2018年——诺亚初次认识自己的堕落

人物：诺亚·王，8岁。

事件：通常，我们的孩子每周只能在周末享有2小时的电视/电子游戏时间。诺亚大约8岁半时开始玩《我的世界》（Minecraft），并非常沉迷。之后，他不仅玩游戏，还偷偷用iPad观看教学视频来学习游戏技巧。

有一天，迦勒通过检查iPad的YouTube观看记录和使用时间统计，发现诺亚私下看了好几个小时的《我的世界》视频。我和诺亚就此深谈，解释了为何设定每周2小时的限制，并讨论了「成瘾」及其带来的感受。作为惩罚，诺亚同意下一个周末禁止使用屏幕。

然而，几天后诺亚再次违背承诺。我们又一次谈话，并取消了他再一个周末的屏幕时间。可惜一周后，他仍然忍不住看了视频。这次，诺亚彻底崩溃了。他哭着承认自己无法克制点击视频的冲动——每当看完一个，更多有趣的推荐内容就会吸引他不断看下去。他对自己失去控制感到绝望，甚至怀疑一生都无法克服这个问题。

我认为，这是诺亚第一次真切意识到自己的「堕落」。我们一同祷告，求耶稣帮助他，并深入探讨其他成瘾案例（如酗酒、吸毒）。我给他看吸毒者的照片，讲述父母沉迷游戏导致新生儿死亡的新闻。接着，我们制定应对计划：诺亚自己提出，需要「两个月完全禁止接触屏幕」才能戒断。于是我们锁住所有设备，移除密码，全家协助监督（例如不在他面前使用iPad），并去图书馆借了许多书给他。我们跪下来祷告，求神在这两个月帮助他。

两个月后，诺亚成功做到零屏幕时间。他发现，没有电子设备的生活并非难以忍受。尽管最初几周很艰难，但后来他对《我的世界》的兴趣逐渐淡去。恢复屏幕时间后，诺亚清楚迦勒和弥迦会通过使用记录核查他的行为，也明白再犯将面临更严厉的后果。感谢神！此后，诺亚学会了自我约束，始终遵守2小时的规定。如今12岁的他，已不再有屏幕时间的问题——甚至常有未用完的额度，因为他不再需要靠电视或游戏填补空虚。

17. 2018 – Noah in touch with depravity

Who – Noah Wang, 8 years old.

What – Usually, our kids get 2 hours of TV / Video games a week on the weekends.  When Noah was probably around 8.5 years old, he started playing Minecraft and really enjoyed playing it.  Once Noah started playing Minecraft, he also started to watch Minecraft videos on the iPad that taught him different aspects of the game.  One day, Caleb, through looking at both iPad YouTube app history and iPad time tracking, realized that Noah was secretly watching many hours of Minecraft videos.  Noah and I had a conversation about it, we discussed why we have 2 hours limit a week, we discussed addiction, feelings of addiction.  I gave Noah a consequence of no TV next weekend and Noah agreed.  Unfortunately, Noah again broke his promise a few days later.  We had another conversation about it.  We took another weekend of TV away.  Unfortunately, after one week, Noah again watched Minecraft videos.  This time, Noah was distraught.  As we were talking through this, Noah confessed that he did not think he can stop himself from watching Minecraft videos.  He said that after he watches one video, all these other Minecraft videos show up and they all seem really interesting.  He just loves clicking through them one after another and he just can’t stop.  Noah started crying and feeling really sad about himself.  He felt he had no control over something as simple as not able to watch Minecraft videos.  He felt hopeless that he can ever overcome this in his life.  I think this is the first time that Noah came in touch with his own depravity.  We prayed and ask Jesus to help him.  We talked more about this and I explained other types of addictions like alcohol, drugs.  I showed him pictures of people who are addicted to meth.  We talked about real stories of parents who were addicted to video games and the consequence of letting their newborn die due to their addiction.  We then talked about a game plan.  I asked Noah what consequence would be severe enough that would stop his addiction.  After much discussion, we arrived at 2 months of no screens at all.  We locked all devices so that he has no passwords.  We told every member of the family to help Noah (not play iPad in front him).  All of us will also help Noah be accountable.  We went to the library and got bunch of books for Noah.  We got on our knees and ask God to help Noah in these two months.  After two months, Noah did not have any screen time.  He realized that it wasn’t a big deal to do without screens.  First few weeks were difficult, but after a while, he didn’t think much of Minecraft anymore.  We then gave Noah back his screen time.  Noah knows that both Caleb and Micah can audit and check what he has been up to through iPad time tracking.  He also knows that if he slips again, we will come up with an even more severe consequence to help him get better.  Praise God! After this experience, Noah was able to self-regulate and keep his screen time within two hours limit.  Noah is now 12 years old and we do not have an issue with Noah when it comes to TV or video games.  In fact, there are weeks where he can’t even finish the two hours given to him because he did not need to watch TV or play video games.