As many of you know, I write the Police Dispatch column in every issue. I’ve noticed a similar story in a handful of reports coming from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department during the past few weeks: parents who are unable to get unruly teenagers off computers, resulting in their kids taking an all-expense-paid trip to the Pima County Juvenile Detention Center. You can read about one of the latest cases in the Nov. 23 Police Dispatch.

Is so-called Internet/computer addiction a “fad illness,” as one expert claims in this New York Times article, or is it something far more sinister? I don’t know. But perhaps it’s time for our nation’s leaders, who love labeling every government campaign a “war,” to declare combat on excessive computer usage. Otherwise, we may have to let meth addicts out of the clink to make room for World of Warcraft junkies.

This article appears in Nov 16-22, 2006.

5 replies on “A Menace to Society”

  1. The academic the NYT article quotes as calling internet addiction a “fad” seems completely oblivious: “There is absolutely no evidence that spending time online, exchanging e-mail with family and friends, is the least bit harmful.” Well, no shit. But this isn’t about people “exchanging e-mail with family and friends.” It’s about people facing serious consequences for their online activities. If an activity is damaging your life (health, job, relationships) and you do it anyway, that sounds like an addiction to me. (Of course, NYT’s “Fashion & Style” section is not where I’d look for solid reporting on health matters.)

  2. “parents who are unable to get unruly teenagers off computers, resulting in their kids taking an all-expense-paid trip to the Pima County Juvenile Detention Center.”

    Say what now? How does the computer use lead to lock-up?

  3. Sure, I’m calling the cops. Right after I remove my belt and little Timmy and me have a little re-assessing of the dad’s authority roll. And please, don’t get all uptight about laying a hand on kids. Kiddy-Prozac can be equally abusive.

    Am I beyond taking the PS-whatever and taking a boot to it right in the middle of the living room? Hell no! I paid for it.

    Enjoy kickin’ the habit JR!

  5. I, like James, am having a hard time understanding how parents can’t get kids off computers, and then how that turns into going to jail. Huh? Whatever happened to unplugging the thing? Hiding the Internet cable? Changing the user passwords? Sounds like these parents need to learn a few rudimentary hacking skills….

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