 [ Symptoms ] how do i know if my fifteen year old is truly addicted to computer games  my son plays nonstop while at home and only comes down from his room when i make him do chores he has no outside interests he has friends with whom he plays online with that he know personally but they never get together in person he does not play xbox anymore as he feels it is not advanced enough he has a gaming computer and now wants to build his in computer desktop so it can go faster with the money he has saved [ Disease ] it does appear that he is psychologically addicted to gaming so i would not encourage this by allowing him to upgrade his system until he finds a balance in his life and proves he can monitor his own computer use challenge him by seeing if he can give up all gaming for one month offer him money as a challenge if he can stop for a price then he has some control you have the right to limit his time on the computer or on line gaming you are the parent insist that he spend more time with friends unless they are having gaming issues or with other activities find him a job or jobs that require him to be out of the house he may want to spend money now on his computer but later he may need a driver is license as the carrot on the stick to improve his behavior