The Blog of P.U.R.E. and Sue Scheff

The Capital-Journal Published Tuesday, February 06, 2007 Once dismissed as foolish, Internet addiction is now getting second look from parents worried about teens' time online. Oh, what a tangled Web we weave, when first we practice to... get online. Many Topeka teenagers admit they never feel quite right until they have checked their MySpace, Facebook or e-mail accounts in the morning and when they get home from school and again before bed. None, however, believe they are addicted to the Web. Since the term "Internet addiction" was introduced in the late 1990s, Web users and medical professionals have dismissed the idea. Some think the long hours of isolation characteristic of too much Web use are just a by-product of other mental issues such as depression. But Kimberly Young, director of the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery, said the idea is gaining popularity. Parents are starting to research the addiction as they watch their teens become more attached to the com...

Peeka-Boo! Kathleen ParkerWashington Post Writer's Group March 11, 2007 WASHINGTON -- It seemed like a good idea at the time. How often have we all pasted that cartoon balloon over the mental image of a youthful indiscretion? Thank goodness no one had a camera, we might add. Now everybody has a camera, and youthful indiscretions are captured for all time. And suddenly, we're not so young anymore. The MySpace-Facebook-dot-com generation has come of age, and some are finding that their silly stunts have come back to haunt them as they enter the grown-up marketplace. Others are finding that their private moments are not so private after all. Three young women featured anonymously in a recent Washington Post article told horror stories of their attempts to find jobs, only to discover that they may have been disqualified by online postings by virtual strangers. Gossip and graphics included. One, a Phi Beta Kappa graduate and Yale law student who had gotten articles published in law ...