Your kid plays *Fortnite*? It’s hitting home in Hamilton.
Good morning from the Hammer — steel town, art town, your town. Don't look away.
Everyone's talking about *Fortnite Chapter 7*, right? The new season, the big updates, all the kids online losing their minds. But here in Hamilton, we're not just thinking about downtime and new skins. We're thinking about those defunded consumption sites and what it means for families struggling with addiction, for the kids who are maybe spending a little *too* much time on the game because home life is tough. When the province cuts funding for vital services, forcing places to transition from consumption sites to "HART hubs" – whatever that means in practice – where do those kids go? Where do their parents go? It's not just a Barton Street issue, it’s all over, from the Mountain down to the lower city. The distractions get louder, and the real help gets quieter, right?
We're a city that’s always had to fight for what's ours, and when I hear about kids losing themselves in a game, it makes me wonder what resources we're *not* providing. Maybe we need more than just online servers; maybe we need more community hubs, places that are safe for kids and their families, especially when the provincial government is making it harder for people to get the help they need. This isn't just about *Fortnite*; it's about what happens when the real world gets too hard, and the virtual one becomes an escape that's not always safe.
Sonja Kovačević-Mountain, MiTL Sports Desk.
MiTL's morning crew digs into this every day. Get the real talk live at mornings.live.