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When he was 14 our eldest son asked to have his own computer in his bedroom. He needed a PC more and more for homework and this way wouldn’t disturb or disrupt the rest of the family. We agreed, but over the last couple of years he has increasingly spent more and more time online, sometimes up to 5 hours a night. And he seems to have become withdrawn from us, and even his friends
His schoolwork is fine, although I know he plays games too but I think he spends too much time online.
Whenever we try to limit the time he spends on the Internet, he gets aggressive and I’m beginning to worry that he might have an addiction problem
What should we do?

Perhaps we should take the computer out of his room…?
Should I stop him playing games…?
Maybe he’s met someone online…?

From the amount of time he is spending online it sounds like he might be getting a bit obsessed. If you really can’t speak to him about this, I think that you should get some help from a councillor. He might be more willing to discuss this with an outsider. Perhaps his school could offer some support?

Take him away for a few days, just the two of you… somewhere without a computer!
You might find that there’s something bothering him, that he hasn’t felt able to talk to you before, that’s behind his behaviour.
And he might find that he can live without being online all the time too.

Although I think you’re right to be concerned it’s not easy to communicate with teenagers. Whether its music or skateboarding, they often latch onto something to the point of obsession.
As he’s growing up he has the right to some personal space but maybe you need to start involving him as an adult in your family by giving him some more responsibilities too.
Have you tried speaking to his friends and encourage them to help him to get out more?

We always restricted how much time our daughter spent online right from the beginning. So she’s never expected to spend all night in front of the computer.
We set up our filtering software to limit the amount of time she can spend online.