That sounds like a normal college-aged kid that’s still learning about life.
When I was in college (before streaming TV) they played X-Files for 4-6 hours each night starting at midnight and I’d stay up all night watching.
After getting my first real job, I remember seriously trying to figure out how I would record all 6 hours each night (how many VHS tapes and if I’d need multiple VCRs), and how I would fit 6 hours of X-Files into my evening each night after work.
Then I realized, “I guess I can’t watch X-Files anymore”. And I stopped watching X-Files.
Discuss with him the options and paths in front of him, including your concerns that gaming might be the symptom of something more serious, and that you love him no matter what, are here to support him, and that even if he dropped out of school, while you’d be very disappointed you would still be there to support him no matter what.
Then you let him make choices and learn from them. Sometimes people have to fail in order to learn. You literally can’t convey to someone what it’s like to burn their hand on the stove. You have to give them the freedom to touch it. And then they know.
When I was in college (before streaming TV) they played X-Files for 4-6 hours each night starting at midnight and I’d stay up all night watching.
After getting my first real job, I remember seriously trying to figure out how I would record all 6 hours each night (how many VHS tapes and if I’d need multiple VCRs), and how I would fit 6 hours of X-Files into my evening each night after work.
Then I realized, “I guess I can’t watch X-Files anymore”. And I stopped watching X-Files.
Discuss with him the options and paths in front of him, including your concerns that gaming might be the symptom of something more serious, and that you love him no matter what, are here to support him, and that even if he dropped out of school, while you’d be very disappointed you would still be there to support him no matter what.
Then you let him make choices and learn from them. Sometimes people have to fail in order to learn. You literally can’t convey to someone what it’s like to burn their hand on the stove. You have to give them the freedom to touch it. And then they know.