On September 13, 2010, The Sun newspaper in the UK reported that a 33-year-old woman had been sentenced to six months in jail, suspended for two years, and ordered to perform 75 hours of unpaid work for neglecting her children and pets to play an online game.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, admitted to three counts of child neglect and two counts of animal cruelty. Her problems began when a friend introduced her to the online board game, Small World. At the beginning she played for an hour a day but in August 2009, she became obsessed with the game’s fantasy world. She told authorities that she slept only two hours a day, and remained at her laptop for most of the remaining time.
In February, a neighbour peered through the letterbox of the woman’s home in Swanley Kent and noticed garbage strewn throughout the home. Police were notified. After the officers entered the home, the woman attempted to prevent them from going into the dining room. Her two dogs, a German Sheppard and a lurcher had starved to death and she left the bodies where they died. Flies surrounded the rotting carcasses and police described the stench in the room as overwhelming.
Although the woman made sure that her three children, aged nine, 10 and 13, were fed and went to school, she only purchased food that did not require preparation or cooking. The children lived off cold baked beans from a can, sandwiches and chips. The children are currently in care of social services.
In suspending the jail portion of her sentence the court accepted the fact that she had been a loving and caring mother prior to becoming addicted to Small World. Her husband had died from a heart attack a few years before and when she discovered the online game, she retreated into her own world.
Woman was Addicted to Small World
Small World is a board game that is also able to be played online. It can be played individually or interactively with up to four other players.
This “small world” is too small to accommodate everyone in it. The object of the game is to conquer others and vie for control of more and more of this world. Besides people, the small world is occupied by dwarves, giants and other such characters. Players as well as others in Small World have armies and the players attempt to conquer more land and push the others off the face of the earth.
Internet Addiction Disorder
Internet Addiction Disorder or IAD is now a recognized medical disorder. As the use of the Internet increases so does the number of people who become addicted to it. What constitutes addiction to the Internet is the same as addictions of substances such as alcohol and drugs. The purpose is the same; to avoid having to deal with real life situations in the real world. Researchers acknowledge that there is a difficulty in deciding how much Internet use is too much. One study reported by The Center for Internet Addiction states that one in eight Internet users may be an addict.
The number of Internet addicts is increasing due to the increase in the number of homes that now have Internet access. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2009, 68.7% of all homes were wired for the Internet.
Young people are considered to be most at risk because they are the ones that have grown up with advanced technology.
The situation of the unnamed widow is not the only reported case of serious consequences flowing from an obsession with the Internet. For example, in South Korea a couple’s three month old daughter starved to death while her parents spent time in Internet cafes raising an avatar daughter. Certainly anyone who allows their pets to starve to death and who neglects their children would qualify as an addict.
Terms of the woman’s probation prohibit her from owning pets or accessing the Internet.
Source: The Center for Internet Addiction
Arthur Weinreb - Weinreb is an author, associate editor and columnist with Canada Free Press and the Canadian Affairs Feature Writer for Suite 101.
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