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Obsessive? PART 2

loulabell

Hiya guys n gals

Just a quicky, i mentioned earlier in a post about my son being obsessed with watching clips of computer games on youtube, i got some GREAT advice so thanks for that.

My question is...

Would keeping him from the computer (as a punishment) result in him being unable to sleep?

My sons never been a great sleeper, most nights its 3-4 hours. On Monday morning he was told that he would not be allowed on the computer because he has been incredibly naughty. I told him he could not have the computer for the full day.

This in itself didnt cause too much problems, he was grumpy and mentioned it often but no real dramas but that night he didnt sleep a wink!! 

I gave up trying to get him to sleep by 3.30am and left him to watch his telly as he was getting aggitated with me trying to make him sleep. He sat and watched the advertising shows about the shark steam mop (i got a FULL discription as to what it does and how it works, it was fasinating to see how much he had picked up)

Could his lack of sleep be due to the fact he hadnt had his FIX?

I did quiz him after school on tuesday to see if there was anything bothering him, there was nothing. 

I was just wondering is all, any info you have would be great :) thanks in advance 

Lou 

  • Hiya, I'm 18 with Aspergers syndrome and I adore World of Warcraft, and play it religiously. I also studied Film Studies last year which included doing research into game addiction.

    For me, the actual playing of the game isn't an addiction, its part of my routine, like checking my schoolbag the night before or watching the Simpsons. If I break away from the routine I usually get very upset and have trouble sleeping. Its weird, because even if I log on for 5 minutes just to check everything (not sure what would have changed but its a ritual I've had for years) I find it easier to sleep.

    Personally, from my research I don't believe there is such a thing as video game addiction, merely boredom and lack of other engaging activities. For those with any form of ASD, its hard to change/find activities that can keep us interested for long periods of time. The fact you can get your son away from the computer to do other things in itself proves its not an addiction.

    His lack of sleep is probably down to the break in his routine, or even that he hasn't had anything else to engage his mind with (I can't just watch TV, I have to be doing something else at the same time, playing a computer game or drawing with it on to switch between the two), so his mind isn't tired enough to sleep.

  • loulabell said:
    I was just concerned that the 'minecraft/computer' world may have such a grip on him that it caused his sleep issues because he hadnt had the chance to watch any, wind down, chill out or whatever the case. 

    I will admit that since you helped me realise that the computer obsession was okay i have loosened my control and to be honest this has helped with the tension, i let him watch as much as he wants (without interfering in his life) as it makes him happy.

    I just cant think what would keep him awake for such a long time. I know he doesnt need sleep as much as most kids his age but its unlike him to stay awake ALL night.

    I've been thinking about this since my last post, and you may be right, but in an indirect sense.

    I often can't sleep, because I've got things going round and round in my head, though I can't always verbalise what, and I've noticed that this often, but not always, coincides with stress - either preceding something like an up coming appointment, or following a particularly stressful day.

    So, it may not be so much that he couldn't sleep because the minecraft/computer world has 'a grip on him' (in the sense of an addiction), as such, but rather that watching the videos allows him to de-stress.

    But, I'm not sure, and am just speculating, so I could be wrong - it's one of the things I find really hard to understand in myself - why my sleeping patterns are so screwy, and what I might be able to do to make them less so.

  • Hiya, 

    I understand that punishment doenst work and normally im all for praise rather than punishment, many of times i have told him off for the same thing, and yes nothing works. But for the situation i needed him to realise that what he had done was upsetting. The one way to make Jake feel anything at the moment is through the control of his computer.

    I was just concerned that the 'minecraft/computer' world may have such a grip on him that it caused his sleep issues because he hadnt had the chance to watch any, wind down, chill out or whatever the case. 

    I will admit that since you helped me realise that the computer obsession was okay i have loosened my control and to be honest this has helped with the tension, i let him watch as much as he wants (without interfering in his life) as it makes him happy.

    I just cant think what would keep him awake for such a long time. I know he doesnt need sleep as much as most kids his age but its unlike him to stay awake ALL night.

    Thanks again :D

  • I don't know about the sleep question, but, whatever he was punished for, it probably won't have worked, and he's just as likely to do whatever it was again as he was before the punishment.

    This is because, and this is a generalisation, btw, we, on the spectrum, usually don't respond to punishment.

    We do respond to reward, however.

    And logic - so if you were able to explain to him logically why he shouldn't do whatever it was, then that may have worked.