Video Game Addicted Kid Has His Mom Feed Him So He Doesn't Have To Pause

Carlito, enraptured with an online game called "Rules of Survival," gets so caught up in his 48-hour marathon gaming sessions that he won't even pause to feed himself. So, Lilybeth has to take a plate of food down to the gaming cafe to feed him.

She says that she used to nag Carlito about the amount of time he spends gaming, but when that failed, she opted to try something different.

"I try to make him feel that whatever is happening in his life, I am his mother who loves him and takes care of him," she said, according to The Daily Mail.

"You have so much money, it might take till tomorrow for you to get home. Are you still needing to pee? My goodness, I just feel sorry for my child. You are so irritating."

She explains how his extended family, including his grandmother voice their concerns as well — sending vitamins for him because she’s worried he will become malnourished.

"My husband and I decided that he should stop schooling first because of his addiction," she said.

"Now we're trying our best to manage the situation but it is still difficult," she said. They are attempting to “deal with the problem” but unfortunately, he remains “like a zombie” in front of the screen.

The World Health Organization has recognized gaming disorder as a mental health condition in which "increasing priority [is] given to gaming over other activities to the extent that gaming takes precedence over other interests and daily activities."

Iain Garner, who writes for the Tech in Asia blog and has taught in China for a few years, has seen the effects in person.

Perhaps if the hold on children’s academics wasn’t so suffocating, kids wouldn’t seek such intense escapes from it.

According to The Telegraph, China's education ministry will "'implement regulations and controls' on the number of games that can be played online."

These new regulations were technically set out by President Xi Jinping to address the "worsening nearsightedness" of minors, however there are clearly other motives in play.

Deaths from marathon gaming sessions are thankfully uncommon, but not unheard of. In 2015, a 32-year-old Taiwanese gamer died during a three-day binge, according to CNN.

All in all, there seems to be a desperate need for reform across the board to prevent things like this from happening.

h/t The Daily Mail