I really have to make an effort to read the weekly IT lift-out of my local newspaper on a more regular basis. I have two months of catch up reading waiting for me in the other room, so in light of the weather in Sydney this evening (see above photo), I decided to get started, and picked up the IT supplement dated… 12 August 2003.

Therein I learned about a German evangelical charity that runs a series of summer camps at Boltenhagen, on the Baltic coast, for kids with serious computer addictions. In one case a 13 year old boy spent almost 12 hours each day in front of his PC. He was overweight, had no friends, and was up to his neck in trouble at school with the teachers.

Apparently he is not alone, and it seems parents face fierce competition to enroll their computer dependant children into the 60 places that the course offers. The happy campers are then virtually put through a cold turkey rehabilitation program, and are only permitted 30 minutes per day on a computer.

The results of this harsh regime speak for themselves though. One girl arrived at the Boltenhagen summer camp weighing 130 kilograms, and had never had a single friend in her life. During her stay she had lost a significant amount of weight, and ended up making three friends.

“She went home with a new perspective on life”, according to the article. It all begs the question though, how did these kids get into such dire straits in the first place?