Imagine that you move into your new dorm room only to find that your internet connection isn’t working. Do you feel a little frustrated, mildly anxious, or totally panicked?

If you chose Option C, you might just be an internet addict. Don’t laugh—a growing number of doctors believe that internet addiction is a serious problem, one that’s on par with established dependencies like alcoholism and compulsive shopping. There’s even a brand-new internet rehab center in Fall City, Washington called reSTART that aims to cure netheads of their wicked ways in just 45 days by reconnecting them to “the real world.” Ironically, the treatment center is located less than 20 minutes away from Microsoft’s corporate headquarters in Redmond.

So far, reSTART has treated a grand total of one patient: 19-year-old Ben Alexander, who says that he used to spend up to 17 hours playing World of Warcraft before he checked in. Ben’s paying a whopping $14,500 for the privilege of participating in rehab activities like “Discovery Quest” and “Weekly Shopping/Planning” (seriously, look at reSTART’s sample daily schedule). That’s more than the price of tuition for PA residents at Penn State’s flagship campus. Read More »