A story of Internet addiction

[hazel]

I found this story in the paper this morning. Apparently this young widow had been introduced to an online role-playing game called Small World by a Facebook "friend" and became addicted to it. She played it almost 24/7 while her three children scavenged cold food from tins. They survived and are now in care; her two dogs didn't. When the police finally broke into the house, they found them both dead of starvation. Judging by their state of putrefaction, they must have been dead for about two months and the stink was amazing. She had just screened everything out while she played her game.

[PrinceSharma]

Darn, that's sad
I must admit I came out of this addiction a good time before.

[Dapper Dan]

I'll admit I spend a lot of time on the computer and much of it is on the Internet but most of what I do is work related. Linuxforums is like a mini vacation, a few moments diversion here and there I enjoy during the workday. I visit SecondLife often and have friends there who are obviously addicted as I never seem to sign in without seeing them already on. I can't imagine being so distracted that I'd let my children and pets starve. Very sad story.

[oz]

Hopefully we don't have any members here that have it so badly that they are neglecting their children and pets. I spend a great deal of time online myself, but do take time out to tend to other important matters, and when I'm away from the computer, even if it's for days or weeks, I'm not bothered at all by not having access to it. In fact, there are times I think to myself how nice it would be if the internet didn't exist at all. On the other hand, if it were to go away, I'm sure there are certain things I'd start to miss very soon.

[cousinlucky]

I admitted to being an Internet Addict a long time ago!! As a matter of fact being an Internet Addict is what drove me into using linux!!

Rather than giving up on trying to safely use the Internet with windows xp as many of my friends had done I gave linux a shot because i was not about to give up using the Internet.

I do not know squat about computers but i am totally addicted to all of the information, opinions, etc. etc. that is readily available upon the internet.

I do not participate in games or many forums but I spend hours getting input from multitudes of people much wiser and more articulate than I am.

I can not imagine neglecting your entire life and obligations to play an Internet game every single day for hours on end. That is being " Internet Obsessed "!!!

[MASONTX]

Between Foobilliards, Sudoku, mastermind, and Majong, not to mention the forum, I tend to spend a lot of time on my computer. I don't let the dogs starve, but I can see how someone could be obsessed.

[hazel]

Well, I don't play games but when I am programming, I do lose all sense of time. Even so, I can't imagine letting my dog starve! Quite apart from anything else, a starving dog (or even a moderately hungry one) makes a lot of noise.