The holidays are coming. If you’re like most people, you’d rather lock yourself in the broom closet than get dressed up in finery and go out to hang out with your relatives. Still, because it’s Christmas, you tear yourself away from the Internet and force yourself to be social. But… what if you spend too much time on the Internet? What if you’re an Internet addict? For years, the Chinese have lead the world in treating Internet addiction, but America is catching up. In Fall City, Washington, America’s first Internet addiction rehab program has opened.
The reSTART Internet Addiction Recovery Program is an intensive, 45-day (or longer) rehabilitation program designed to turn someone from an Internet junkie to a functional member of society. For $14,500, they’d better be really good at it. There’s a full-time counselor at the facility, as well as a life coach to help reteach Internet-addled shut-ins how to live in meatspace again.
I can only hope this facility specializes in teaching safe and moderate Internet use, rather than just cold-turkey-style 12-steps-and-done programming. After all, you can’t get a job these days without either using a computer to get it or using a computer once you get it. Everything is done online nowadays, and since you can get the Internet everywhere, the temptation would be impossible to avoid.
Tags: internet addiction, internet rehab, internet addiction clinic, America’s first internet addiction clinic, Fall City, Washington, reSTART Internet Addiction Recovery Program