How long should a 14-year-old be allowed on the computer?

Question

How long should a 14-year-old be allowed on the computer a day? Is an hour too much? Waaayy to little?

Answer 1

1 hour is fine,

Answer 2

I'll answer you last question first, The Orange box has 3 games in it : Portal(T), Half Life 2: Episode 2(M I think) and Team Fortress 2( T) I hope that answers your last question. Now the other questions: Halo: all the halo's are fine they just have lots of violence against aliens and a couple of swear words but nothing that will turn your kid into a.........well something bad that i can't think of. Call of Duty 4: same as Halo, violence but it is directed to human beings and one or 2 situations with mild profanity but I doubt your son would hear it beacause when they cuss. it's sometimes in a very loud gunfight. GTA: Bad Bad Bad Bad. I commend you for not getting you son ANY of the GTA bad ju ju for little kids. Mass Effect(M): It's pretty graphic and there will be at least 2 sexual scenes. Some good games that wont make your son stupid are mainly all for the Wii. If you buy a 360 there is an option where you can only let your son play T rated games only. I hope this helps

Answer 3

We let our kids (12 and 15yrs) earn their computer time. If they have been active outside and done their chores, they get more time. (Of course then they are often too tired to use the computer for long.) Also they are not allowed to wake up in the morning and turn the computer first thing. It's like in real life first you "work" then you get paid. Some days they have no computer time at all and some days they use it for several hours. Another thing is that they are not completely alone when they use it, we have put the computer in the hallway where we can keep an eye on what they are doing.

Answer 4

It depends what the kid is doing - if it's constructive then give him the time he needs to be constructive - most kids however are not that constructive and become pretty obsessive about their right to spend every waking moment on-line or playing some game or the other and as a parent you are right to seek some sort of healthy balance for your kid. You should ask the kid what he or she thinks is a reasonable period, then negotiate that period until a balance is achieved - the kid is going to cheat but as long as you keep coming back to the negotiation table with a sense of humor you guys should get by - simply laying down the law like GWB is definitely not going to work.

Answer 5

It depends on what they are doing. If they are on the Internet you should have a parental block on it so that they cant get into certain cites, I do and it makes me feel safer when my daughter is on line. My 14 y old daughter gets on line everyday, but she normally brings her laptop in and sits in the living room with the family, so we know she has nothing to hide and occasionally i go over and sit beside her and see what she's doing. I also go on her computer and check the history. When shes doing homework i let her on as long as she needs to be to get the information she needs to do her assignments, me or my husband usually help her with it so we know what cites shes looking at.
When she takes it to her room to chat on MySpace with her friends i go in about every 30 min and check up on her.
My husband and i have also sat her down and talked to her about the dangers of giving personal information and talking to people you don't know because anyone can lie about their age on the Internet.
But i also don't think its good for a teenager to sit on a computer all day.
So like i said it depends on what they are doing. If they are chatting with friends i say and hour if they are doing research for school then as long as it takes to get the information they need. If they are just surfing and playing games i say an hour.

Answer 6

probably WAAAYYY to little....depends on what said 14 year old is doing on the computer....kids these days have to use the computer a LOT for school...there are a LOT of resources online for school. If there are certain things that you don't want the child looking at, block them. Otherwise...just for fun...maybe an hour or two (AFTER homework is done) is okay. You just have to "stay on top of" what they are doing on the computer and what they are using it for.

Answer 7

Depends what they're doing.

If they're playing games, then an hour is fine. Maybe a little longer if they're surfing the net.

But if they're working, then I don't think a limit should be imposed.

It's never healthy to have kids sitting staring at games or trawling mindless cr@p on the internet for too long.

Answer 8

An hour is fine but it is not how long the child is one the computer that is my great concern as a parent. It is what websites the child is visiting. I agree there should be a time limit but the child also should be monitored on what sites he/she are visiting.

Answer 9

Doing what? That is the question. Gaming, chatting, researching?

They shouldn't have it all to themselves in their room, besides that, you be the parent. What are your concerns? Are you happy they are inside staying out of trouble? Or not happy that they are not outside running around?

An hour isn't unreasonable. At that age it is a shame that it is a concern already. Wait a few more years!

Answer 10

depends on what the 14yold is going to be doing online, if its for school work , then I would think 3 hours should be well and truly enough ,but if its for chatting etc, then like 1 1/2 hrs should be enough , but it comes down to the parent , and the child, and how mature theyare

Answer 11

i let my 13 year old on the com for 2-3 hours depending on what she is doing i do not let her go into chat rooms so i say no more than 3 hours