Internet Addiction Leaves Man Homeless

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kingssman

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My brother is outwardly content with his existence, rationalizing it by giving himself pep talks that at least he's not slaving away for some evil corporation at a wage that's beneath him
From the article! And to think that Living off of microwave $1.25 dinners and sleeping in a tent, peeing and pooing in the woods, wearing the same cloths, no shower for weeks on end, somehow scrounging up $15 a month to play WOW at a computer lab then truckin back in the rain is better than having an 8 hour min wage job? Some people have messed up priorities. I lived for 3 years without internet while in college. Granted I felt very cut-off and behind the times, the "internet addiction" itch dissapears usually after 2 weeks of no connection. This guy should seriously try it. And Take away that Dang LaptoP!
 

anamaniac

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[citation][nom]Honis[/nom]Addiction can be summed up as anything a person brings him/herself to become dependent on. So yes Internet addiction is a real thing, as is gaming addiction, as is cocaine addiction, etc. One could say the pervs from the Modern Warfare Goggles article are addicted to their moms basement\care\etc.[/citation]
Yes, I'm dependant on the internet.
It has yet to do me any harm, quite the opposite though I believe.
However, MMO addiction has brought me far...
 

kenjiuchimura

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Although I'm not sure if it's his problem in particular, social anxiety can contribute to something like this, instead the idea that some people have bearing down on him for lacking self control.

Just as some jerks here can carelessly make joke comments about how much better they think they are than that man, some people get stuck to online social interactions because it's not a skill they have in person. It can also be extremely difficult to ask for help.
 

nachowarrior

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well, he could goldfarm in wow and sell characters on ebay? that's good income... if you honestly spend that much time playing wow, you CAN make enough money to get by, if you really want to...
 
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The reality is that an addiction is defined as the state of being enslaved to a habit or practice or to something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma. I doubt very much that cessation of internet access would cause this guy severe trauma. Having said that, this is one person who has chosen to spend his life online instead of the real world, let him be, I am sure he is happy as a pig in sh*t even though the outside world does not understand this. He is not addicted to anything, he is choosing to live this way, even though the choices that humans make are skewed and heavily influenced by our environment and this fellow obviously views his ideal environment as a virtual world instead of the real one. My point is this, it is very cumbersome to many (the pussies) to deal with the struggles that reality regularly doles out, so they choose to escape; some spend vacations in an opium den, some murder prostitutes, and others spend mostly their entire waking life in front of a computer screen...
 

blackened144

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For some reason Im getting flash backs of this video of a 20something kid at a Health Care Rally in San Fran.. In between puffs on his monster joint he tells the person holding the camera about how he cant afford health care and the government needs to provide it for him.. Its all about the choices we make based on our priorities. If this guy wants to be homeless and live this way, thats fine, but we tax payers should not have to subsidize it.
 

sixbone

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how is he playing WoW on a university computer? they usually have them so locked down that you can't even delete a desktop icon let alone install a game...and what nobody who works at this university cares about some fat smelly dude yelling, need more HOTs need more DOTs!!! how does he keep his laptop charged out in the woods?
 
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I think internet addiction goes much further than playing WOW.
It goes from blogs, facebook, just about everything can keep you hooked.
10 years ago it was the television that could get people stuck in their chairs for months, and even years!

In a world where people can't find a job they like to do, and can not even find a job they do not want to do, you'll get things like this...

Believe me, it's only going to get worse, if nothing happens soon!
 

bill gates is your daddy

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Didn't we already have this crap with Evercrack? Who cares. Take his damn laptop away. This moron has lost all sense of reality.

Who is enabling this SOB to begin with? He isn't paying his WOW subscription using food stamps.
 

o0RaidR0o

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[citation][nom]papasmurf[/nom]This is the reason I hate our government, we give people like this food stamps. I think food stamps should require the same proof of effort that unemployment does. Proof that you're out looking for work. I can't believe that my tax dollars go towards expanding this guy's large gut[/citation]

Wow!, no pun intended, it's people like you that our streets are filled with the homeless. It's an addiction: compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal; broadly : persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful.

He can't hold a job down because of his addiction (see above).

Let me think the cost of arresting and housing (avg. $30,000yr) this man because he committed a crime to eat and feed his addiction, or simply provide him a few cheap food stamps to at the very least avert him from committing any harm to others.

Must be a Republican!
 

jellico

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[citation][nom]naarcissus[/nom]having spent about 8 years of my adult life homeless. i can say that h3llf1r3 pretty much hit the nail on the head.[/citation]
I agree with you and h3llfir3 completely. Just leave the guy alone. Explain to me what is so noble about working a shitty job that you absolutely friggin hate, only so you can have a few hours to yourself in a shitty apartment, in a shitty area of town, eating microwave meals and playing World of Warcraft anyway? This guy just eliminated that crappier parts of an otherwise "normal" mundane life and is doing what he wants to do. I doubt seriously that he's going to turn to crime to support his habit (another hallmark of TRUE addiction).

As for how he supports his WoW account. I'm sure a couple of days spent pulling aluminum cans of the trash would more than pay for a time card or two. Wireless Internet access can be had for free in a multitude of locations (both legally and by borrowing bandwidth from an open AP). And, there are plenty of places to plug in a laptop for free as well.

Quite honestly, if my life had gone a different way, I could see myself doing the exact same thing.
 

Onus

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Nothing is a right that is achieved or maintained at the forced expense of others. This guy is entitled to his choices, certainly, but he is not entitled to have others compelled by force to pay for them, e.g. food stamps.
 
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