AIBU to be in utter disbelief at this woman in on This Morning

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Name changed for this but am a regular poster. I don't normally watch This Morning because it's shit but I've got ironing that needs doing and I've finished Line of Duty.

This woman is trying to blame the fact that her son was hospitalised (with what sounds like severe sleep deprivation but apparently they still don't know what it was) because he was up all night playing fortnite, on fortnite. Her son apparently grew up with video games and had been playing with them since he was two. He was 9 at the time and had the Xbox moved into his room because she didn't like it being played constantly on the tv in the living room. The psychologist on with her was obviously politely trying to imply that maybe it wasn't Fornites fault but perhaps her inability to say no. Now I get that limiting screen time can sometimes be difficult but common that is ridiculous. DD would watch Peppa Pig non stop if she had her way and I didn't take responsibility as the adult and say no. A 9 year old in hospital because she couldn't say no? AIBU to be in utter disbelief at this woman's denial at being at fault? Did anyone else see this?

There’s always a bogeyman - rock music, television, at the moment it’s video games - a force “corrupting the youth”, usally because the parente generation didn’t grow up with it and don’t understand it.

Fully agree with that. For me it was CB radio - I'd have been on it all day and all night if I'd been allowed. My parents were in despair at the amount of time I spent on it and tried all kinds of things to limit my time, but being a typical smart teenager, I always found a way!

But that's as a teenager - for pre-teens, the parent has a lot more control and needs to exercise that control.

usally because the parente generation didn’t grow up with it and don’t understand it.

fine, but how old do you think today's parents are
Gaming was already a thing when I was a child, it might not have been fortnite, but it's hardly a brand new phenomenon.

Crikey, ITV’s This Morning is a joke. Seems they left out the relevant bits to sensationalise Cupcakemum’s experience for viewers. Not on. And as for their ‘experts’. Emma Kenny is not a psychologist, she’s a counsellor at best and as for the flipping Speakman’s- bloody dangerous. Don’t why This Morning endorses such people. I think Kenny is the shameless self promoter here not the mum.
Glad you sorted things out @acupcakemum, thanks for providing the whole story.

Gaming was a thing when I was a child. My partner was an avid gamer, he's wasted years of his life PC gaming (his words). Our son plays a little, half life and portal. When he's not allowed to play any games at all and has gone weeks without he's a joy, polite, charming, interested in reading, playing his guitar, spending time on his outdoor projects, lego etc.

When he's spent a few days on games due to illness or whatever, it's a nightmare. It's hard to go cold turkey afterwards and get him to engage with the real world again. And time spent gaming is a wasted time. If moderate use to relax or whatever was possible, that would be great, but it's like a narcotic to my son.

Reminds me of a woman i saw on breakfast tv years ago...her husband was dying of lung cancer....he was a heavy smoker...she wanted to sue the cigarette company.

@Provincialbelle - I haven’t played Fortnite much, but it’s not fair to say it’s a brainless game. The entire premise of it is strategy - do you hide from the other players so you can be the last standing, or do you run around shooting the others openly? Do you build a huge tower or build traps? Do you team up with someone or go it alone?

@that25cUKHeatwaveof2019 - Gaming has been around for years correct, but the gaming scene is VASTLY different to how it was even 10 years ago. Multiplayer is now very stable and standard, loot boxes, much more prevalent.

Go back 20 years and you’ve got things like gameboys etc. Massive change.

He was 11, not 9, not sure where this came from. Thank you to those who have taken the time to read my side of the story.
I've been asked to talk on the subject more but if I do I am making sure that it is shown in a positive light that yes, kids and adults can get hooked on a game as that is the way they are created, but there are things that can be done to help people through this.
The games creators of Fortnite, EA Games, and Candy Crush were recently called in front of the UK parliament to discuss what they are doing to help with addictions and micro transactions as for children the aspect of buying loot boxes are the same as gambling. Candy Crush and Epic Games (fortnite) have said that they are aware of this and are putting measures in place to discourage repeated transactions and also provide the odds of getting an epic or rare item. EA Games however said they see nothing wrong with "surprise mechanics" and that buying them is the same as a child buying a kinder egg.

This is the type of thing I am now working on for awareness and have held my hands up and said, yeah, I let things slip and I was not a perfect parent but I've taken measures to fix it and if anyone else had experienced this I would like to offer support as I know I'm not alone.

having had mesenteric adenitis lowers the risk of IBD
Sorry to be pedantic but this isn’t strictly accurate. It has been linked to a lower risk of ulcerative colitis (but not to Chrons). And the way that works is not understood, so no cox’s hypothesis. A similar link is seen with appendisectomy - but to Chrons not UC, again no cox’s hypothesis.
Sorry feel better for getting that off my chest!

Speaking of Emma Kenny - she assumed that because I home school my son now due to the issues he had with transitioning to high school, that we were vegan or vegetarian. I asked why and she claimed that every one who home schools is in that mindset and for us to be meat eaters (we were discussing going to Nandos at Euston before the train home) we were in a minority and may not fit in with other home schooling parents.
I have never met someone so closed off from the world with her opinions. She questioned my partner in the green room while I was in make up asking if my son had been abused, had an eating disorder, and more. My son was sat there too but she never spoke directly to him.

However, Eamon Holmes is one of the nicest presenters I have met. He invited my son to take a tour of the studio with him, we sat in his dressing room talking about the story for half an hour before he needed to do his live bits to camera and even offered us to share his car with him to the station and get the train back up north with him - we had different train times and prebooked cars so sadly couldn't. He also apologised after for not being able to cover more of the story before taking some photos with us all in the studio.

@acupcakemum that’s pretty awful about Emma Kenny. It sounds like she was less bothered about you and your son’s psychological well-being than about getting a good story for TV. Like she was trying to get an angle to hook or blame your son’s behaviour on IYSWIM. I don’t understand why ITV don’t get a real psychologist on; although maybe they wouldn’t touch This Morning with a barge pole if they were real ones!
That’s lovely to hear about Eamonn, he’s always struck me as a genuine type. I’ve never met him so it’s nice to hear my suspicions were correct! Much prefer him to Schofield.