I STRONGLY believe that Minecraft is a horrible thing. The number of shiftless teens and young adults who are addicted to the tune of 12+ hours a day is troubling enough.
But I submit even worse are the younger kids who are inhaling this poisonous mind drug.
Of course these kids are completely enabled by their parents and that’s a shame.
Now when you search online for “minecraft addiction” invariably what you’ll find is someone complaining about their kid being addicted, perhaps a few sympathetic comments….but then a flood of not only children and said shiftless teens/young adults justifying their indolence, you’ll shockingly find tons of parents also justifying their kids’ addiction. It’s like a lynch mob of sorts, no doubt because someone on a Minecraft forum linked to the complaint. And because no parent really wants to think of themselves as a bad parent, of course.
Amazingly these negligent parents tout the *educational* and, yes, the *social* benefits of playing the game all day indoors, thinking about the game all day long, talking with their friends about the game constantly, and watching YouTube videos about the blasted game.
This is nothing short of a scourge, an outright epidemic in my professional(!) opinion. I mean even parents who are smart enough to educate their own children (aka “homeschoolers”) have been afflicted – perhaps because they have more free time they are more prone. I believe it’s become a classic case of “since everyone does it”…..”it can’t be that bad” – plus the game appears to be complicated and high tech. Didn’t everyone smoke cigarettes 60-70 years ago? And didn’t doctors even promote it as “relaxing”??
Nonetheless it’s still a game, played sitting down, indoors, and is apparently outrageously addicting – which, and make no mistake about it – is precisely how it was designed to be. It most certainly was not designed for any other explicit purpose other than that – pure addiction.
To those homeschooling parents who succumb, I say that, “The Minecraft curriculum, its software engineers and its marketing psychologists CHOSE your kids”. You see normally, homeschooling parents are the ones who choose the subjects and activities for their children. But clearly not in this case.
The justifications are surreal.
“My kid learned to read because of Minecraft.”
“My kid doesn’t have any friends at school but he’s popular on Minecraft.”
“I know a guy who played video games all day in college….and now he has a PhD.”
“Minecraft got my son interested in computer programming….now he wants to design video games himself.” (So he can learn how to skillfully corrupt young minds too???)
“Dad and often Mom, played a lot of video games when they were young.”
That’s fine. I watched a ton of color TV when I was growing up….but that doesn’t prevent me from admitting that it was a massive waste of time and energy and from banning all TV from my own children – who I hope will have far more successful lives than me and my wife.
Again, this is a classic psychological case of JUSTIFICATION by weak parents, parents who simply don’t want the say “NO” to their kids, parents who haven’t the spine to raise children differently than everybody else, and parents looking to sedate their kids for some momentary, although ultimately very costly, peace.
Check out what this one kid young adult, said online:
I absolutely have to disagree with David’s comment. Computer games ESPECIALLY games like Minecraft are doing nothing but expanding the imagination of today’s youth. I am a 22 year old Dad and have a one year old son.
My dad let me play all the games I wanted and would even play with me while my mother refused to let me do any of that….
This lead to me getting drunk every weekend when I was 14 and getting high every day after school. Then I would go to my dads the next week and would be completely content, I didn’t want to smoke or drink I just wanted to play games. Some parents think of video games as ruining their children’s minds and social lives. When In fact its the opposite. I have friends all over the world whome I have met on video games and even met my girlfriend on World of Warcraft. The next time you see your Child on the computer and think to yourself. “Why isn’t he outside having fun.” Think of these three facts.
1. Your child is within eyesight of you so you know he isn’t getting into trouble.
2. The world as we know it is leaning more and more heavily on computers. So when your child goes to get a job with all of his time spent on the computer he will know exactly how to solve this problem or that problem.
3. He will have unbreakable bonds with people all around the world. And when I say unbreakable. I refer to myself who once lost my job due to something far out of my control and had no place to go. I was evicted for not paying rent and had no money or anywhere to go and one of my British friends sent me a plane ticket and dealt with my jobless self for a month before I found a job and got back on my feet. And I actually met this friend on minecraft.
Okay, the kid is semi-illiterate which isn’t that bad, tragically, these days.
BUT notice how self-unconscious he is.
He’s spent a lot of time drinking and getting high, at 14! Apparently Minecraft is so addicting that it could replace that compulsive behavior. Now he’s 22 and has a child out of wedlock.
He had no job, no money, and was evicted from his apartment before one of his “Minecraft friends” gave him a handout. How stellar!
Er…..maybe the kid is so screwed up BECAUSE he’s spent years playing Minecraft!!!
I mean how clueless, how self-delusional does he have to be to go in a forum and post his dazzling accomplishments in arguing for the merits of Minecraft???
In that same thread there’s a mother who congratulates herself for demanding that her kids read for 20 minutes to EARN 20 minutes of Minecraft.
Only 20 minutes? That reminds me of these morbidly obese women who used to work in my office in Philadelphia. They’d go out for lunch every day, for Chinese food, cheesesteaks, or 3 slices of pepperoni pizza, and then make a big deal about taking the stairs 4 flights to the office rather than using the elevator. Sure, that will help.
Again, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been discussing one of my underperforming students with their parents and the subject of “Minecraft” came up. This is a serious problem – a fire that parents most definitely should not play with.
Thankfully I have the comments of these posts turned off (unsolved problems with spam) so this post won’t be inundated with illiterate comments from 12 year old Minecraft addicts or from their justifying parents.
UPDATE – Spam fixed. Comments are on. Fire away, kids.
One last note…
I can’t emphasize enough how pathological and how furious these justifications run online and offline.
And interestingly I’ve noticed the same surreal, chauvinistic, justifying zeal in the comments of any blog post or newspaper story that dares tout the hazards of marijuana legalization.
Make what you will of that analogy.
I just read your blog because you pointed it out to me on the BetterEd.org topic about middle school reading lists. As a retired science and computer teacher I have tons of free time now. I make some of that productive still, but also “rot my mind” with Minecraft.
One benefit of the game for me is that when playing in online mode I get to have live voice conversations with two of my grandsons in Washington and New York while I play in Oregon. One of the grandsons is a CAD operator for a high end cabinetry and laboratory designer/builder and the other is a Junior at NYU (New York University) and has already been accepted to their Accelerated Master’s program in their Stern School of Business. I don’t worry about their use of “free” time to regenerate both mind and soul.
I can wholeheartedly agree with you that there are people who overuse the game beyond what is good for their development. In the 60s through 90s while I was teaching TV was rightfully blamed for stealing the attention of less motivated learners. I don’t remember letting myself get drawn from my studies by TV (in the 1950s+) or computer games, but I do know it can, did, and does happen.
Oh yeah. I have had this email address since the mid 1980s. I selected it because of my love of adventure games such as Kings Quest with its characters of Lords and Ladies, knights and dragons.
Hi Fred,
My problem is with PARENTS who enable young children. Adults, and that’s what your grandsons are, they are on their own.
However, don’t underestimate the sedentarism risk that is inherent from sitting *extra* each day and night. Even if, for the sake of argument, Minecraft was terrific for the brain…it’s definitely not good for the body.
(I highly recommend “Pain Free” by Pete Egoscue for comprehending exactly how bad sitting is. It’s only been out for 3 months but has 600+ reviews already. It motivated me to pay nearly $2,000 for a “posture coach” for both my wife and me.)
I recall playing Kings Quest 2 on some IBM computer back in the 80s!
Thanks for stopping by.
Everything in moderation. Minecraft itself isn’t bad. When parents let their children sit in front of a screen for hours on end that’s bad. Letting a kid play Minecraft for 30 minutes a day isn’t going to have any ill effects on their physical and mental development.
Hi John, what about crack cocaine “in moderation”? I’m guessing you would say no to that. So the question boils down to essentially how bad, how dangerous is that 30 minutes. How risky is it to play with this fire? Such a 30-minute policy could be sowing the seeds of future addiction that takes place when a parent can no longer control the parameters.
Crack cocaine and Minecraft are 2 different things. Of course Crack Cocaine is addictive and dangerous to your health. Minecraft isn’t. It’s simply a video game that allows for entertainment.
What you said is exactly the same thing as this:
hOW bAD is 30 MInUTes OF Tv TIME? HoW RISky IS it TO PLAY wITH tHIS FirE?
He is right. Everything is in moderation. 12 hrs of TV time can be dangerous to your eyes. 30 minutes isn’t. Yes it is addictive but so is TV. But it doesn’t affect your mental health.
Fortnite is the newest hottest game in 2021 (besides Minecraft and Among Us and Roblox) and its addictive. I enjoy this game for entertainment and I try to limit it. And if you DO limit it, it’s a pretty fun game. I haven’t seen any mental health changed since. And I’ve been playing it for more than a year. Besides, what’s wrong with an addiction anyways? If your child is having good grades and is limiting the time and balancing everything out like playtime outdoors, homework, and all that stuff, then it’s pretty harmless.
So, next time you blame something on a game or anything, just remember that you are the parent and you control your child.
I didn’t know anything about this game till a friend told me how educational it was. My grandchildren don’t even play computer games, so I had my doubts about this. Your comments confirmed my suspicions. I recently read someone justifying games by saying families who played them together were closer. I’m not convinced.
Hi Heather, at this point I’ve heard it all…”my kid learned to read because of Minecraft”, “It’s good for them to de-stress after school”, “My son is dyslexic and it’s a substitute for reading”, “My son is shy but is very social on Minecraft”, “It’s a great way to learn computer programming…” All rubbish. All merely justification for their current level of parenting…or should I say LACK of PARENTING.
I beg to differ, my parents let me play it all the time as they as the value of it. Minecraft is incredibly advanced and goes much further than a ‘block placing game’. Some games are a waste of time but others are a great tool, for example Denmark’s best design and technology firms all use Minecraft, making their job much easier, and allowing them to create extremely intricate and revolutionary designs I now have a life because of Minecraft, before i wanted to get mundane job as an Architect, Now Minecraft got me into designing. I now as a 16 year old with the help of my parents have started a Gaming PC Design company, and due to the pandemic have already raked in about 3K in profit. Ill i had to do was rent out my an URL for a couple days and stick some posters on peoples doors. I am now much more successful than any of my peers who get Straight 9*s and have no life because of a lack of playing games and not being able do develop friendship circles.
Exactly man
Congrats on the early success, but keep in mind that anyone that has built a real, long-term successful company has more than just the introductory skills you get in high-school. There’s a lot of talented people out there that don’t realize they don’t know enough to do what they want, and are too proud to ask for help or learn more so they fail. I hate this myself, but a big part of succeeding in this world is being able to squeeze into the mold while still retaining your shape on the other side. Too many people just become the mold and that doesn’t help either. But you definitely need more skills than just what you have at 16–and this is from someone who started working in 3rd grade.
I agree with most of what you say and I’m worried about it and but especially since starting homeschooling with my now 9 year old son! “Beware of Images” says it all. My son was at school for a couple of years but decided to remove him because his mental health seemed to be deteriorating at a rapid rate due to him feeling high levels of anxiety from the increasing demands on top of already inherently high anxiety from being affected by Aspergers. Out of school he turned back into a happy person. I gave up 2 days at work to homeschool him because his mum was not able to cope with him at home all week due to her anxiety disorder. It seemed like a great opportunity to spend quality time with him.
Problem is I’ve become one of those parents you talked about. When we are not doing homeschooling work I need to get on with cooking and cleaning etc and the only thing he seems to be able to do on his own is play computer games – minecraft or super mario. Any other activity requires intensive adult input. When we started homeschooling I was looking forward to doing lots of interesting, stimulating new things and meeting other homeschoolers but two years on he’s gradually trained me to stop trying to ‘drag’ him out of the house to do ‘boring’ stuff or meet other people because it’s incredibly draining to have to listen to him constantly complaining and showing absolute zero interest in what is going on around him. By contrast when he goes on the computer he becomes totally switched on and focused. You can see it in his face.
Now here comes the justifications – he’s researching all sorts of different aspects of the game – the ‘gliches’, the history, the hardware, and yes looking at other peoples youtube videos – all unassisted. While playing minecraft he’s frantically typing messages to other players. He has the handwriting of a 5 year old but as a typist he’s a pro, he always was a good reader and speller. He’s been playing with another lad online for quite a few months now – they seem to get on really well. When he does connect with another homeschooler in the real world the parents never want to have a meet up – the only ‘real’ friend he sees is from the time he was at school. Maybe it’s because I seem to be the only homeschooling dad in the world and must be looking for a date???? Who knows?
His head is full of Minecraft and planning what he needs to carry on his obsession with retro mario gaming. Aspergers people have obsessions and the reliability/predictability of computer games helps reduce anxiety. He could have been obsessed with train timetables but my son seems to have landed on computer games. To me computer games seems like a huge waste of time and very frustrating – especially platform games like mario – I’d much rather practise the musical instruments I play. But for his sake I try not to be too negative about them. What is the alternative?
Maybe I’m fooling myself with an excuse but my son’s inflexibility and anxiety means you can’t just dictate – you have to adapt to and go more with the limited number of things they are interested in which happens to be computer games and not leaving the house (only joking sort of!).
Hi Chris. Whatever his problems are, might be, or you perceive to be….Minecraft most certainly isn’t a solution. You know this deep down. Pure computer programming, chess, cartooning, origami, card tricks…anything else. You just have to pull the plug and detox. Don’t let him win via emotional blackmail. You are the parent!
As for the socializing…
I have to ask, how social are mom and dad?
Because most of the time I hear this concern, it’s from parents who aren’t very social themselves – parents who themselves have deep-seated social insecurities even if unacknowledged.
But there’s simply nothing wrong with being introverted and keeping to oneself. Socialization fears, among everyone, are overblown. When parents come to terms with this about themselves, they no longer worry so much about their kids. (I also think a lot of parental socialization anxiety is born from 12+ years in school!)
Look, if you just pulled him out, understand that he is recovering from the anti-socialization he experienced while in school for years. This detox takes time. A lot of kids, especially boys his age, initially approach the homeschool social scene with a very bad, closed-minded attitude. Then let him stay home and pout. Show him what real boredom is. Don’t take him to anything until HE wants to go.
Or, alternately, if you are going to keep Minecraft, use it to punish/incentivize him. That’s what I would do with him. If you take time out of your day, away from your work, to take him to a home ed activity and he pulls all sorts of attitude…..then no Minecraft for 2 weeks! Done. Problem solved, assuming you follow through he’ll learn. Don’t let his “diagnosis” reduce your expectations of him.
My son is 10 and until this year we’ve had problems finding other boys for him to hang with. John reads books and isn’t into video games or sports so….
On the homeschool scene my new enlightened perspective is this – only do “home ed park days” and the like. No more classes or pseudo-academic stuff. We do all of our academics at home, independently except for perhaps a one-off home ed museum trip here or there.
It took me a while – not to mention a few moves (from Boston to New York to London!) to figure this out. And it will take you a few years to figure out your rhythm too. Every year gets better and better – this I promise you.
If you ever have any specific questions…don’t hesitate to email me. Best, Dan
[…] recreating “school at home”, trying to purchase educational results, submitting to Minecraft, television, and cell phone mania, adopting the ridiculously low standards of government schools, […]
My elementary aged homeschooling children do not know what Minecraft is, yet. We are in a large homeschool group that originally focused on meeting several times a week for museum, art, science and outdoor education. I’ve noticed many of the kids are now allowed to play countless amounts of minecraft and they are not attending events that involve real life experiences. Now the children, age kindergarten to high school, are optioning to stay at home and play minecraft instead of real concrete activities and allowed to stay up all hours of the night partaking in this addictive game. I’ve noticed shifts in the majority of the minecraft children’s eye contact and general social skills. They look unhealthy and tired, all he time. It’s just sad to me that our society is becoming this, but especially alarming that so-called mindful homeschooling parents support this addictive behavior and let many other healthy experiences fall behind. The parents rave about it, particularly the unschooling types. It’s just generally disturbing to me, especially when I can see their kids negative transformation.
I love the statement “All things in moderation”. We don’t hear that enough. Remember the real definition of ADDICTION. Not EVERYONE becomes an addict to all substances. Some items ARE by their very nature, more addictive. Be careful. I HAVE to use computers for work, it has hurt my body. I am an accountant.
I am also a Genealogist in my spare time. It suffers because, I just can’t stand doing much time on the computer after work. But the ADDICT, the TRUE ADDICT…THEY WILL DO ANYTHING FOR THAT FIX. THEY WILL GIVE UP JOBS, THEY GIVE UP THE PEOPLE THEY LOVE, HEALTH, ETC. for that fix.
So, people, when it is your children, don’t be encouraging it.
I play Minecraft about 4 hours three days a week. It’s pretty relaxing, but I am a gamer loner. I dont ‘socialize’, if you will.
I like building things. That’s it. I do not have an addictive personality and if I think I am getting too caught up in a certain thing, I put it down for a few months.
The only thing I remember being truly ”addicted’ to was The Sims 2. And that was for the building aspect. I put the game away after I realized I stayed up three days straight on Red Bull. That was back when I was in high school too.
But I was completely floored when I found out some people stay on Minecraft 20 hours a day and sleep for 4. lol. Issues.
Thanks Lonnie, for your corroborating testimony! I wasted most of my youth watching color TV and dreaming of sports heroism. What a waste…
And now you’re wasting your time blogging 🙂 I am one of the moms who is laid back and doesnt stress over things in moderation. However, moderation to one is still overindulgence to another. I dont know what to say about crack-cocaine in moderation, because I’ve never tried that. But I wonder, do we have medications on the market that people take regularly that are similar to cocaine? I dont know, but probably. We’ve got Meth in a pill.
I have welcomed video games into my home, including Minecraft, because I see value in them. Not everyone does, and you don’t see the value, apparently. There is truth to some statements about them helping families be closer. There is also truth to people getting way out of hand and losing everything they’ve got so they can live in a virtual world. Chances are, those people would have done that anyway. If it wasnt video games it would be something else. Certain personalities are prone to certain behaviors and that’s just the way it is.
The guy in the story you mentioned, single dad in his 20s, I can see that his life and fate would have been much worse because of who he is and decisions he was prone to make. If you compare his present self to the best self he could have been then of course he would fall short of expectations. But if you compare him to the worse self he could have been, then you think, ‘Wow this is so much better, I’d rather have this guy in my society, glad he had those games to chain him to the chair for awhile until that destructive phase passed”. This guy had things in video games to blow up and feel accomplished afterwards. He could build if he felt creative, etc. Whatever floated his boat. It seems like he is now ready to go ahead and be a big boy. Lets hope he does well and that he is his best self.
Men, by nature, were built to hunt, fight, protect, and provide for women and children. In todays world where you would have them sitting at a desk in school all day, then out riding their bikes (wasting time) or whatever you’d have them do, its not easy to find outlets for those personalities that crave that adrenaline rush. Every town doesnt have a paintball field, or a dirtbike track (those are outlawed in our small town) and some families dont have the money to participate in things like Karate (also a waste of time because, when do you use karate, really- I do Aikido IN THE DOJO and have never had to kick anyones butt besides my kids- who do happen to be impressed that I can throw them 10 feet without hurting them).
We play games together and dont worry about the thought that we are ruining our lives with it. Some days we play longer, some shorter. Some days we read a book for hours instead of play a game, or sometimes we go on a day trip to a zoo or other place, sometimes we sit and watch TV documentaries half the day… but I’ve got no problem saying, “We did a lot this week, enjoy the day and play til your heart is content on that video game”. Everything in moderation, meaning that you dont allow it to run your life, but I wouldnt call it evil completely. People have been for years trying to find ways to grab the attention of consumers. Everything is an attention grab and market pitch.
I wholeheartedly agree with you.
You seem to be the type of person that, ‘if it’s not a problem for me, it doesn’t exist.’ I think that’s a condition in itself.
The basis behind behaviors has its roots in psychology, and psychological development of kids will never improve with a singular focus. Kids are designed to soak up all sorts of input, and if they’re hooked into one thing by capitalizing on psychological weaknesses we all have, well, that’s bad for them, even if it keeps them away from something else–because the root cause, the actual child psychology, isn’t being examined.
Sounds like you feel confident your kids will be perfect. I can only imagine the shock when you discover that one of your perfect kids isn’t so perfect because of some of your parenting decisions. Maybe you will discover that each child needs development assistance as unique as the individual.
Moderation has its place. But I have never subscribed to the ideology that even bad things in moderation are okay. I go far enough to say the good things can be overindulged in if you understand your motivation.
I’ve sunk my fair share of hours into both playing Minecraft and modding Minecraft. Modding Minecraft I did for myself and a couple other adult friends. I’d say it has helped improve my career by providing me with the incentive to put TDD into actual practice. I have received commendation from my team at work for excellent TDD adherence. So Minecraft is a positive thing right? not so fast.
There are positive outcomes of the game, and there are negative outcomes of the game. I cannot stress how important it is to resist cherry-picking. Some years ago while I was at canoe practice doing a casual exercise, I got to know one of the lead coaches who shared my boat. She is a scientist and we discussed video games. One thing she said that stuck with me is that research is very important, not only do you learn about the positives and not only do you learn about the negatives, but you must also do the painstaking task of actually measuring whether one outweighs the other. With respect to Minecraft, do the negatives outweigh the positives? that’s an overwhelmingly important question, particularly depending on age group. To a 12 year old child though? I would certainly keep the game away from them until they are older. You know you have a problem when their pupils dilate at anything that sounds like “block” or “iron.” It’s a glorified Lego box with no point, bad graphics, and grotesquely inaccurate survivalist analogues, but kids see a square pig and react as if the gates of heaven are opening before them.
The truly ironic thing is the game was never intended for kids. Marcus made a game that he wanted to play for himself, not for anybody else. That is a fact! Other adults discovered it and played with it for at least a couple of years before kids came on-board (And I think you’ll find there are plenty of ex-Minecraft gamers who are quite sore about this, which I think underscores the separation in cohorts). Marcus has said that his inspiration for Minecraft comes from Infiniminer and Dwarf Fortress. Now I don’t know much about Infiniminer, but I do know about Dwarf Fortress and that is most certainly NOT a children’s game (not even close). I think the primary reason Marcus sold Mojang to Microsoft and moved-on was that he got fed-up by threatening demands from entitled brats with absent parents. Script kiddies and hackers brought the Minecraft servers down (a form of taking hostages) demanding faster updates and bug fixes. Prior to the sale to Microsoft, he had been very vocal about this frustration on Twitter he just did not place blame on any cohort in particular. How old were the hackers? irrelevant, nobody with stunted or premature social development should be anywhere near video games.
Dwarf Fortress is a better game in some respects, but it’s not that much better. I only say this because while Minecraft is completely pointless, Dwarf Fortress at least makes an honest attempt at story telling. However, those stories are still randomly generated by the computer and involve no human input apart from your own, it’s a world fit for any lonely narcissist. But with Minecraft you’ve got a blocky world that offers you nothing, but if you don’t defend yourself from zombies you’re going to die, rinse and repeat. So what we have isn’t a game at all, it’s a very bitter sort of a fatalistic Sisyphus-styled emotional entangle.
Your main argument, that minecraft is pointless, after :
-comparing it to an infinite lego box
and
-talking about dabbling in moding
Tells me you’ve either never really clicked with of those two, or you’ve never been allowed to play creatively as a child.
Legos are awesome, they teach your child focus (when following instructions), dedication, creativity and trial and error.
Modded minecraft can teach your child chemistry, physics, the joy of a work well done, the satisfaction of planning something and getting the calculations right.
I’m an adult, and I can confidently say I’ve learned more about physics, molecules, how they combine and shape the world around us, dedication, applied calculus and discipline in Modded minecraft than in most OTHER GAMES.
I’m not comparing minecraft with other real life activities, I’m saying from all the games the children could be playing right now, minecraft is probably the least pointless one.
It’s only pointless to blind and uncreative people that don’t understand the depth of its community based creations.
Excuse me, but you have a few things wrong.
First off, Dopamine. The brain sends out dopamine chemicals “the happy pheromone” when the brain receives an unexpected surprise.
Second, I think you are kind of exaggerating. Minecraft is great for young minds! What are you talking about? It does not make them recluse, addicted players!
Would you like me to point out some evidence? People who play video games have higher hand-eye coordination, they have higher reflexes, and (if that wasn’t enough) surgeons who play video games actually make more precise movements.
Minecraft is wonderful! It inspires creativity, social interaction, and society and urban planning skills in the young mind.
These are the only rules you need to follow and you and your child can enjoy Minecraft:
1. NO MINECRAFT ON TABLETS OR PERSONAL DEVICES. PERIOD. (They know the password, more inclined to play)
2. Keep minecraft on a computer (With a password!) Only.
3. Play only on weekends. (one hour each weekend day)
4. If you find out your child has broken all of these somehow, cut them off from all screens.
There you go. You guys are all CRAZY! Minecraft is a great tool. They are using it in some schools and education areas now to promote learning and creativity!
So there you go. Stop worrying.
You are ridiculously judgmental. If you want to deprive your children of television and computer games, that is your choice. The fact that you shame and condemn parents who don’t withhold these activities from their children is absurd. You also throw in there a bit of shaming for the many parents who don’t homeschool their children, thus putting yourself on a self-made pedestal. This entire piece of tripe seems more about you building yourself up and making yourself feel superior to parents who don’t choose your restrictive way of life rather than actually being even remotely informative or helpful. You come straight out and call people you don’t know weak and spineless and accuse them of “horrible parenting”. Additionally, you have no idea what kind of diagnosis some of these children who play Minecraft have. Children on the Autism Spectrum, which includes children with Asperger’s often enjoy such activities for a variety of reasons that you don’t allow for. You are self-righteous to a sickening degree. I feel sorry for you and for those who have to suffer your presence.
I totally agree with Cindy.
I agree with this essay 100%. Parents who allow their kids to game compulsively are either lazy, delusional to the harm, or both.
Let’s see what my 11 year-old has done all summer, with her mom’s consent and over my vehement objection. She has 1) played Minecraft, 2) watched videos about playing Minecraft, and 3) read one book about a game called Five Nights at Freddy’s. That’s it – a beautiful summer completely wasted in a digital dump. I have *zero* say because I’m at work while they sit home gaming. I think I found a solution, a compromise after the incessant whining for more screen-time caused yet another fight with my wife: I’ve changed the Minecraft password and, if there is more whining, will delete the account entirely. After being completely frog-boiled into 12-15 hours a day of Minecraft I’ve settled on zero hours until there is a major attitude change.
What has my 11-year old daughter learned from all that Minecraft play? Well there is an (allegedly) 13 year-old boy who says he will kill himself unless she tells him she is in love with him. I tried to get his parents name and phone number but he won’t give it up. My wife and daughter think there’s no problem there. Besides that there is a 12 year-old boy who has decided that he is gay and three other tweens who say they are bisexual. All of them are marginally literate and, as far as I can tell, none of them are educated or well read. They’re narcissistic, each vying to outdo the others for attention.
I do think Minecraft is fine in moderation but if a child spins out of control — and many do; the game encourages that — then it needs to be cut off. I don’t know why any parent is fine with their child being manipulated by a game maker.
Since Minecraft requires a login there is a central server somewhere. Microsoft, the owner of Minecraft, should add parental controls for Minecraft play separate from overall screen time as well as reports about what children say and do in the game; transcripts of chats.
I have 3 questions :
1) Did you ever show interest into what your daughter was actually doing over these VERY LONG periods of Minecraft ? as in, ask her directly what she did today, show you’re supportive of her hobbies and are on her side ? that would probably help her listen to your opinion more and bring more significance to what you’re saying.
2) Did you at any point while writing this realise that most of your actualy grievances are not in fact with the game itself, but more so against the kind of person your daughter is talking with ? And while you’re at it, did you ask your wife or daughter why they don’t see any problem here ? maybe she’s mature enough to know when someone is being unreasonable, and ignore them, if she isn’t, then you’d be justified to limit the “online” time of her minecraft activities, there are many ways to actually limit those kind of things, you’ll figure it out.
And lastly, 3) If you delete the account, change the password or do any kind of irreversible thing without your child or wife’s consent, they will surely resent you and start seeing you as unreasonable, because you are, you will not listen to reason, their reasons, and going scorched earth on the issue will not resolve your communication problems.
Hey now, don’t deem every person that uses Minecraft as an idiot. I use it as a cheap alternative to CAD programs so I can lay out blueprints for complexities I’ll be working on. Shows me where my welds are gonna go and gives me a general idea of how the print is gonna look in real life…minus the blocky nature. Hey look! More meaningless justification by an illiterate overgrown kid lol. I’m 22, professionally trained in welding and primarily work with stick and TIG on pipe and in boatyards. Love gettin my hands dirty, and don’t mind getting on the ground to play with kids..unlike so many of y’all insolent “parents” with 9 to 5 jobs. Oh and I played with Minecraft and fucked up a couple years in public school so I quit playing and somehow managed to graduate. Must be magic!
I am that kid in college, that you mention, who played video games throughout and who holds a PhD now. I still play video games and I am somewhat of a hobbyist video game historian.
Needless to say you use numerous cognitive biases within your article such as motivated reasoning and backwards rationalisation to justify your points.
Do you have any research papers, or a meta analyses of papers, you can share supporting your position?
My 8 year old son, who has Aspergers, has played Minecraft for the last 4 years, I play with him too, across our LAN. He can now configure the game himself and enter commands to set up a server. He also builds very advanced redstone circuits which I will soon use as a foundation to teach him electronics.
[…] many kids in school have come to hate reading, may have become addicted to video games (like that blasted Minecraft!) and color TV, and may have become detached from seeing their parents as authority figures – […]
I think you have to much time on your hands. I mean you are literally attacking people because they enjoy playing a video game! I think you should live your life and leave your opinion to yourself. You are targeting Minecraft yet there are just as many kids and teens on Instagram, Snap Chat and Musically. Not to mention all the children who make tons of money with YouTube videos. Maybe you need a HOBBY. Keep focusing on yourself and your family. Stop judging others…you are a borderline cyber bully…AND AN ADULT.
MINECRAFT IS BASED ON GEOLOGY, PERIODIC TABLE , CHEMISTRY SCIENCE, EARTH SCIENCE AND MINING.
ALL THESE ELEMENTS THAT ARE MINED AND THEN CRAFTED INTO OTHER THINGS. JUST LIKE THE COMPUTER YOU ARE USING, SHIRT ON YOUR BACK AND THE ROOF OVER YOUR HEAD. YOUR HOUSE IS MADE OF TREES. LEARNING THROUGH A GAME THAT OUR WORLD “EARTH” AS WELL AS EVERY ENVIROMENT AND EVERY SINGLE THING IN IT PERSON, PLANT, ANIMAL Ect ARE MADE UP OF ALL THE SAME THINGS. EVERYTHING YOU ARE MADE OF AS A PERSON IS FOUND IN THE GROUND. I THINK PLAYING AND LEARNING IS BETTER THAN TURNING TO THE STREET AND JOINING A GANG OR OTHER CRIMINAL ACTIVITY.
THIS GAME MAY BE ABLE TO SPARK A CHILDS INTEREST TO BECOME SOMETHING GREAT..LIKE A GEOLOGIST. BETTER THAN AN ASTRO- NAUT!
GET A HOBBY..STOP BLOGGING..(WASTING TIME VOICING YOUR OPINION AND BOASTING OFF RIDICULING OTHERS) GET OFF YOUR ASS (SCREEN TIME..WASTE OF TIME) IN YOUR OPINION AND ROCK HOUND. EDUCATE YOURSELF ABOUT THE WORLD THAT SURROUNDS YOU.
Children DO NOT have to play MINE-CRAFT using a sever! My kids do not! They play it on their Xbox using the store bought disk. This version has both survival and creative mode and NO TEXTING OTHER’S. My kids play, learn and build together. THIS WAY I AS A HOMESCHOOL MOM CAN IMPLEMENT OUR CURRICULUM INTO THE GAME…using CREATIVE mode. Therefore I am in control of their game activity and builds. SURVIVAL mode is earned and timed. Its a win win.
It takes more energy to be negative than positive! Theres more than one way to skin a cat. You shouldnt see the glass as half empty but half full.
If you are lucky your kids wont grow up rebelling and doing everything in their power to be against you. Parents that try to starve their children from the world they live in usually end up regreting it later. Children that are made to live under a rock..enter the world blind folded or fall off the wagon leading to drug use or down other negative paths. Loving your kids also includes allowing them to explore the world around them including gaming..figuring out who they are. I thought this is what seperates homeschool from public school. Thinking outside the box. Seems you kept your kids outside the public school box of indoctrination and placed them in another box that suits your mind set. How out of place will they feel when they are trying to engage in conversation w others and cant relate bc you kept them cut off from what YOU consider corrupt.
ITS COMPLETELY UNFAIR!
My son is 17. He was a top varsity distance runner, life guard, good student, read books voraciously, lots of hopes and dreams for college and the future. Last summer he bought himself a smart phone and started getting wrapped up in video games/social media. He’s now addicted to minecraft. He got kicked off his varsity teams, lost all interest in running, isolated/no friends, almost flunked out of highschool/lost college possiblity, stays awake all night playing and sleeps all day. This is heartbreaking.
I have been an involved parent, guiding and available. We have lived with minimal TV and internet for most of my son’s life.
I also have a degree in biology and a masters in design, so I can see clearly that something is afoot with this gaming world. If you want to destroy a society rob it of it’s young men/future male leaders.
The fact that you’ve deprived your son of internet and TV for most his life explains exactly why he became such an addict. Lol. Everything in moderation prevents loss of control. Maybe if you’d normalised the use of the internet and set a healthy limit from an early age, it wouldn’t have had such a drastic impact in his life. Parents like you should be ashamed of yourselves.
I said minimal not nonexistent. You have no basis for your comment. May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you.
I’m open mindedly curious, how so did you expose him to internet, socialization and culture during his childhood ?
because the other commenter has a point, non-chemical-based addiction are usually caused by a lack of previous sufficient exposure to what they feel they need, I’m not saying that what they are doing is right, compromising their future for the present is not something one should do lightly, but I’m more concerned that other potential problems in their education might’ve caused this.
Wow, after reading all the comments, I understand blogging one’s opinion must come with some thick skin. Thank you for surviving all that and continuing to blog on. I am a parent of a Kindergartner and at a crossroad because I’ve already seen many of his classmates playing video games with consoles. The most popular is Nintendo Switch on the big screen, not in your hands. I was so concerned for two reasons: They are starting so young and wondering whether I am behind in educating my not yet 6 year old about the serious video games. He hasn’t played video games, but he has access to educational apps on the iPad on the weekends.
I asked other moms on another FB Group and more than 80% (from a group of 18) said they introduced video games to their kids at age 4 or so. Most of them talked about “moderation” and many pointed out how educational it could be. I can agree to some point, but I did think none of them think their children may become addicted in the near future.(I fear possibly at the age of 12 on when I won’t be able to follow my child around and control/limit everything) I am most afraid of the possibility of addiction more than anything. Will I take my chances since it is such a convenient and educational all-in-one tool? Probably not.
Now that I have reached that decision, my biggest concern is will my child fall behind because he didn’t get exposure to Minecraft/Mario? Will he be slower at typing,having hand-eye coordination, programming, coding, hacking, engineering, being more strategic and more creative? Will there be a disadvantage besides having one less common topic to talk about with his classmates? Will he be ostracized/made fun of for not knowing how to play video games? That was what I was googling when I found your blog.
I was intrigued by Jorgen Schmidt’s reply above about the maker of Minecraft. Very interesting read.
I did feel quite attacked when reading that. Whilst I agree on some of the observations of Minecraft addiction, and certainly am concerned about my own children (they are hooked!), I also feel like the whole blog was full of judgment. Whenever I read something super damning like that, even if I’m aware of some truths in the text, I just feel like – wow! This dude is teaching his kids how to discriminate rather than discern. I could just move on… but I think it’s important to feedback even if it’s only for me to process my emotions. So that I can shake off the guilt and ignore the blanket damnation. I’m not a horrible parent. I’m a good enough parent who could always improve – because if I perfectly raise perfect kids into perfect people, they might just perfectly suffer anyway! At this moment, my kids are watching Minecraft videos IN THE BATH! (Hence me googling “is Minecraft addictive?”.) My kids are addicts. There are many addicts in the world – to drugs, alcohol, gambling, porn, shopping, eating, exercising etc. I’m keenly aware of addicts and addiction. I know how it ruins families and causes intense pain for all involved. Minecraft at the moment is stopping one son from overeating. It’s stopping the other kid from explosive (possibly autistic) outbursts that break the house, hurt his brother, crush my heart and spirit. Next up on google: how to support and love children who exhibit early signs of various addictions.
Just wanted to say that the author is a self righteous jackass that probably thumps a Bible and believes in a magic sky-fairy too.
I’m just annoyed at how you pretty much lump any defense of the game together in some bad faith argument without looking further into it.
You look at it from the point of view of “how are they in denial” and not “are they actually in denial ?”, you go from the conclusion to the clues leading to it, it’s completely irrational.
You compare it to hard drugs, but you don’t actually make a point by doing that, you just use that comparison to scare people into thinking it’s bad, because of course drug is bad, who wouldn’t say so, except that’s not the point, the only part that is even the least comparable is the potential addiction and the need to apply self control or help children learn to apply self control, and that has absolutely nothing to do with minecraft, it’s just a universally good skill to have.
Minecraft in itself isn’ addictive, but social interaction, competition and creativity are all things the human brain is built to like, minecraft just happens to be a pretty good example of all 3 mixed together well.
I would recommend parent try to understand first why their child likes the game so much, instead of outright banning it without trying to understand, because it will only create resentment, while it could simply be an easier way to connect with friends over distance and outside of school, something everyone would appreciate at that age.
The same way it isn’t healthy to stay on the phone with someone for 9 hours every day, it isn’t healthy to play minecraft for 9 hours every day, teach them restraint, not mindless rejection, and your children will rise to be more open minded yet critical thinkers.