Editor-in-Chief, RealTechNews
Consider it a way to reboot your life into normalcy. The United States’ first Internet addiction center has opened in Fall City, WA. The center specializes in not just addiction to the Web itself, but also in related activities: gaming, texting, video games, as well as the Internet itself.
The program is called reSTART. The 45-day program isn’t cheap, at $14,500. Interestingly, the location in Fall City is just a few miles away from Microsoft’s HQ. According to the center’s press release:
The mission of this innovative program is to help adults, addicted to video games and the internet, detach from their high-tech distractions, find balance, and reconnect to the real world. It is structured to include individual and group therapy, life-skills coaching, cooperative living, physical and nutritional education, mindfulness training, work and home-maintenance skill-building, 12-step meetings, and weekly, off-site, high-adventure expeditions. The facility is located on a beautiful, 5-acre parcel of land in western Washington.
The $14,500 expense is not covered by any insurance programs. I suppose the best an addict could hope for is to earn some money “mining gold” for WoW players, then hanging up the Internet straps. Yes, yes, that’s all tongue-in-cheek.
I supposed “Internet addiction” is a broad umbrella that covers Facebook and, even more specifically, Farmtown. Those two things have sucked away far too many hours of time that people could and should spend doing something else. Yes, that’s just my opinion. That’s why this is called the comment area, not the fact area.
Can one sign up for online counseling with this?