It’s not just kids’ screen time we should be monitoring
Online gamers starve their baby to death while feeding and nurturing a virtual infant. What can society do to prevent this from happening again?
An ongoing debate amongst concerned parents is how much screen time to allow their children to have. Understandably, we want what’s best for our kids and that means not letting them sit in front of a screen day and night playing games. Gaming addiction is also a concern for some parents. However, it’s not just our children’s gaming we should be concerned about. I was absolutely saddened to read about a South Korean couple who neglected and starved their 3-month old baby to death because they were spending several hours a day at an internet cafe playing an online game that, distressingly ironic, involved caring for and bonding with a young virtual child. Apparently , the couple only bottle fed their baby once a day until – after a night spent at the internet cafe – came home to find their baby lifeless.
More on this dismal story can be read here. The Associated Press article also says:
“I’m sorry to my daughter and hope she doesn’t get sick in heaven,” the father was quoted as saying by Yonhap.
How utterly heartbreaking. I feel a sense of anger towards these two parents but, at the same time, try to tell myself that the vice-like grip addiction can have on a person makes them someone they wouldn’t otherwise be. But that’s the question, isn’t it? Was this couple simply neglectful, unfit parents or were they the victims of addiction, comparable to that of drug addicts or alcoholics? And if the latter is the cause of the baby’s death, what can be done about it? Sure, this is an extreme case, one that could not have resulted in a worse outcome but how many children out there are suffering to a lesser degree because their parents are addicted to video games, social networking, etc.? What can be done to prevent this sort of tragedy from happening again? Where should the line be drawn between Facebook and Crackbook? How much time do you think is okay for parents to be spending in front of a screen? Do you think it makes a difference in what activities they’re doing, or at what time of day/night? Let us know what you think by commenting below.
The parents of that child weren’t victims. They are uncaring, unfeeling murderers. The sympathy game no longer works for me when it comes to parents who don’t give a damn about a child they bring in the world. Being responsible isn’t fashionable now, the call is for cute disposable, accessories to make us look good. A parent’s job is to be a parent, not a friend, not a ATM and not a fill-in-the-blank-a-holic who doesn’t give a damn. They murdered their child and are now looking for any way to be absolved of the crime. It’s time as a society we say no, not good enough.
These parents are pieces of garbage. It’s not an addiction. It’s the parents putting their wants ahead of a child’s needs. An addcition is something that needs to be fed. It is something that without there weill be a real withdraw. I hope these 2 end up going hungry in hell.
Very strong words, but I concur with what you have said, whole heartedly! How very sad that child, with no way to fend for itself and totally reliant on , not ONE but TWO people, has died! One mother overcome by postpartum depression is possible, but two ABLE BODIED parents? The horrible irony in all of this, is the fact they were raising a “virtual baby” on an internet game. What has the world come to? Korean law may punish them severely and if they were from the other part of Korea, they may pay with their lives! (Very harsh in my opinion, for the crime)They should be punished by hard labor, for many years, in an orphanage!(Maybe sterilized so they can’t do it again?) Maybe not so harsh an idea? Very sad event~Makes me very angry! Lord take that little child straight to heaven!
I agree with Lisa 100%.
Anyone who hurts a child– whether actively or through neglect, as seen here– is the lowest of the low. I have no pity and no tolerance for this anymore.
It boggles the mind that we require people to earn a licence to drive a car and yet any two idiots with a penis and vagina can get together and make a baby.
I really, truly have no sympathy for them. Starving to death is a horrible way to go.
I really dont think video game addiction is the problem here. Only that the parents were absolute morons. That probably would of happened anyway, video games or not. Some people should have to get a licence to reproduce. Who the hell leaves a baby alone anyway. They should be imprisoned.
Agree 100%. Very concisely and well said.
I agree with everyone here. But it is sites like facebook,and twitter as well or even more so the game was probably from facebook.
[...] said I agree with everyone here. But it is sites like facebook,and… on It’s not just kids’ screen time we should be [...]
I don’t think anyone is trying to give these parents a free pass or an excuse. Their neglect of their child is criminal and beyond defense. What this tragic situation should tell us however, is that tech addictions such as gaming and social networking are real and can have devastating consequences. Rhonda points to the need to combat it just as seriously as we try to combat physical addictions like drugs and alcohol. I’m glad that Ontario has added net safety to the school curriculum. Hopefully it will address the addiction issue as well as the more obvious safety concerns.
I think that this society is addicted to feeling good, weather it be video games, nicotine, drugs or alcohol. We use addiction as an excuse for everything. We even have sex addicts using it as an excuse for cheating. The problem is our society is spoiled and hop from one feel good moment to another without much care or concern for anyone else.
No amount of programs, therapy, or safety nets is going to change the people around us. More and more stories like this one will pop up, and much more has happened that we don’t even hear about. Population as a hole have to wake up, and start taking responsebilty for they’re actions as well as for the actions of those they love and start getting those feel good feelings from people instead of stuff.
It’s time we stop finding excuses.
That is tragic and almost has a Farhenheit 451 feel to it. Are we allowing ourselves to turn into the worst science fiction scenario. I hope others will read about this tragic event and start shutting off their computers and spending real quality family time together.
This is the most tragic story, however after reading the father’s comments, he is obviously a person with mental issues that really shouldn’t have had a child in the first place. If it wasn’t this instance of neglect, i think that poor child would have suffered or died at another time by the sheer bad luck of having been born into such a ‘family’.
I read an article about this last week on a gaming site. Pretty much the same responses of outrage as seen here. Anyway, one thing that I had also read was that these parents were 41 (the man) and 25, lived with the wife’s parents, and were unemployed. I think there’s more to it than simply being addicted to gaming – they were unfit to be parents from the get go. Also, they met eachother in an online game.
Gaming addiction is bad, in the same way as gambling addiction. It’s not the same as a drug addiction tho, as there’s no chemical dependancy.
Anyway, I bet next week we’ll see the article on a little girl in the states who shot herself in the head with her dad’s pistol because it looked identical to their Wii controller will cause some serious uproar.
I agree with Patti, obviously from the comment that they were only feeding the baby once a day is more than enough proof that they never should have been parents in the first place.
It is so sad when there are hundreds of thousands of couples who would love the chance to be parents and yet morons have kid after kid after kid, never look after them, then blame everyone but themselves when something goes wrong.
If you read the full article, this couple met through an online site, were both unemployed – probably hard to hold a job when you spend 6 – 8 hours a day at an internet cafe – and then the father says he “hopes she doesn’t get sick in heaven”…. like he thinks she died because she was sick.
There are some serious mental issues there if thats what he believes and can’t understand exactly why she died… or else its all just a show for authorities. Either way, extremely sad.. the poor wee babe was born premature and underweight to begin with – have to wonder if mom looked after herself while pregnant even. Very painful and horrible way for a small one to die, who cannot even comprehend why. These parents would likely be addicted to something else if there wasn’t the interent. There simply is no parental instinct in these two whatsoever, and if not the internet it would have been something else.
I agree with everyone.The internet has taken many people and made them into something bad and it can and does control people’s lives.The world has gotten so many cool things for people to get addicted to. It’s not just drugs or alcohol any more.It use to be a treat to go out for dinner but now a restaurant on every corner how nuts is that a drive throws and the internet to order everything you want with out leaving your home or car.Smoking use to be the number one killer but the internet is going to kill us from obesity in the near future.The worse thing about it is no one cares as long as they make money selling us the garbage we think we can’t do with out.The only people that will survive will be the people who can control there own lives.
…yes we can blame the internet for bad parenting. It is obviously at fault. Not the parents or people that put it in front of their child’s lift at all.
Really? I mean really?
If they were living with parents, where were they in all of this? Didn’t people see something wrong here long before the baby had to die?
This is the biggest problem in society. Each one of use has a moral duty to prevent these types of problems. When we see something wrong we must speak and take action. I’d rather die a hero than live a coward.
Who only feeds a baby once a day. Seriously, how many times to you eat or drink? More than one I’m sure. If these deadbeats were living with the wife’s parents why did they not step in and feed the poor child. Why didn’t anyone else notice, did no one hear the crying? Children are to be cherished not neglected. They should both be sterilized so that they won’t harm another innocent child. Or better yet, locked up in a prison somewhere and given a glass of milk a day so that they can know what it felt like to be their poor little baby. At least now she is in good hands.
stupid idiots kill them now
I think one other thing to be noticed from this is that we are very blessed to live in a country where we are given adequate “training” so-to-speak about raising children. We have health nurses checking in with us on a regular basis to make sure our child is growing properly. While the video gaming most definately played a part in what happened, it is also quite likely that this couple just didn’t know what they were doing. Maybe they thought the baby would be fine with that amount of food. After all, they spent hours away from their cyber baby and it was fine, so maybe they just didn’t know. Not that this is an excuse because as a parent it is your responsibility to find the information that is needed if you don’t know how to take care of your child.
I feel so sad for that poor little baby being all alone and hungry for her whole life!
I have 3 kids myself and I am utterly sad when things like this happens – especially to kids – but it does not surprise me, in fact nothing that humans do surprises me anymore. This kid died due to the parents not having the slightest clue how to “parent”. Who in their right mind only feeds their child once a day and leaves her alone, and I think that”s the case here, they are not and probably never were “in their right mind”. What really gets me is the notion that the parents might have thought they were doing the right thing, maybe they just played internet games because they didn’t have a job and that was the best thing they could find to pass the time. If they had – or have – an addiction, that could have twisted the understanding of reality around in their heads, as can any addiction, but so could the game itself. If they were taking care of a child online, they would have felt they were doing their parent duties, their real child to them would have become similar to a pet, something they weren’t connected to the same way as to a child. There may be a reason for what they did but there is no excuse and none should be made.
Every time I hear about situations like this, I get thinking about what humans are capable of doing to each other, about the stupidity and the lack of common sense. It seems like the more we are and the more we get connected, the worse it gets. Granted, that is not the general situation – luckily, but us humans don’t quite seem to grasp the concept of learning from our mistakes and making the next generation better than the one before. I believe everybody is resposible for their own knowledge, a case like this shows me that some people don’t go that far, and that is why I don’t get surprised.
Personally, there is no such addiction, what it is, is a copout from reality and the responsibilities of life. Many times, I have stated that before one gets married there aught to be mandatory marriage courses dealing with all aspects of life together. The same when one conceives mandatory child rearing courses. This child is with God Almighty right now and the parents will pay dearly when their judgement day comes. How can one not be moved to tears and anger?
[...] It’s not just kids’ screen time we should be monitoring - Online gamers starve their baby to death while feeding and nurturing a virtual infant. What can society do to prevent this from happening again? [...]
[...] 2. Watch less TV/Play less video games. How many hours do you clock in behind the screen? Do you have an Excel spreadsheet that keeps track of all the TV shows you need to watch throughout the week, listing the ones that you need to record since you’ll be watching something different at the same time? Are you visiting a physiotherapist to help relieve the chronic pain in your gaming thumbs? Maybe your New Year’s resolution should be to reduce your screen time. [...]