ST. CHARLES – A few years ago, Meg Lietz’s oldest child would do all sorts of activities with his friends – ride bikes, build forts, play basketball – but for whatever reason, it tapered off.

Instead of getting together and playing in the same room, her adolescent son and his friends began playing video games with each other from the comfort of their own homes.

That pushed Lietz – who wanted her 13-year-old son to pick up the phone and call his friends – to take matters into her own hands. She created STC Social, a group for seventh-grade boys at Thompson, Wredling and Haines middle schools that regularly meets for a face-to-face social activity, such as capture the flag.