How do I influence my little brother to stop playing video games?

Question

The problem is he is very, very, addicted. He has gamer friends which do it all the time and encourage him on to it. I believe he is very depressed because of this. My parents are yelling at him to stop and so forth. I want to change him in a less conflict approach. He is 16 years old, in high school, im afraid he is getting too involved with it. Help me, please

Answer 1

chances are he looks up to you, try playing games or sports with him. something to get him away from the video games, thats what my older brother did to get my little brother away from it and it worked. you two can pick up a hobby together also. like building model cars or something. good luck!... and yelling only makes things worse because your brother will get frustrated with your parents

Answer 2

You have to first of all make some plans in your own mind how you are going to take his mind of the games. Then you have to implement them. I would suggest, make some frequent (once or twice a week) appointments just for the two of you in the evenings to go to the playgrounds to play some boys staff etc as a start. Also think up some other activities like fishing, or long distance driving or to the beach etc with a less frequency. Then slowly increase the frequency. If you see slow progress, even that is good enough. Give it a go and see what happens! Good luck.

Answer 3

I agree. People say that they will make kids violent, but as long as you are a good parent and can monitor appropriately, a little violence in a video game is not going to hurt. Kids today are too babied. I'm 21, and when I was younger, there were plenty of violent games and kids shows, and I didn't turn out violent. Not everyone is affected the same way.

Answer 4

I agree that yelling isn't going to help. You care about him which is awesome. The problem is that he might not be interested in what you are interested in.

Does he have anxiety issues that might make it hard for him to relate to people in person? Social issues? Does he get picked on, teased?

There could be a number of reasons he turned to video games as his "thing". If you could think about why that is, and figure out something you two could get into together then you would have a great solution. Just pushing the kid outside wont help. You need to know why he likes the games and what he gets out of them.

Good luck.

Answer 5

start taking him places , an spent time with him, to the mall to a movie let him no there is more to life than sitting infront of a game, most 16 year olds are out an about , wish u the best , good luck an happy new year

Answer 6

Take him out more. Go to the movies. Take him to parties and make him drink. Encourage him to hang out with the females. Sooner or later he'll forget all about Warcraft or whatever game he plays. Good luck.

Answer 7

First, you are the brother. Not the dad. It is not your call.
If dad wants him to stop, dad will make him stop.
Second, as he gets older, he will loose interest in video games.
My nephew played all the way to age 23. Then he got a job. No more video games.

Answer 8

Encourage him to do things with you outside of gaming. Try to understand why he is playing. Does he have some issues with his appearance? Is he shy? Help him with those things, as nonchalantly as you can. You don't want to do it, directly, as he will get defensive. But there's got to be something you can do with him, that he will enjoy.

Answer 9

You don't give your age, but my suggestion is to invite him out to do other things...a movie, dinner, sports event, work out, anything to get him away from the video games for awhile.

Answer 10

Find him a girl. That will sure grab his attention away from the games.