In the United Kingdom, a 9-year-old girl ended up in rehab because she played over 10 hours a day of Fortnite, here's how to protect children from video games
Fortnite has become a worldwide success. We are talking about the free to play video game among the most played on consoles and since it arrived on smartphones, with the concept "Battle Royal", has further expanded its user base.
Fortnite is a game that even VIPs and famous sportsmen like. There are several celebrities who have posted a photo of themselves playing the game on social media. From Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Antoine Griezmann, who was even inspired by the video game for his now famous celebration after a goal. Fortnite, however, is a game that appeals especially to the young and very young. The video game works like this: 100 users, in a mode all against all, with a map that slowly shrinks more and more, wins the one who stays alive last. A formula that likes since in April 2018 purchases in the app for customizations, weapons and accessories have exceeded 300 million dollars.
Fortnite is addictive
The success, however, is turning into addiction for many players, especially among young and very young. One example of all: a nine-year-old British girl ended up in rehab for showing a series of obvious signs of addiction to the video game. The little girl would secretly wake up at night and play video games for up to 10 hours straight and even tried to assault her father when he tried to turn off and remove from her room the Xbox, the console she used to play Fortnite. The first alarming signs came from the school. Parents were called several times by the teachers because the child often fell asleep during classes and the grades had become lower and lower. The little girl also secretly took her father's credit card information and started spending about 60 euros a month to make weapon purchases on the video game.
How to avoid video game addiction for children
If we have a young child who plays Fortnite and we want to prevent him from becoming addicted to the video game there are a number of rules to impose. First, we set a daily or weekly maximum limit. A threshold of hours within which the child can play PlayStation or another console. When the child exceeds that threshold, we turn off the video game and withdraw the console so that he or she cannot access it. Secondly, let's avoid having our child play with titles that are not suitable for his or her age; in the case of Fortnite, the advice is not to allow children under the age of 12 to play. Finally, it is advisable to take the child to do physical activity outdoors so that he is not always sitting at home and that he begins to think about other entertainment besides video games.