Girl, 9, so addicted to violent Fortnite game that she needs therapy
THE parents of a nine-year-old girl who became addicted to playing online video game Fortnite yesterday told of their horror at learning she had been secretly staying up all night on her Xbox.
As her mother and father slept, the primary school pupil became so immersed in the violent online world she would wet herself rather than take a break to go to the toilet.
In a stark illustration of how the hugely popular kill-or-be-killed game is affecting children, her parents said concerned teachers raised the alarm after their daughter began falling asleep in class.
The family enlisted the help of an addiction expert, who yesterday told the Mail he believed many more parents were unaware that their children were hooked on gaming right under their noses.
‘Young children’s brains are being pitted against the most compulsive game that Silicon Valley can put together, and it’s no contest,’ said Steve Pope.
‘Fortnite creates a mental itch that constantly needs scratching, it becomes a compulsion. I believe we’ve got a secret epidemic out there.’
Celebrity Fortnite players include England footballer Dele Alli, who has boasted of winning more than 100 games. England manager Gareth Southgate yesterday said he expects younger members of his World Cup squad to use their downtime in Russia playing ‘Fortnite or whatever it is’.
The parents of the previously sporty nine-year-old bought her the Xbox in January, and within two months noticed a change in her behaviour.
‘We got called in by her headteacher asking if everything was OK,’ her mother Carol, 36, told the Sunday People.
‘She had fallen asleep twice in lessons and her grades were slipping.
‘When we asked our daughter what the problem was, she became unusually argumentative and aggressive, which we just put down to her hormones.’
However the girl stopped wanting to do ballet and gymnastics or join her family in church. They became even more concerned after noticing regular £50a-month payments on their credit card. While Fortnite is free to download, players are encouraged to buy extras to improve their performance on the dystopian internet island, where they fight to the death against competitors. It is not recommended to children under 12.
Furious, the parents confiscated the console – only for her to lash out with it and strike her father Richard. They then limited her to an hour a day of Fortnite on school nights and two hours a day at weekends – only to find her up in the early hours sitting on a urinesoaked cushion playing her Xbox.
‘She was so hooked on the game she wouldn’t even go to the toilet,’ her mother said. The girl confessed she had been waiting for them to go to sleep, then playing Fortnite until as late as 5am.
The parents enlisted Mr Pope after their daughter became ‘withdrawn, agitated and disturbed’. She is now receiving help in overcoming her addiction and getting her life back to normal.
‘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,’ her mother said. She urged parents to ‘know what this game can do, how it sucks young children in and could ruin lives.’
Experts have warned game developers are using behavioural scientists to identify triggers that make children feel compelled to keep playing, including the element of competition with friends.
While alarms over video games are nothing new, the risk of playing online has prompted the World Health Organisation to define a condition known as Gaming Disorder. Symptoms include prioritising gaming over other activities and being unable to stop.
Mr Pope, who has been contacted by dozens of families worried about Fortnite addiction, said he feared most parents had little chance of comprehending what their more tech-savvy children were doing online.
‘If it was drink or drugs, the immediate effects would be obvious and parents would try to clamp down on it,’ he said.
‘Games like Fortnite are seen as comparatively safe, but they don’t realise how much playing them affects their mental health.’
Recognising the problem, Culture Secretary Matt Hancock has proposed limiting children to two hours a day of social media.
‘A mental itch that needs scratching’