They lost their kids to Fortnite
These cases are complicated. The pandemic was a difficult time: a scary disease that ripped through the population and led to widespread lockdowns in most Western nations. It isn&#x27;t any wonder kids would turn to videogames to comfort.<p>But the problem is wider than gaming. In the UK there&#x27;s a recognised problem of &quot;missing students&quot; - kids who switched to homeschooling during 2020 but never switched back. Parents report the kids are unusually anxious and frightened of returning to school.<p>As someone without children it&#x27;s hard for me to opine. I don&#x27;t think games are entirely blameless - they&#x27;re designed to hook you in, that&#x27;s their business model, they probably have <i>some</i> habit-forming effects. But the kind of psychological dependence described here, sounds like the gaming is a proxy for something else.<p>That article starts with a child called Cody, and he&#x27;s clearly going through <i>something</i>. Socially withdrawn, screaming when he isn&#x27;t allowed to play, breaking down a door so he can return to his games console. But also: diagnosed with ADHD, no longer succeeding at school sports, going through the pandemic.<p>The article is vague about exactly what treatment he receives but it&#x27;s serious enough to include medication. It all adds up to what sounds like a more serious underlying condition, with gaming as symptom rather than cause.