I’ve mentioned it in the past that internet addiction is a major problem these days, but many people are simply unaware of how dangerous it can be since we all use the internet in our daily lives.
This case is simply sad. A husband and wife lost the will to live after losing their jobs … they escaped reality by living online … nurtured a child online via one of those applications while their real life daughter starved to death.
BBC News - S Korea child ‘starves as parents raise virtual baby’
A South Korean couple who were addicted to the internet let their three-month-old baby starve to death while raising a virtual daughter online, police said.
The pair fed their own premature baby just once a day in between 12-hour stretches at an internet cafe, the official Yonhap news agency reported.
Police officer Chung Jin-won told Yonhap they “lost their will to live a normal life” after losing their jobs.
He said they “indulged themselves online” to escape from reality.
The 41-year-old father and his 25-year-old wife were arrested in the city of Suweon, south of Seoul, earlier this week, five months after they reported the death of their baby.
An autopsy showed her death was caused by a long period of malnutrition.
The couple had become obsessed with nurturing a virtual girl called Anima in the popular role-playing game Prius Online, police said on Friday.
The game enables players to interact with Anima and as they do so, help her to recover her lost memory and develop emotions.
It’s an addiction, just like any other addition … drugs, alcohol, sex, gambling … I’ve seen marriages fall apart due to internet addiction. This is the first case I’ve heard of where a child has died due to negligence.
So what do you do if you are with someone who is addicted to the internet? Obviously, they are escaping reality. In my opinion, they require professional help as it is most likely due to Depression, BUT, getting someone to admit that they have an addition/illness/depression is worse than trying to pull teeth.
