My mum is extremely addicted to playing games on facebook! Help me?

Question

okay so a few years ago my mother didn't even know how to turn a computer on but she eventually ended up getting a fb account. in the past year, maybe even 2 years its been a long time she has become addicted to playing games on facebook. it started off with her playing farmville a little bit and has now gotten to the point where she has 4 fb accounts which she uses to send gifts and play games such as farmville, sorority life, restaurant city i have no idea how many she plays exactly but its a lot. in the past months its gotten so bad that when she isn't on facebook she is doing the washing/cleaning or playing with the dog or sleeping. her life revolves around these games, i ask her to drop me off at a friends house one day and she refused to because she had to collect all her gifts before 1pm. my dad has started doing some of her chores around the house and the rest of the family keep having to sort out our own washing since she takes more than a week to wash our clothes and return them to us. she also has a whole notebook of pages and pages of what gifts etc she has sent and collected and her levels for all 4 accounts that she constantly updates. my family even make fun of her and try to talk to her about it and how bad it is getting but she doesn't seem to care at all. yesterday for instance she spent the majority of the day on the computer and pretty much stayed on until 10pm that night except for breaks to eat and do a few chores. at 1am she woke up again and got back on the computer until god knows when. my family have caught her quite a few times getting up to go on fb at odd hours of the night. i seriously give up and don't know what to do anymore i've tried googling stuff but it comes up with how a parent should help a child's addiction when in fact im the child trying to help my mum. i would delete her accounts but she would probably hate me forever and just create new accounts anyway there is no stopping this woman.

Update:

also she only has like 3 friends in real life who don't have facebook and when they come over for a visit she will actually walk off and quickly fix up something on her game while they awkwardly sit in the dining room and sometimes she has sat them down and shown them her games. she also makes friends online with all these other freaks like her but they all live in different countries and she even wants to meet them in real life its really weird.

Jitarth · Accepted Answer

dude if you really wish to stop it remove the ram from your computer for a few weeks. you would no that a computer cant start without the ram. she wont turn on the computer and this would divert her attention. then after a few weeks insert it back. do make sure she doesn't call up some one to fix it. do this secretly and tell her that the comp is dead and you are going to get it repaired by someone you know :)$ this worked on me. though it was me who really turned off the computer to stop my addiction.

Anonymous · Answer

Before you can really help you have to decide what she's missing out on that's causing this.  Does she need some proper games instead of stupid Farmville or is it in fact social interaction that's really the thing that she needs and is making up for a lack of?  I suspect the latter, if her real life was more engaging then she'd spend less time playing Farmville, as it is there's probably not much else for her except chores - if you can change this and make real life more fun for her then she'll probably lose interest in Facebook games.

Milkbone · Answer

I've never understand how those games are addicted to some people. I can't find any fun out of it.

 Anyway, i am on a same boat with you, my husband is addicted to some kind of online game and playing most of his time. His schedule has been changed ( no work, he is retired ) to night time and I am a morning person, so we are not doing anything together at all. So this holiday season, i feel alone and not exciting like I used to be. We have a puppy to take care of, all house works, grocery shopping, I am doing pretty much everything. Only good thing is he gave me his all retirement check, so i am controlling all bills from it. 

 There is no solution for this addiction unless herself decide to get out out of it. We cannot force them out from the games, I tried and didn't work and his addiction got worse. We cannot change them, but we can change ourself. Only we can do is just keep going on our life and find own happiness. Sorry if i let you down.

? · Answer

I know you're probably scared of deleting them but do it..I would! You don't have a choice, and she couldn't possibly hate you forever for deleting a stupid fb account. You need to sit her down, make her a cup of coffee or something and tell her that she is neglecting her real life for this virtual one, and eventually she will end up like a no life loser. Her real friends will lose interest in her and drift away, and she will end up with no one. Remind her that she is the adult. It's bad for her health to be losing so much sleep to play on fb games so much. Try restricting her to, say, three hours a day. I know it sounds like a lot but probably not to her. Slowly bring the time down, and hopefully after a few months she will be down to an hour a day. Good luck :)x

MJ · Answer

So, you say that she is not very technologically advanced? Maybe, there will one day be a "problem" with the computer that it doesn't turn on or the internet doesn't work. Maybe, the mouse "broke" so it is impossible to play. Does she know how she gets internet on the computer? If not, unplug the router. Just unplug something that would stop her from playing these games and tell her it was probably from over heating the computer from playing these games. Maybe its not the nicest way, but it could work.

Funkey Monkey · Answer

If I were you I would add facebook in parental control in the router setting, which will block access. Then make up a story about facebook being hacked by some unknown group that deleted every account ^_^

Anonymous · Answer

well if she never stops playing these games try to get on  her facebook account some how and change the password or something i fell bad kid or just have a big long talk with her.

Andy · Answer

you need to give her an intervention. You should make a play day. tell her to go to the Movies and out to lunch with you for the day or something else and then tell her that you want to spend more time with her and that Facebook is boring.

Karan Nawani · Answer

Spend a quality time with your mother and tel her that facebook is boring.Sometimes go out for movie dinner.

Anonymous · Answer

you should ask her friends what they think and then tell her.
If that doesn't work then i think you should tell her that you are worried and then tell her once she is listening, that your family is really worried and kind of scared if that works then good if not then take her to counselor / psychiatrist / therapist / someone that specializes in help for that kind of stuff...
hope i helped
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Texan at heart

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My mum is extremely addicted to playing games on facebook! Help me?

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