Let face it, life online and in video games often delivers bigger payoffs for less effort than the real world. Assassins’ Creed, Halo, World of Warcraft, SIMS – there’s no end to the lives we can lead online. Changing your life in the real world, however, starts with a shot in the dark that may or may not lead anywhere. Also, maybe one or two facebook friends might be interested in the fact that you just polished off a carton of ice cream while watching American Idol, but breaking the ice with strangers face to face requires you work a bit harder. Because the goals and strategies for winning are not always as clear-cut in real life as they are online, we remain in online realms for longer than we should. In fact, this is such a growing problem that online detox facilities are opening up all around the country.

So, is getting help to pull the plug on your virtual life killin’ it? The answer is a yes. Killin’ it is all about being able to balance online and offline life. Virtual life is not satisfying unless it’s accompanied by a full offline life. Likewise, a rich offline life should be used to nourish and facilitate decision-making in virtual realms – a portent of the future. This may be why guests at the reSTART Internet Addiction Recovery Center in rural Washington are just five miles down the road from the headquarters of Microsoft. Additionally, once patients have completed the 45-day program, they can become a fan of the reSTART Internet Addiction Program on facebook. The real test to know if the reSTART program is killin’ it will be if they can grow their number of facebook fans well past the current 13 lonely souls that they have now!