Replying to @cakesmiddleton How do we get kids to spend less time playing video games when video games have been engineered to make them as addictive as possible? My perspective on this comes from more than twenty years as an educator and administrator working with children of all ages and their parents, with a special focus on middle school. How you handle this will depend on your family and culture and rules. But the main thing is that we will seek to stop the tug-of-war. We’re going to try to avoid triggering resistance. That comes from suspending judgment, respecting their preferences (even if we’re not giving free rein at all times), and recognizing that he is getting a lot of things he needs and wants out of gaming. For him to want to stop gaming at any point, there has to be something he wants more. If he isn’t having to defend his gaming and try to get as much gaming time as he can, he can start learning how to notice when he actually prefers to do something else (like eat or sleep). When his resistance is lower (that is, when he is not afraid that a conversation about gaming means that the gaming is going to be taken away), you can talk to him about how to pay attention to the physical sensations and emotions that are guiding him. This is not a comprehensive answer or a tactical one — it kind just gives you some things to think about. I welcome your follow-up questions as it pertains to your specific situation. Thanks for the question. #gamingobsession #kidsandgaming #advicefromateacher