For the Cyber Junky

With news breaking today that Cyber junkies can unplug at US retreat I got to wondering. My foray into Face Book this year was quite an eye opener. I had no idea people were spending so much of their lives there - some of things that I noticed:

• Status updates as a cry for help
• Lots of time being spent on games, quizzes etc
• Chat, chat, chat
• Wall conversations that were publicly viewable and sometimes shouldn't be

Lots of it is just fun and another way of keeping in touch with people. But I wondered if the sentiment from the Cyber Junkie monastics applies to more than just children:

"Computers and the Internet are also parent-sanctioned refuges for children eager to escape hard knocks that are usually part of growing up."

Not sure - perhpas like most neutral passtimes, its a matter of degree and focus - definitely a trap there for some people. I reserve my greatest scorn for posturing, self-important bloggers...

Of course what I really got wondering about was Nigel's recent retreat and his obvious technology addiction and Rhett's forthcoming retreat relative to his status as a recovering blogging addict and current Call of Duty binge killer. Just saying.