*By Max Godnick*
Some child psychologists are starting to see young patients struggling with the effects of playing too much Fortnite, the apocalyptic survival video game played by more than 125 million people since it launched last summer.
"They are seeing kids who are coming in, their parents are concerned, they're having a lot of trouble putting the game down," Sara Miller, the health editor at Live Science, said in an interview with Cheddar about some anecdotal reports from mental health professionals.
Miller said some of the child psychologists who spoke to Live Science [described](https://www.livescience.com/62796-fortnite-addiction-therapy.html) children developing an addiction to the battle royale-style game from Epic Games. One psychologist told Live Science that parents should cap their children's Fortnite gameplay at no more than six hours a week.
Children obsessively playing video games is not a new phenomenon, but there may be some aspects of Fortnite that have a particularly strong pull on young gamers. The game's colorful cartoonish aesthetic obscures its violent goal ー kill everyone. It's relatively short rounds (about 20 minutes) keep gamers coming back for more. "It's like pulling a slot machine," said Miller.
Fortnite's popularity can also be attributed to its accessibility: It is available on XBox One, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, iOS, and Nintendo's Switch. It's also free.
"That makes the barrier of entry really, really low," said Miller.
Some Fortnite proponents said the game is potentially beneficial to young gamers' development by helping them figure out how to construct solutions to unexpected problems. Users can build walls and other structures for cover during firefights. Microsoft leveraged similar world-building tactics for learning purposes when it launched Minecraft: Education Edition in 2016.
Miller says constructing barriers to protect from grenade launchers is no substitute for actual social interaction.
"Nothing really beats going out and making eye contact with people and interacting with them in person," she said.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/is-fortnite-sending-kids-to-therapy).
Hinge users who have children can opt-in to a $100 stipend up to $25,000 for childcare. Logan Ury, the director of relationship science for the online dating platform, noted the issue as an obstacle for single parents who want to go out on dates. "We have heard that singles with children have a hard time going on dates for one of the reasons being that it's just hard to find childcare and it's hard to be able to afford it," she said. Ury also said that the hot topic among Hinge's users is mental health and the prioritizing of mental health.
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: CEO of HereAfter AI discusses how artificial intelligence can be used to preserve family history and stories, and allow you to 'talk' to loved ones that have passed; Creator of the board game 'Travel Explore Discover' explains how she came up with the idea for this informative and educational board game, and how she's using the proceeds to give back to her community; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'The Humboldt Current.'
James Vlahos, Co-Founder and CEO of HereAfter AI, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss how artificial intelligence can be used to preserve family history and stories, and allow you to 'talk' to loved ones that have passed.
Facebook parent Meta’s miss on Q4 earnings raised alarm bells amongst investors. The tech giant lost users for the first time as it invests a lot into the metaverse, its virtual realm, in the hopes that consumers will move their social media consumption there. The stock dropped around 25 percent on the report, and CEO Mark Zuckerberg chalked it up to people flocking toward apps like TikTok, even as his own platform attempts to make a big pivot to the metaverse future. "It's gonna take a long time to develop and it's gonna take a long time to bring to fruition," Rebecca Walser, president of Walser Wealth Management told Cheddar. "In the meantime, the world is moving on. We have a very short attention span, especially on social media, and we want the short little videos. And Tiktok has just taken off."
Just this week, Facebook's parent company Meta released an update for its 3D avatar creation on Facebook and messenger. This update is encouraging users of Instagram to create their virtual selves, and it is an early step towards making the metaverse vision a reality. David Ewalt, editor-in-chief at Gizmodo joins Cheddar News to discuss.
Ed Butowsky, managing partner at Chapwood Investments, joined Wake Up With Cheddar to break down the disappointing takeaways from Spotify's Q4 earnings report, which sent the stock plunging.
Google parent company Alphabet saw yet another successful quarter reporting its final earnings report for 2021 on Tuesday. The tech giant beat Wall Street expectations across the board with much of that success owed to not only the growth of its cloud business, but also its multi-platform advertising. Joanna O'Connell, Principal Analyst at Forrester explains why advertising may be one of the keys to Alphabet’s future success.
