Homesless Addict

Blog #4

By: Kim Pham

A Homeless Addict

Imagine being homeless because of an addiction to the Internet. Well “Ace”, whose real name is Andrew, happens to be a real life example of this tragedy. Ace lives in the state of Oregon where he spends his nights in a tent, in a wooded area between two railroad tracks. His days are spent at the local library playing online video games and surfing other web content. Ace is not an unintelligent man, rather he is more or less just lacks the motivation to escape from his captors, the internet. He has a GED and has attempted to complete college a couple of times with failure as the result. He blames his compulsive behavior and anxiety. Ace has not experienced homelessness without some tragedy. The neighbors nearby have burned down his tent and the kids in the area have beaten him up pretty badly a few times. Andrew is 36 years old.

So where is Andrew’s family in all of this you ask? The reason Andrew’s story was known is attributed to his brother, Winston Ross, a contributor at Newsweek. Winston wanted to do a write-up on ReSTART, an Internet addiction therapy program being conducted at an Internet addiction center in Fall City, Washington. Winston still chuckles about how he first entered the center and asked the man working there if they have Wi-Fi. He compared it to an alcoholic attending an AA meeting and asking for a drink.

Winston decided to follow his brother for a few days to ask him why he can’t shake the Internet and do something productive with his life. Winston believes that Ace is beyond the point of no return. After 20 years of game consoles and computers, it seemed as though even the therapy ReSTART won’t be able to reverse the damage caused by the Internet. The worst part of this story is that Andrew was able to get a laptop through the contributions from his family members. Now Ace can spend all day and night on the internet through the use of local hot-spots. His favorite response to “why” is; “at least I am not slaving for an evil corporation 70 hours a week.”

The whole story can be read at the link below. Whether you decide to read the story or not, ask yourself if this could ever happen to you? What would it take for you to escape your captors, the Internet?

Link to story: http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2009/10/07/a-world-wide-woe.html

Contributing sources:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek