown and meltdowns) Just remember that best thing to do is if your child is stressed out, have him play video games or watch his favorite youtube music videos.

Anyway i am on disability now, and the only thing i can do is play games, to tired and do not have the energy too really do anything else. (if i didnt have video games, i would probably sleep all day and night and only get up to eat something, and or probably would do the worse you could imagine, which it's not something i want to mention here, cause i dont wanna scare parents. ... . Just remember you want to have your child do something that he loves, if it's video games, then let him do video games, without time limits.

I just started a thread on almost the same subject, before noticing this one on page 5.

Me, I'm for flexibility too. The more you limit things, which inevitably and by definition implies that they are dangerous, the more "addiction dynamics" come into play.

My son plays anywhere betweeen 2 and 6 hours a day.

want to update this, video games have been a great way for me to communicate to other players online (which i could not do 1 on 1). Limiting your childs time is the worst thing you can do, in my opinion that is. if it's a simulation game such as building a city, perhaps make him have goals like when he gets the capability of such as reaching 500K or whatever in profit have him take a 30 minute break to get fresh air.

I have to swear i graduated from highschool and due to video games I already knew about economics, history math and alot more. and to me video games you can learn alot more then what school teaches.

My dad limited me to 80 minutes for a while. I didn't like it by I followed it. I'm not sure I did anything worthwhile in the time I wasn't playing video games though. Perhaps, I don't know.

I would limit game systems but not the computer. The reason being is that if he's on the computer he can learn how to create games which he can't do from playing nintendo. It isn't hard to create a simple game like the original pingpong, and getting interested in something like that can start a career.

Also he can play sites like neopets or RPG where he has the choice to interact with other users giving him some aspect of socialization

We do set some limits but not strict limits to my son and his video games. Over the years we have realized that its a great tool and a motivator as well. If my son has a bad day as far as melt downs/tantrums, not doing whats asked of him then we will often take away his chance to play the games that day. During the week his time is limited b/c of school but on the weekends he can play as long as we're not busy with other things so it more like a reward for a good week.

As someone else already said be flexible about the times. And instead of being one hour each make it two hours total so that he can allot it himself, so that if he wants to instant message (or be on WP) a friend for two hours he can.