Hey, hey, what's up? I'm Gustav Ariano.

This week, we're playing some of the times as great as hits, our favorite episode from this past year.

And here's one of the first ones we ever did from way back in May.

My colleague Deborah Netburn talks about how video games came between her and her son during the pandemic.

And how it brought them back together. Take it away, Deborah.

I'm Deborah Netburn, and this is the Times,

Daily News from the LA Times. Let me tell you a story about my pandemic journey from ignorance to understanding. I questioned my beliefs,

I engaged in radical rethinking,

and I did it all by playing video games.

Thank you. Since the beginning of the pandemic, I've been struggling with how all important video games are to my 12-year-old son, Jonah.

Jonah and I are really close, but I started to notice that after hours of staring at the computer screen for virtual school, he can't wait to open his

laptop again to start playing Roblox or Minecraft. He's been playing these games for years,

and I still have no clue what he's actually doing.

For me, computers represent work and time wasted scrolling endlessly through social media posts.

But for Jonah, video games are a refuge.

What freaked me out the most was the fear that Jonah was starting to prefer video games to the

real world.

I was getting scared.

He was losing the ability to interact with people in real life.

To pry him away from the screen, I used to make him go for a walk with me in the afternoon.

I'd ask if he heard from his friends, and he talked about the games he'd played.

Well, there was, like, this boss that, like, destroyed the old map, and then a...

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