The Local, an English language news site based in Sweden, reports that a 15-year old boy collapsed after playing World of Warcraft for nearly 20-hours. The boy's father, after seeing his son collapse and suffer a seizure, called and ambulance and the boy was rushed to the hospital.
The diagnosis?
According to doctors "the boy’s bodily systems had been thrown off by a combination of sleep deprivation, lack of food, and too long a stretch of concentrated game playing." The boy has since recovered and is doing well.
My question? Where were this boy's parents? 20 hours is a long time to do anything. This is an extraordinarily long time to play a video game. When he cracked the 6 or 12 hour mark, they should have made him stop and take a break.
When it comes to teens and technology, it's up to parents to sit down with their kids and set some boundaries. And I'm not just talking about video games. Or just teens.
Technology is wonderful and has made our lives better in so many ways. But it's important that we also strike a balance between our online and offline worlds.
So put down that Wii remote. And that Blackberry. Time to connect with your First Life.
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