Dad forces son to play video games for 17 hours in bizarre punishment

A father has reportedly forced his young son to play video games for 17 hours straight after he caught him playing on his phone past his bedtime.

As reported by Metro, the 11-year-old boy from Shenzhen, China, was apparently caught playing video games on his phone at 1am and rather than confiscate the device, his dad (known as Mr Huang) kept him awake for 17 hours to keep playing as a harsh punishment. The father filmed the punishment and posted it to Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok), with one upsetting video showing the boy being shaken awake in a chair to keep playing after he fell asleep.

Reportedly, the dad only put a stop to the punishment after his son began to cry, and agreed to limit his gaming time going forward.

The boy wrote a letter explaining the ordeal, and promised not to stay up late playing games again: “My dad found out. Then my father punished me, let me play enough, play until [I] vomit. From 1am to 6pm. Just played for 17 hours,” the letter reads (via Mail Online). “I promise: after school [at] home, after dinner, began [sic] to write the day, the teacher assigned homework and dad assigned homework. After doing exercise and reading for half an hour, finished after eating fruit, shower, brush teeth, sleep. I promise [I] must go to bed before 11 o’clock. [I] promise not to play [on] the phone before going to bed, not to read, not to play with toys.”

Allegedly, the dad claimed to have carried out the punishment as a final resort, and discouraged other parents from following in his footsteps. Online, some have raised concerns for the boy’s welfare: “This is not a useful [punishment]. Firstly, it does not change the habit of being addicted to mobile phones. Secondly, it does great harm to a child’s eyesight,” @handsomewyb tweeted.