Popular Fortnite: Battle Royale streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins seemed unhappy with how Fortnite was portrayed in a short Twitter video.
In a reply to a TicToc tweet, which said that Fortnite addiction had become serious enough that some parents had begun sending their children to rehabilitation facilities, Ninja fired back with an alternative headline.
“Title should be ‘Terrible parents don’t know how to take their kids’ gaming system away,'” said Ninja, arguably the most popular Fortnite player in the world.
The 39-second TicToc video vaguely stated that some kids were playing Fortnite too much, but a more-detailed Bloomberg story on Fortnite addiction was published on Nov. 27.
The article says that Debbie Vitany’s 17-year-old son, Carson, is addicted to the popular battle royale game, oftentimes playing for 12 hours. His gaming habits have apparently caused him to fall asleep in class and his grades have slipped. Vitany said she had never seen a video game with “such control over kids’ minds.”
British behavioral specialist Lorraine Marer went a step further and likened Fortnite to heroin, explaining that it’s too tough to become “unhooked” once infatuated with the game.
Michael Jacobus, who works with children addicted to video games, said more than 70 of the 120 children he worked with last summer were playing Fortnite “excessively,” although it isn’t explained what constitutes an excessive amount of play time.
Jacobus plans to work with more children, who are treated through a technology detox, healthy eating, sleep, and group therapy.
While there hasn’t been much research into whether Fortnite is really any more addictive than other games or substances, it appears that there is a large subsection of parents becoming increasingly worried about their children’s gaming habits.
