Fortnite is consuming our house

Dec 11 min read

This might sound dramatic but I'm genuinely worried. My 12yo wakes up and wants to play Fortnite. We say after homework/chores he can play but it's become a negotiation every single day. His friends are all on at 8pm and he's missing sleep to play. I tried the 'we're throwing out the console' threat (jk) but honestly don't know what the real solution is. Anyone have a kid who was addicted and actually managed to get them to moderate?

12 comments307 views

Comments(12)

TTony G.Regular1d ago

This is tough because the friend group social thing is actually real at that age, but yeah the sleep deprivation is serious. Might need to find a compromise that lets him play without nuking his sleep schedule.

BBen L.Regular1h ago

Real talk: Fortnite is literally designed to be addictive. The friend group dynamic makes it way worse. You're not overreacting

BBrian L.Regular29m ago

The 8pm friend group playing time is the trap. Once they're all on at once FOMO takes over. That's when screen time becomes addiction

LLiam S.Regularjust now

My 12yo was the same. We had to get stern about it - no more late night gaming even if friends are on. Took a week of fighting but he adjusted

KKeith L.Regularjust now

The throwing out the console threat doesn't work because you don't actually mean it. Need actual consequences instead - like losing the privilege for a week

SSteve L.Regularjust now

The sleep loss thing is the actual problem here, not even the gaming itself. 12 year olds NEED sleep and if he's sacrificing that for friend group raids that's genuinely a health issue.

FFrank K.Regular4h ago

Real talk - this might be worth talking to him about specifically around sleep and health rather than 'Fortnite is bad.' Because the gaming itself isn't the problem, it's the sleep deprivation. Frame it that way.

MMarcus J.Regularjust now

Losing sleep for gaming at 12 is a real problem though. That's not just preference, that's starting to affect his health. Might need harder boundaries

SSteve B.Regularjust now

Try setting the actual time limit BEFORE he plays, not during. 'You get 45 minutes, then off' vs 'ok stop playing now' works way better

OOwen F.Regularjust now

Try setting a hard time cutoff that's actually reasonable (like 8:30pm instead of letting him negotiate) and then he misses the friends playing. It sucks initially but he'll adjust and the sleep is more important than FOMO.

DDominic E.Regular13h ago

His friends probably can't stay up that late either - there might be 2-3 kids on but not the whole squad. Sometimes kids exaggerate how late everyone is actually playing when really it's just the same 3 people.

JJoel F.Regularjust now

You can't actually throw out the console and you know it, but maybe the threat route isn't working because the social stakes are too high for him? Like losing the console = losing the friend group for the night.