Net Addicts Anonymous

I just ate a tuna sandwich. I am parking my car. I am watching America's Best Dance Crew. I love this Bronx crew. Does this sound familiar to you? Do you feel a minute-by-minute compulsion to update your Facebook status with the most mundane details of your life? Are your eyes bleary? Do your fingers ache? If you answered yes to any of these, you may be a prime candidate for the Heavensfield Retreat Center's ReStart program.

CNET reports that the Heavensfield Center in Fall City, Wa., says they are the first in the US to offer detox for tech addicts. The center provides a 45-day program in which the center will help patients ween themselves off of unhealthy use of Internet, social networking and texting. So what counts as unhealthy? The center's web site lists among other characteristics: "Internet use is seen as a way to escape problems or to gain relief from negative feelings"; "As a result of internet use, interests, recreation or social activities are decreased or abandoned"; and "Everyday life and social function is impaired."

The program includes daily therapy and life-coaching, which leads patients through sessions to figure out what they want to do with their lives and how to achieve this through everything from financial planning to buying groceries.

And the cost? A mere $14,500. Expensive, yes. But perhaps a fair price to unclog your Facebook wall. At least your friends will thank you.

Photo courtesy of MandiBerg, via Flickr