Internet Addiction Center Opens

Do you have a problem? There may be help: a $14,000, 45-day Internet-addiction center called ReSTART opened in July in Redmond, Washington—not far from Microsoft’s headquarters. ReSTART claims to be the first rehabilitation center for Internet addiction in the United States, though there are several such centers already in Asia. It uses the cold-turkey approach. Its only patient has been a World of Warcraft addict who now “spends his days in counseling and psychotherapy sessions, doing household chores, working on the grounds, going on outings, exercising and baking a mean batch of ginger cookies.”