Technology 伤感情

My 19 years old cousin Gillian's wise and famous quote, "technology 伤感情" has recently been tested and proven right in my family. The boys have recently been banned from using their handphones at home. All the apps (all games, what else?) which they installed have also been brutally uninstalled by their father, or reluctantly by themselves. They were spending more time than allowed on their phones, took every pockets of time to play secretly and neglected their school work (twins, not Bart), did housework shabbily, didn't complete their weekly chores without being reminded repeatedly, got easily distracted, meals together were always short because the only thing in their minds was to return to their phones asap. With the banning of handphone use, Bart then turned to his notebook to chat and play minecraft. He sat in front of his NB the moment he was awake, after meals, after he came home from school, after shower. We never heard from him when he's home, not even a hello when he came home, just straight to his room. He also had to be invited each and every single time when food was ready. It got to a point when it became ridiculous. So last week, his NB was confiscated. We got him to be involved in whatever the family was doing, he did so... Initially unwillingly. He did because he knew there wasn't any other way out. But in the process, he discovered some things himself. He discovered he felt a sense of achievement when he completed when seemed a boring piece of work to him. Like dismantling his bed to be moved to another room. Like sorting out unwanted clothes and stacking up his folded clothes neatly. In return, I went shopping with them and he earned a new pair of coloured jeans which he's so crazy about. I would have made him pay himself if not for his starting-to-be-positive attitude. So that made him feel wonderful. Yesterday, I sat down with him, "Bart, do you feel happier after your NB was taken away from you?" he looked at me, smiled, then answered, "actually yes". Extremely satisfied with his reply, I began my long story, "you see, chatting online with friends and playing minecraft DO give you lots of happiness. But this so called happiness is only your illusion, or disillusion. You forget about your real life, your parents, your brothers, your responsibilities at home, your meals, your sleep. You pause your NB time only to pee or when someone called (actually shouted) for you. You became so easily agitated because you can't carry on in your cyber life which you wrongly thought it was real. You were a pain in the ass, truly, to the whole family. There had to be a hundred reasons to everything, anything we asked you to do, even bringing the trash out. You were on the verge of addiction and you didn't even know. But after we took the NB away, you were "forced" to do things with us. And you found out, to your own surprise, that it could be delightful. In fact, it wasn't just delightful to you, it was also to us. This happiness you feel, it sends a feeling of warmth to your heart. It could bring a smile to your face when you think about it. Compare it to things you do with your NB. Does it?" He agreed by nodding, and a smile formed on his face. So I continued, "if I were to tell you the same thing last week, I can 100% guarantee that you won't give a shit. Simply because you haven't experienced the real happiness of being disconnected (online). But I've been watching you, the progress throughout this week, and I know today is the right (ripe) time to tell you and get understood and appreciated. I am very happy for you, for us." I ended my "speech" with a long hug with him. A heartfelt hug.