Dr. Phil recently broke off a piece of uncomfortable truth for one of his show's guests in a sassy manner. This isn't exactly newsworthy – the mustachioed television personality is no stranger to telling things how they are – however, the subject of the intervention is definitely worth further examination: A mother who began to neglect her family in favor of her virtual plantation in FarmVille. We'll give you guys a second to let that sweet sorrow sink in.
On a recent episode of Dr. Phil, a woman named Teresa was confronted by her daughter about her addiction to the casual crop-growing sim. Apparently, Teresa would regularly unplug the house's router to oust her fellow family members from the computer. This kind of thing doesn't fly in Phil's book, who remarked, "you unplugged it because you have a ridiculous addiction to a ridiculous computer game that's interfering with your ability to be a mother." Check out this off-screen preview of the episode containing the depressing exchange.
*For the record, we joined FarmVille just so we could make the image above. We're definitely still not playing it, and we definitely don't need neighbors to come help out because, hey, those crops aren't going to fertilize themselves.
Reader Comments (77)
Posted: Jan 22nd 2010 10:02PM I AM IRONHIDE said
Posted: Jan 22nd 2010 10:38PM BrokenTriforce said
If you squint real hard it kinda looks like Dr. Phil...
But then again I've been drinking.
Reply
But then again I've been drinking.
Posted: Jan 22nd 2010 10:02PM (Unverified) said
Well thats a turn of events I hadn't considered.
Reply
Posted: Jan 22nd 2010 11:04PM RageOverdose said
Last I checked, psychology is a legitimate social science.
What's pseudo-scientific about it?
Reply
What's pseudo-scientific about it?
Posted: Jan 22nd 2010 11:43PM (Unverified) said
Sorry, I meant psychiatry. Psychology is a perfectly legitimate science.
Should have proofread, haha.
Reply
Should have proofread, haha.
Posted: Jan 23rd 2010 2:58AM RageOverdose said
Honest mistake. =D
And I agree, psychiatrics is poo. A big, pill-heaped load of poo.
Reply
And I agree, psychiatrics is poo. A big, pill-heaped load of poo.
Posted: Jan 22nd 2010 10:21PM BrokenTriforce said
This is the only article with the tags "depressing-stories" and "get-your-life-together".
Do I detect Joystiq moving in a new direction?
Reply
Do I detect Joystiq moving in a new direction?
Posted: Jan 22nd 2010 10:23PM Captain Planet Planeteer Power said
I wonder if she's the mother of that Pokemon chick from the other day...
Reply
Posted: Jan 22nd 2010 11:40PM Captain Planet Planeteer Power said
Oh I know her mother...and yours. Tell that bitch to stop wearing different kinds of lipstick, I'm getting a rainbow dick.
Hiyoooooooooooo!
Reply
Hiyoooooooooooo!
Posted: Jan 22nd 2010 11:46PM Captain Planet Planeteer Power said
I know what the ladies like...
Reply
Posted: Jan 22nd 2010 11:47PM BrokenTriforce said
I have yet to see a Captain Planet comment that isn't blue.
Thanks for all your hard work, Capn.
Reply
Thanks for all your hard work, Capn.
Posted: Jan 23rd 2010 1:03PM Brysonial the Bison said
Captain Planet is not a super hero! He is something much much different than that I dont know i guess Im just trying to say Captain Planet is something not of this universe!
Reply
Posted: Jan 22nd 2010 10:25PM Foetoid said
My EX girlfriend is my ex for a good reason. I've had to do all the cooking, cleaning, washing, shopping and every single chore around the house for the family and our 2 kids since they were born cause she is a Second Life addict. Im now happily a single father.
Reply
Posted: Jan 22nd 2010 10:36PM BrokenTriforce said
How long did you date said dead weight before you decided to drop it?
Reply
Posted: Jan 22nd 2010 10:48PM BrokenTriforce said
Wow. I had no idea that Second Life was good enough to play for 3 years.
You're better off dude. And you deserve recognition both for being a good father and dealing with bullshit for so long.
Reply
You're better off dude. And you deserve recognition both for being a good father and dealing with bullshit for so long.
Posted: Jan 23rd 2010 1:05PM Brysonial the Bison said
This game is not even very good at all! I played it for a month about and then realized why the heck am I playing this piece of crap there is no point to it.
Reply
Posted: Jan 22nd 2010 10:40PM BrokenTriforce said
My mom would pull the circuit breaker when I wouldn't share the SNES with my little brothers.
Reply
Posted: Jan 22nd 2010 10:56PM SystemPatch said
.....
I hate to admit it, but I'm having the same problem with my own mother... But with Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing.
It started when I got AC GC for Christmas one year. I had told my Mom about it, and she was interested for once. I was excited that she was interestered in a Video Game for once. Then things went sour...
She started kicking me out of my room, all night, just to play the Gamecube. Got so bad I had to move the GC out to her room. Then she found Harvest Moon. She got A Wonderful Life. She gave it to me and said "Play this, then teach it to me". Annoying yes, but I was fine with it at the time. The game actually wasen't that bad. Took here a few months to start playing the game, but when she did, it got bad. The music kept me up all night, as the one wall between our rooms has a vent between them, and I could hear everything. That repeditive music was so annoying... Then she went on a HM spree. She got every Harvest Moon for both GC and PS2 (and a PS2 in the process, I didn't mind though, I get to play it :P).
After a while, she finally got tired of all of that and stopped... Then I got a Wii. It was good for a few months, when I didn't have to worry about anyone else. Then she went out of her way to get Animal Crossing City Folks for herself. I told her she could only play the Wii if she got herself a controller... Big mistake. Since then, she's been playing the Wii almost every waking moment she's at home. She's moved from ACCF to Rune Factory Frontier, but she's still playing EVERY WAKING MOMENT! even kicks me off when she gets home. To put that into prospective, according to the nintendo channel, my most played game is Smash Bros Brawl, at about 150 hrs. She's played ACCF and RFF for over 1000 hrs. EACH!
/rant
Sorry bout that wall of text, just wanted to blow off some steam on a similar situation.
Reply
I hate to admit it, but I'm having the same problem with my own mother... But with Harvest Moon and Animal Crossing.
It started when I got AC GC for Christmas one year. I had told my Mom about it, and she was interested for once. I was excited that she was interestered in a Video Game for once. Then things went sour...
She started kicking me out of my room, all night, just to play the Gamecube. Got so bad I had to move the GC out to her room. Then she found Harvest Moon. She got A Wonderful Life. She gave it to me and said "Play this, then teach it to me". Annoying yes, but I was fine with it at the time. The game actually wasen't that bad. Took here a few months to start playing the game, but when she did, it got bad. The music kept me up all night, as the one wall between our rooms has a vent between them, and I could hear everything. That repeditive music was so annoying... Then she went on a HM spree. She got every Harvest Moon for both GC and PS2 (and a PS2 in the process, I didn't mind though, I get to play it :P).
After a while, she finally got tired of all of that and stopped... Then I got a Wii. It was good for a few months, when I didn't have to worry about anyone else. Then she went out of her way to get Animal Crossing City Folks for herself. I told her she could only play the Wii if she got herself a controller... Big mistake. Since then, she's been playing the Wii almost every waking moment she's at home. She's moved from ACCF to Rune Factory Frontier, but she's still playing EVERY WAKING MOMENT! even kicks me off when she gets home. To put that into prospective, according to the nintendo channel, my most played game is Smash Bros Brawl, at about 150 hrs. She's played ACCF and RFF for over 1000 hrs. EACH!
/rant
Sorry bout that wall of text, just wanted to blow off some steam on a similar situation.
Posted: Jan 22nd 2010 10:59PM (Unverified) said
Seriously, Natsume is worse than PopCap. I was addicted to Harvest Moon 64 for nearly a year.
Reply
Posted: Jan 22nd 2010 11:01PM SystemPatch said
Well, I have nothing against that Harvest Moon series, They are really good games.
Just, after all I've been through, I feel nothing for them.
Reply
Just, after all I've been through, I feel nothing for them.
Posted: Jan 22nd 2010 11:09PM BrokenTriforce said
I didn't like HM. Maybe I don't get the point, but then again I don't properly play games that give you such a degree of freedom.
I would go fishing, sell what I caught, drink at the bar, and repeat that process every day.
Reply
I would go fishing, sell what I caught, drink at the bar, and repeat that process every day.
Posted: Jan 22nd 2010 11:16PM (Unverified) said
Triforce, that's almost the POINT.
Even if I had more of an empire myself.
Reply
Even if I had more of an empire myself.
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