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Teenager was just 13 when he changed from a healthy and active young boy to one consumed by video games.

Young Logan Hodge, now 14 ,is housebound and unable to attend school due to his addictive behaviour.

It’s been two years since the Sydney teen spent a full day at high school – roughly the same amount of time he’s owned his Sony PS4.

His mum, Britta Hodge, thought nothing of letting Logan spend his savings on the gaming console. It seemed like a good outlet for him as she coped with the breakdown of her marriage.

However, the harmless distraction has turned into a debilitating addiction for Logan and emotionally drained his mother and his five siblings.

“We can’t get him to school, he doesn’t leave the house. He comes out and eats and goes back to his room. We’ve tried everything. We’ve tried doctors,” Ms Hodge told 9Honey.

“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?

Ms Hodge said her son’s addiction is so severe he has stopped socialising with the outside world and leaves his house once a week. He has also been diagnosed with ADHD and suffers from high anxiety.

“He was a normal healthy active little boy. He loved sport, being with friends, going to the movies and the beach,” Ms Hodge said.

NO we can’t just force him!

In answer to those who suggest she should just send him to school, Ms Hodge says it’s sadly not that simple.

“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’.”

Over the years Logan has been addicted to games such as Call of Duty, Ark, Destiny and Minecraft. His latest obsession is the controversial multi-player shooter game, Fortnite.

“I actually blame the manufacture of the game (Fortnite) because they do it in such a way that if you don’t get to a certain level you drop back,” Ms Hodge said.

“We don’t let him have it until 4pm… but he’ll make up for lost time. To try and take it away at any other time, he can get aggressive and I’ve had to call police,” she said.

The World Health Organisation recently classified “Gaming addiction” as a mental health condition.

Ms hodge is now begging for more support.

“I just need the government to try and recognise that we need support, we need to be subsided for the help for our children.”

A NINE-year-old girl is reportedly in rehab for her addiction to an online video game. Read more on that HERE.

Read more – Addictive Video Games Just as Harmful as Drugs

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  • We are not getting one of this gaming devices in our home ever!!

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  • My line of thinking is the parents must take some of the blame for this. They kept him become addicted. Just unplug the thing

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  • If Logan’s Mum sent or took him to school he would probably just walk out again. He may even be smart to get his name marked off on the roll then leave. i know a girl who simply hated school. After leaving school at the end of the year she bragged about what she had done.

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  • But how did it get to that point? I understand he may be a willful teen, but seriously set boundaries early and stick to them. I hope he gets the help he needs

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  • A wonderful response Ellen and bless you for being a foster parent.

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  • Reading this story I don’t think parents take a lot of responsibility, where I think they should have acted and get help far earlier. Now they look to the government to try and recognise that they need support, and to be subsided for the help for our children. But they should take action & responsibility themselves.
    I’ve a foster child with a disorder due to the neglect she endured, we pay a lot of money to get psychological help. Subsidy for that would be good, but it is what it is. We took this child into our family, our choice, so we have to pay as well (eventhough the neglect was not our choice and not our doing and we didn’t have any influence on that).

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  • But why not take it away altogether?

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  • I can’t believe that this addition has got so far … or that there is no help available for him … something needs to be done or he won’t have a healthy or worthwhile future ….

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  • The boy definitely needs help to get back to a normal life.


    • Let’s hope he gets that help – there is so much that education and school can offer when kids are engaged with it.

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  • I just do not understand how this boy was allowed so much gaming time as to become uncontrollabley addicted to gaming. Time limits are the only way. Personally, I would have encouraged sporting activities to help him get over his parents marriage break down, a much healthier option

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  • Really don’t believe she can blame game manufacturer’s – there are plenty of kids who game who still socialise and go to school, I have two kids that game regularly (ages 11 and 7)

    I would hope that she seriously looks into family counselling so they can work together to resolve his addiction and anxiety. There are bigger issues here I think then just video games.

    I hope they can receive some positive help to move forward

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  • Support is needed to manage the addiction and to get back to school. It would be worth exploring options through community health and education.

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  • Reading this story i think it’s more then time to get this boy admitted ! Addiction is such a serious problem and then at this age and with underlying problems…

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  • Sad to read this. Perhaps there were more issues beyond this

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  • An addiction is bad enough, but when there are other underlying factors like a marriage breakdown and possibly blaming himself [all kids tend to do this in a breakdown] then it will be exceptionally hard to break the addiction.

    Reply

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