OFF THREAD
INTERNET ADDICTION' CITED IN CHILD NEGLECT CASE
CINCINNATI (Reuter) - A 24-year-old woman was released on bond Monday after pleading not
guilty to charges of child neglect that investigators said might have grown out of an addiction to the
Internet.
Sandra Hacker was jailed Sunday on three counts of child endangering after her estranged husband,
Alexander, reported that she was spending up to 12 hours a day at her computer and leaving her
three children to take care of themselves.
Police said they found broken glass, other debris and human feces on the walls of a playroom of her
apartment, where she allegedly kept the toddlers locked up while preoccupied with the computer.
The Cincinnati Enquirer quoted David Greenfield, a psychologist from Hartford, Connecticut, as
saying the case had all the earmarks of "Internet Addiction Disorder."
Greenfield, who has done considerable study on the problem, said the disorder overtakes its victims
in much the same way that people get hooked on gambling.
"The normalcies for time and space disappear," he told the newspaper. "It becomes a pretty
powerful drug."
Hacker told police that his wife's computer obsession led to the breakup of their marriage. The three
children, ages 5, 3, and 2, were temporarily placed in his custody pending disposition of Mrs.
Hacker's case.
She was freed on bond after pleading not guilty at a court hearing on Monday. |
