Tips to Cure Your Fortnite Addiction

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today’s video, I’ll give you some tips for curing your Fortnite addiction. 

I did a video a little while ago for parents and talked about how addictive the video game Fortnite is.  So, reading through the comments, I can tell most of the views on that video are not by parents — it’s mostly teenage boys, who are clearly searching “Fortnite Addiction” on YouTube.  Since I’m a middle aged parent, not every viewer likes my message, but there were a couple of comments from kids who are legitimately trying to find a way to quit or cut down on Fortnite use, so I thought I’d do a video on tips for that. 

Addiction

Here’s one thing to be happy about —  Fortnite is not a chemical addiction like nicotine or heroin.  It’s behavioral like food addictions or shop lifting.  That doesn’t mean it is easy to break, but you aren’t having to battle both your brain and your body. You just have to battle your brain.  

So, these tips are right out of a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (or CBT) manual.  Really what we are talking about here is behavior change.  You want to start doing something more often, like eating more vegetables or working out or you want to do something less often like play Fortnite or eat junk food.  Both of these goals require some behavior change.  And remember, the first 2 weeks are the hardest, once you get through that period, it gets easier.  Here's the outline of the process:

1. Create a goal
2. Write down rules
3. Think of problem areas 
4. Get an accountability buddy
5. Record your progress (don't cheat)
6. Reward yourself

Let's go through them.  First, create a 

Goal

Okay -- maybe this seems silly, but if you don't know where you 

want to end up, you can't make a plan to get there.  What is your goal?  Do you want to quit Fortnite altogether?  Do you want to play a lot less?  What is your definition of a lot less?  Do you want to play a little less?  What is your definition of that?  Do you not want to think about it all the time?  Write this down at the top of a piece of paper under the word GOAL.  Next write down some

Rules

This is the part where you figure out how you are going to get from where you are now, to where you want to be.  If you want to compete in an Iron Man triathalon, you don't just dream about doing it, you actually have to put together a training plan, and then get your butt out and train.  So, for quitting Fortnite, maybe your rule is that you lock up your Playstation and only someone else in your household has the key.  Or you can come up with a plan to play less.  Like a limit of 2 hours per night Friday through Sunday and not at all Monday through Thursday.  Or unlimited time on weekends, but none during the week.  You'll have to come up with a plan to fit your own goals here.  It needs to be detailed enough that someone else could follow your rules.  Write them down under the word "Rules" on your sheet.  Now its time to think of 

Problem areas

What times will following these rules be particularly hard?  Will you have a hard time restraining yourself when you are procrastinating from studying?  What if you don't have any homework, no friends to hang out with, and are totally bored?  Or what happens when you have friends over who want to play?  Or  do you think you will have a particularly hard time stopping at the end of 2 hours?  Think about all of the times when you are likely to break your rules.  Flip over your paper and write Problem on one side and Solution on the other.  On the left write down all of the times you think might be a problem for you and then on the right side, brain storm on how you might deal with those issues.  You can also make exceptions here.  Like, if I have friends over and everyone wants to play, I can make an exception to my rule against playing on school nights.  The deal is that you think through these things NOW when your brain is cool and analytical and your motivation is high.  When your brain is hot and emotional and your will power is garbage, you don't want to be thinking through this for the first time.  You obviously won't make good decisions.  Now, you could use an 

Accountability Buddy

I hear you all thinking this is stupid, but hear me out.  This is optional, BUT you are MUCH more likely to follow through on behavior change if you have someone to report to.  For example, I run 3 days a week.  I run in the rain, sleet, snow, and 100% humidity.  Do I do this because I love to run?  Definitely NOT.  I do it because I run with a group and we all feel accountable to each other.  We feel like we let each other down if we bail on our run.  An Accountability Buddy is someone you check in with daily or weekly.  A quick -- I did well today or I totally sucked today.  You have to be willing to share the sheet that you just created and be willing to tell them how you are doing in following your rules.  You COULD use a friend for this -- particularly if you have a friend who is ALSO trying to break an addiction, but in my experience teenage boys don't generally feel comfortable interacting this way.  You know who you could use?  A parent.  I feel like I can hear the groans from here.  We are NOT all that bad.  I swear if my son came to me, handed me this sheet and asked me to be his accountability buddy, first I would pass out from shock.  And then, I would definitely help him.  But here is the thing, you need to let your parent know that this role is different from the role of Enforcer, which is the one they normally play.  In other words, YOU are driving the bus here.  You will report to them on good days and bad days, but they shouldn't punish you for bad days because YOU were the one who wrote the rules!  It might be a difficult role switch for them, but I'm pretty sure any parent worth his or her salt would be flattered and willing to help you out.  Two more quick things

Record Progress

Every day record whether or not you've followed your rules.  I'm partial to sticker charts, which other adults have fully laughed at me about.  I know that sticker charts are generally for little kids, but there is really no better way to visually show behavior change progress.  Get a monthly calendar and use 2 colors of stickers (I like green and red) to show good days and bad days.  I don't usually use stickers, I just color the blocks in with a marker.  That way you can see a nice progression of how you are doing against your goal.  And by the way -- don't cheat.  This is not an exam, it's you trying to do something good for yourself.  Unless you can be honest about your progress, things aren't going to get any better.  And finally,

Reward Yourself

Figure out a way to treat yourself if you follow the rules for a week or two.  I generally think about 85% compliance is worthy of a reward -- so like 6 days out of 7, or 12 out of 14, but again, this is up to you.  Your reward should be nice enough that you look forward to it, but not so nice that you can't afford to do it every week or 2 or that you will cheat to obtain it.  Also, you are going to have bad weeks.  The important thing about behavior change is a) getting back on the horse and trying again the next week and b) not shaming yourself about it otherwise you will be tempted to quit altogether.  Give yourself lots of praise and forgiveness, but get back to work without dwelling too much on the week behind you.

So, those are my tips!  Set a goal, make some rules, figure out problem areas, get an accountability buddy, record your progress, and reward yourself.  If you are watching this video, you already have the motivation to make this happen.  Let me know how it goes!  Comments are always appreciated and thanks for watching.