A Pennsylvania hospital will soon become the nation’s first to offer an inpatient program for Internet addicts.
Behavioral Health Services at the Bradford Regional Medical Center in Bradford, Pa., will launch a 10-day, $14,000 rehab program a week from today.
“Internet addiction is a problem in this country . . . that can be more pervasive than alcoholism,’’ Kimberly Young, the psychologist who founded the nonprofit program, told Fox News.
In the hospital wing already occupied by patients with addictions of other sorts, groups of four internet addicts will take classes and take part in the sort of group therapy traditionally reserved for chemical addicts.
A stay at the digital detox will cost around $14,000 and insurance won’t cover it.
Anyone can get hooked on their keyboard, according to former addict Kevin Roberts, author of “Cyber Junkie: Escape the Gaming and Internet Trap.”
Roberts, 44, said he would sit for up to 12 hours a day playing video games. During holidays, he “binged” and spent nearly all waking hours at his screen.
“Like most addicts, I went through a series of self-deceptions,” said Roberts.