A young girl in England was sent to rehab for addiction to the hugely popular video game Fortnite.
Metro UK reports that the 9-year-old girl (whose identity is being protected) first showed signs of a problem in school, and her head teacher contacted her parents.
When they first confiscated the XBox from their daughter, she was so angry that she “lashed out and hit her father in the face.”
Her father really noticed how dire the situation had become when he found her sitting “in a puddle of her own urine.”
She was still playing the game.
“I found her backside was red raw. She was so hooked to the game she wouldn’t even go to the toilet,” said her mother.
Their daughter then explained that she had been frequently staying up all night, often playing ten hours a day.
A lot could be said here about how the parents of a nine-year-old didn’t know she was staying up until five in the morning.
While this little girl’s age is disturbing, the game is so popular that teachers on both sides of the Atlantic have been complaining. NorthJersey.com says that a teacher in Missouri has been “confiscating smartphones from students caught playing Fortnite in class.”
A British school suggested to parents that they should get rid of the game altogether, saying via text, “unsuitable for Primary pupils and needs to be banned at home.”
A petition has been started in Australia to ban the game in the entire country.
Not all see the game as doom and gloom, however. Some experts are even suggesting that it’s a good entry-level game for parents who aren’t gamers but want a new way to bond with their kids.
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