I've used computers all my life. I can't ever remember a time in my life when I did not own and actively use a computer. My father is a "computer guy"; he raised me this way. All the way back from DOS and Windows 3.1, at least half of my life has been spent on a computer. To say that my computer is important to me is a vast understatement. It may or may not sound pathetic to you, but it's what I do, and I enjoy it.
If it wasn't for my love of using computers, I would likely never have gotten interested in art, programming, or met many of the friends I currently have, both in RL and online. I probably wouldn't even be with my mate if it weren't for the computer, as he and I got to know each other better by talking online initially. We're both so shy that that probably wouldn't have happened otherwise. I majored in computer animation at college largely because it involves using a computer all the time.
So why, after 23 years of knowing that this is what I do and have always done, do my parents have this idea that "getting off the computer" = "making Zephyr a happy person"?
It's all I hear from them. All the time. "You need to get off that computer." "All you do is sit on your computer and do nothing all day." "You need to stop sitting at your computer and do [something or other] instead." They have this idea in their heads that me sitting here at the computer is the equivalent of me sitting and staring at a blank wall.
They don't understand that my life IS about being on the computer. My friends are here. I have responsibilities here. This is how I earn money. This is how I apply for jobs. This is how I improve my art and animation skills. I am happy doing this and being here.
And I've told them that. I have told them that I take art commissions here, that I apply for jobs online, and that I talk to friends and family members online. I haven't kept them in the dark about it. They just genuinely think they know better than I do about how to live my life. They think I can never be happy sitting at a computer the way I do. They think I will never make anything of myself doing what I do right now.
Of course, I know it isn't healthy to be on the computer 24/7, and I do like to get out of the house. But I have nowhere to go, and I don't like to waste (expensive) gas driving around for no reason. My mate is my only friend in town, yet my parents even get mad at me when (maybe once a week) I go out somewhere with him. They then say I should be spending my time applying for jobs instead... which I do on the computer.
I can do nothing right in their eyes.