Video game addiction is a serious issue. Over the years, we've heard multiple stories of people who have literally played video games until they died, and others who let their lives crumble around them because they're unable to pull away from the screen. The average person may not have to worry about video game addiction, but it is a problem for some, including a nine year old girl who has now entered rehab for being addicted to Fortnite.

According to the Mirror, the nine year old girl would play Fortnite for up to 10 hours each day, playing through the night and making it so she would fall asleep at school. The girl was so addicted to Fortnite that she would sometimes wet herself instead of leaving the game, even momentarily, to use the bathroom, and attacked her father when he attempted to confiscate her Xbox. The girl also used her parents' credit card to purchase Fortnite's microtransactions, spending about £50 each month.

Upon realizing how seriously addicted their daughter was to Fortnite, her parents, Carol and Richard, sought out the help of a psychotherapist named Steve Pope. "Over the last two months, I've been contacted by dozens of parents with children as young as eight showing signs of addiction to Fortnite," Pope explained. Pope went on to say that he has never seen anything as "potentially damaging" to children as Fortnite addiction.

While her daughter is in rehab, Carol has declared that Fortnite should be banned. Carol warns that addiction to the free-to-play battle royale shooter could become an "epidemic" if it's not addressed.

Carol isn't the first person to call for a Fortnite ban. In fact, a petition was started a few months ago that demands Epic Games "get rid of" Fortnite, with nearly 6,000 signatures collected so far.

It's clear that Carol's daughter has a serious Fortnite addiction, and hopefully she gets the help she needs while in rehab. However, it's worth pointing out that millions of people play Fortnite daily, and that cases like these are the outlier, not the norm, so fans of the game shouldn't have to worry about it ever actually being banned.

Fortnite is available now in early access on iOS, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Source: Mirror