The Web Addict.
Addictions are present in almost all of us. Whether it is a chemical dependency or simply talking on the telephone, addictions can start to control your life before you realize what is happening. My best friend, Patty, had become an addict, an Internet Addict.
Her addiction started innocently enough. Her husband had been prodding her to put away her old IBM electric typewriter and join the computer age. On an evening filled with only reruns on the television, Patty reluctantly ventured into the den of her destruction. She quickly learned to navigate from emails to chat rooms, and surpassed her way from novice to expert in record time. Favorite games were right at her fingertips, and there were many ways to spend countless hours. With websites on every conceivable topic, all was within her grasp with a click. She was hooked - her computer became her drug of choice. .
She was consumed from the moment she rose till the time she grudgingly dragged herself to bed in the wee hours of the morning after losing all track of time. Work was becoming an annoyance, as she was without her "fix" since did not have access to her drug during the day. When the withdrawals became too painful, she would drive to the local library on her lunch hour to check email, and skim the websites that were her bookmarked as favorites. She was often in a hurry to rush home from work, not greeting her husband, rather to sit down in front of a monitor in order to indulge in the electronic wonders of the Internet. Family meal time was non-existent, as her dining room table was a gathering place for print outs of her favorite emails, and forays into new websites. There were less home-cooked meals, and the local pizza establishment had a place of honor on the telephone speed dial. .
At one time, Patty's conversation was done on porches or over backyard fences, but the chat rooms became her playground.
