Posted by Jeremy Scott in Internet, Tech News | 0 Comments
They Tried To Make Me Go To Internet Rehab, But I Said No, No, No
Addicted to the Internet?
There’s an app rehab for that.
An Internet rehabilitation center has opened in Seattle, claiming to be the first residential (or “in-patient”) facility in the US.
Pardon me for a moment while I scoff: are we really treating Internet addiction as a real thing? What’s next… Playstation Rehab? iPhone Rehab? Lottery Addiction Treatment?
Sheesh. Anyway, from the article:
The center, called ReSTART, is somewhat ironically located near Redmond, headquarters of Microsoft and a world center of the computer industry. It opened in July and for $14,000 offers a 45-day program intended to help people wean themselves from pathological computer use, which can include obsessive use of video games, texting, Facebook, eBay, Twitter and any other time-killers brought courtesy of technology.
I have this theory that people can get addicted to anything, particularly when their personality and DNA makes them more susceptible to such strong attachments. I base my theory on a little thing called “common sense.” Just because someone wastes 18 hours a day doing some particular thing… doesn’t mean that the activity itself is addictive.
In fact, the article quotes another doctor–not affiliated with the treatment center–a Dr. Ronald Pies, Professor of Psychiatry at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, N.Y, who says:
“From what we know, many so-called `Internet addicts’ are folks who have severe depression, anxiety disorders, or social phobic symptoms that make it hard for them to live a full, balanced life and deal face-to-face with other people.”
That’s a fancy way of saying that Internet addicts are often troubled people with addiction tendencies long before they begin to obsess about the Internet.
Oh, and I feel compelled to point out that, while the ReSTART facility can treat up to six in-house patients at once, they currently only have one, a young man named Ben Alexander, who flunked out of college by playing too much World of Warcraft. It’s okay, though… because ReSTART charges $14,000 for their 45-day program, so even running as low as 1/6 capacity… they’re still making a killing. No one’s getting laid off there anytime soon. You’ve gotta feel for Alexander’s parents, though. First they fork out Lord knows how much money to send their kid to the University of Iowa, now another $14,000 to cure him of his desire to play video games.
Anyway… if you know of anyone who spends too much time online–and who among us doesn’t know such a person–and that person has a spare 14 Grand lying around… you might recommend ReSTART. I hear they have at least five open beds at the moment.
