After discovering his 11-year-old son playing on his smartphone, a father apparently compelled him to play video games for 17 hours straight without any sleep as a form of punishment.

The incident occurred in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China, where the boy was instructed to play video games until he became sick and vomited, according to reports.

Beforehand, the boy had written a sincere note to his father, promising not to play games before bedtime. The note reads: "So my dad found out. Then my father punished me. Let me play enough. Play until vomit."

"From 1 am to 6 pm. Just played for 17 hours. I promise: After school home, after dinner, began 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 must go to bed before 11 o'clock."

"Promise not to play the phone before going to bed, not to read. Not to lay with toys."

In the video, the fatigued boy is depicted wearing his pajamas and being roused from sleep to continue gaming, despite visibly slumping into his seat.

Additionally, he stated: "Well I was woken up several times. It's going to be all day anyway. From 1 am to 6 pm. Just played for 17 hours."

The boy's father recorded the ordeal and uploaded it on Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok. He revealed that he terminated the punishment after 'his son broke down in tears and committed to a new agreement that restricts his gaming time'.

The father claimed that he resorted to this punishment only as a last option and cautioned other parents against using it.

The Twitter community had contrasting views about the episode, with some people approving of the disciplinary action while others deemed it too severe.

A Twitter user stated, "As a game publisher, I support the punishment."

Meanwhile, some individuals ridiculed the entire event and made jesting comments such as:

"He clearly knows nothing about 11yr old, mine would love that, he'd be living his best life."

"Tha wouldn't bother my Nephew," another pointed out.

Another individual raised a query regarding the habits that children should develop and remarked, "Aha... Harsh lesson... Should children be allowed to take a phone to bed? As a parent, I know it's wrong because they be up all night using it... So really the father should have been made to play it for 17hrs."

Lastly, one Twitter user earned the title of champion by giving a catchy moniker to the viral episode. They referred to it as "The Bruce Bogtrotter punishment."