Video game addiction in children has moved from a parental concern to a documented neurological crisis — and in the spring of 2023, a story out of central China made that crisis impossible to dismiss. A 13-year-old girl from Henan Province spent 449,500 yuan — roughly US$64,000 — of her parents’ life savings on mobile games over just four months. She didn’t steal jewelry or empty a safe. She memorized a bank card password she had once overheard, linked it to her phone, and pressed purchase, again and again, across dozens of games and thousands of microtransactions, until the account held 7 cents.
Her mother, who goes by the surname Wang, only found out when a teacher called to say the girl seemed addicted to her phone during class. Wang checked her bank balance, expecting to be stressed. What she found was ruin.
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