Nine-Year-Old Became So Addicted To ‘Fortnite’ She Wet Herself While Playing, Spent Ten Hours A Night Gaming
Sure, “Fortnite” is a fun game. But what happens when you get addicted? Seriously addicted?
For one nine-year-old girl, the game became too much for her to handle, as she spiraled into destructive behavior that only serious video gaming addiction could explain. The girl admitted to playing the game at night in secret, for up to ten hours at a time. Worst of all, her dad found her in a sorry state, sitting on a cushion drenched in her own urine, reported Techspot.
“I found her backside was red-raw. She was so hooked to the game she wouldn’t even go to the toilet.”
The first clues to her addiction came from her schoolteacher, who started expressing concern for the girl. The mother, Carol, commented about getting called.
“We got called in by her head teacher asking if everything was OK. She had fallen asleep twice in lessons and her grades were slipping.”
However, it’s not uncommon for kids to sometimes get worse grades here and there, so the parents didn’t imagine at the time that it was linked to a video game.
Later on, the girl became withdrawn and disinterested in prior hobbies, like going to the gym and taking ballet classes. She also started missing church on Sundays. Things came to a head when the parents noticed that there were monthly authorizations to Microsoft around £50 each month. The girl said that it “could be some extras” for “Fortnite.” At this revelation, the parents became angry and moved to confiscate the console. That’s when things got violent. The girl reportedly hit her dad in the face when they took the Xbox One away, which they had bought for her back in January.
Girl, 9, in ‘rehab after getting hooked playing Fortnite' https://t.co/N3UZlMTEyd
— The Sun (@TheSun) June 10, 2018
After the parents discovered the girl sitting on the urine-soaked cushion, they asked her to tell the truth. The mom described that “Crying, she told us that every night for the past two months she had waited until we were asleep then got up to play, sometimes until 5 a.m.”
Nine-Year-Old Girl in rehab after developing a Fortnite addiction… https://t.co/GYKGvOPrGc pic.twitter.com/Vt3Sq6vjZ6
— GAMINGbible (@gamingbible) June 10, 2018
The girl’s mother is now calling for a ban of the game, according to the Mirror.
“We had no idea, when we let her play the game, of the addictive nature or the impact it could have on her mental health… This is a serious issue which is destroying our little girl’s life and someone needs to step in to ban it before it becomes an epidemic.”
An expert in psychotherapy, Steve Pope, was called to help the young girl. The parents of the nine-year-old girl are not the only ones seeking help. According to Pope, dozens of parents are calling him with similar issues and with “Fortnite” in particular.
