A mum in Australia has revealed how her teenage son headbutted her after she tried taking popular game Fornite away from him.
Mum Britta Hodge, who hails from Sydney, revealed that her 14-year-old son headbutted her so hard after she tried to confiscate the game that she was left with a concussion.
She claims that Fortnite addict Logan will only leave house once a week, and is so hooked on the game that he’s missed school for the past two years.
“It’s not as simple as taking the cord away and going, ‘Oh well, bad luck, you haven’t got the internet,” Britta said in an interview with 60 Minutes.
“Because the repercussions from that – angry, aggressive – we’ve had to call the police. I have been headbutted, I’ve had concussions.”
Britta says that her son used to be sociable and healthy, but started spending his pocket money on gaming two years ago – leading to something of a downward spiral.
Logan, who has also been diagnosed with ADHD and anxiety, has now sadly lost all contact with the outside world – with Fortnite being the only thing ‘that gives him happiness’.
“We can’t get him to school, he doesn’t leave the house,” Britta told 9Honey.
“He comes out and eats and goes back to his room. We’ve tried everything. We’ve tried doctors.“
Britta, who has apparenlty had to leave her job so that she can take care of his son as he remains home all day, added: “My concern is that he’s in year eight now, and he hasn’t had any formal education for two years. So, what’s going to happen later on in life for him?”
Britta also said that trying to get him to go to school is a bigger task than others might think.
“An addiction is an addiction. It doesn’t matter if it’s drugs, sex or online gaming,” she said.
“It’s chronic. We’ve been to doctors who have said ‘I don’t think we’ve seen such a chronic case’.”
Earlier this year, the World Health Organisation recognised ‘gaming disorder’ as an official mental disorder, listing it in its International Classification of Dieseases for the first time.
According to WHO guidelines, to be diagnosed with gaming disorder you must ‘experience significant impairment in personal, family, social, educational, occupational or other important areas of function’ and you must have lived with this for at least one year.
