Who hasn't sat down for a quick game or surf, and suddenly it's 03h30?
Friend of mine plays WoW constantly. I mean, he spends all night levelling up his character, and can't function at work the next day.
And worst of i is I can easily see the tendancy in myself. If I had a broadband connection and a machine capable of the top graphics, I could easily suffer the same problem.
Is it the new drug?
--ARehab for video game addicts
Amsterdam - An addiction centre is opening Europe's first detox clinic for video game addicts, offering in-house treatment for people who can't leave their joysticks alone.
Video games may look innocent, but they can be as addictive as gambling or drugs - and just as hard to kick, says Keith Bakker, director of Amsterdam-based Smith & Jones Addiction Consultants.
Bakker already has treated 20 video game addicts, aged 13 to 30, since January. Some show withdrawal symptoms, such as shaking and sweating, when they look at a computer.
His detox programme begins in July. It will run four to eight weeks, including discussions with therapists and efforts to build patients' interests in alternative activities.
"We have kids who don't know how to communicate with people face-to-face because they've spent the last three years talking to somebody in Korea through a computer," Bakker said. "Their social network has completely disappeared."
It can start with a Game Boy, perhaps given by parents hoping to keep their children occupied but away from the television. From there, it can progress to multilevel games that aren't made to be won.
Bakker said he has seen signs of addiction in children as young as 8.
'I would just keep going...'
Hyke van der Heijden, 28, a graduate of the Amsterdam programme, started playing video games 20 years ago. By the time he was in college he was gaming about 14 hours a day and using drugs to play longer.
"For me, one joint would never be enough, or five minutes of gaming would never be enough," he said. "I would just keep going until I crashed out."
Van der Heijden first went to Smith & Jones for drug addiction in October 2005, but realised the gaming was the real problem. Since undergoing treatment, he has distanced himself from his smoking and gaming friends. He says he has been drug- and game-free for eight months.
Like other addicts, Bakker said, gamers are often trying to escape personal problems. When they play, their brains produce endorphins, giving them a high similar to that experienced by gamblers or drug addicts.
Gamers' responses to questions even mirror those of alcoholics and gamblers when asked about use.
"Many of these kids believe that when they sit down, they're going to play two games and then do their homework," he said.
However, unlike other addicts, most gamers received their first game from their parents. "Because it's so new, parents don't see that this is something that can be dangerous," Bakker said.
But again, to me, it's just focusing on another symptom, not the problem, of addiction. We have an addictive nature, let's find a way to handle that, and all the symptoms will automatically be accountable and curable, thru self help of realization and awareness of the problem's root, not the many heads it spawns, that keeps us in an endless batlle with "new" enemies, when they are just the same ones with different faces.
She keeps me in check. Sort of. 
