Mom to Cops: My Son’s Addicted to Video Games!

In a heart-warming tale of holiday spirit, a mother of four called the police on her 14-year old son when she caught him playing “Grand Theft Auto” on his “Playstation” at 2:30 a.m. Angela Mejia of Roxbury, Mass., dialed 911 after arguing with her son about the game, hours after she had told him to go to bed, the Boston Herald reports. “I have support from my church, but I’m alone,” she said. “I want to help my son, but I can’t find a way.” Police were able to convince the boy to go to sleep. Mejia denies having bought the M-rated Grand Theft Auto for her son, as she only supports athletic-themed games.

I’m a little peeved at the way the Herald handled the story. “Mejia is among thousands of parents struggling with today’s video-game obsessed youth,” say the reporters. This strikes me as a lazily-reported sentence, dripping with disdain but citing no figures to support a claim that seems tailored towards raising hysteria. Certainly, video games can be addictive, but studies on the matter are clouded by unfair assumptions. For instance, the Council on Science and Public Health defines heavy game use as more than two hours per day, and yet the Nielsen Company says Americans spend roughly 5 hours per day watching television. Also, is it that hard for old media reporters to get the exact names of the game and console? I highly doubt this teen was playing the original Grand Theft Auto on his PS1. [Boston Herald via CNet]