Highlights: A man in MP is said to have accidentally consumed acid as he was playing PUBG. While PUBG could be blamed for being the reason...
Highlights: A man in MP is said to have accidentally consumed acid as he was playing PUBG. While PUBG could be blamed for being the reason, it could be a case of smartphone addiction. PUBG has been blamed for being addictive multiple times in the past. PUBG has gripped gamers worldwide. Combining the battle royale genre with good gameplay mechanics, the game has garnered over 30 million daily active players. However, it has also been blamed multiple times of being addictive and causing problems for people, at least in India. A new report from ToI again links PUBG with addiction as a 25-year-old man from Madhya Pradesh is said to have consumed acid instead of water while playing the game. As per the report, an unnamed person from Chhindwara, MP, was sitting in his courtyard, playing PUBG. He was so engrossed in the game that he accidentally picked up a bottle of acid and drank it, mistaking it for water. The incident is said to have taken place about a month ago and the man was rushed to a hospital where Dr Maman Gogiya treated him. However, his condition worsened and he was taken to Nagpur but was brought back as his condition didn’t improve. Dr. Gogiya reportedly operated on him and said, “There were ulcers in his stomach that had created an obstruction. When his condition did not improve in Nagpur, his family brought him back here. He was not able to eat anything and lost 5-6 kilograms in just a few days.” Fortunately, the patient has recovered and is doing fine now as his stitches were removed on March 3. It’s easy to blame PUBG for being the reason for how the man ended up drinking acid accidentally instead of water. However, there are many things to consider here since the doctor who treated him said that the patient was “glued to” his phone, even while recovering. “But even during treatment, he was busy playing some or the other game on his phone. And when he was not playing games, he would be watching movies on his phone,” the doctor told TOI. Considering the doctor’s statement, one could argue that the problem here is not of PUBG addiction of smartphone addiction. Smartphone addiction is a very real thing. As per a study, it can not only damage interpersonal skills among Indian teens, but also have a significant negative health impact and harmful psychological effect on Indian adolescents. Companies manufacturing phones and operating system for these phones know about the detrimental health effects of being glued to them all the time. Thus, there are tools that help people discover if they are spending too much time in front of a screen. Google has Digital Wellbeing apps that help regulate time spent with your phone while apple has Screen Time for the same. There are multiple third party apps as well to help with digital addiction/moderation. Related Reads: PUBG Mobile might soon let you play as a zombie PUBG Mobile version 0.11.1 update to add new India Bonus Challenge, enable exchange of BC for UC: Report 
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