by Sunshine44

Created on: April 04, 2009   Last Updated: April 07, 2009

After reading a few of the articles that have been submitted and listed in "Addicted to the Internet," on www,Helium.com I have decided to claim my rightfully owned title, "1995-1996 Queen of Internet Addiction." Many will say out loud, "Geez, I didn't know they even had the Internet back then!" The Queen's answer? In 1995, America On Line charged $2.95 an hour to gain access to the Internet, chat rooms and instant messaging.

It wasn't until Christmas of that year did our family bring in the Hewlett Packard box of goodies . . . the keyboard, monitor, the tower and of course the mouse! The best part was that America On Line was giving us TEN FREE HOURS! Wow! We were excited about using the ten free hours. I had two teenage daughters at home, so we decided it would only be fair to allow everyone three and one third hours each.

The kids showed me how to use the computer. That was the beginning of the end for me. I signed on and found chat rooms. I could "talk" to other nurses, doctors, attorneys, military personnel . . . I could "talk" to everybody! . . . in the WORLD! I was so excited that day that I forgot to cook dinner and by the time I signed off that first day, I had used up everybody's time! I couldn't wait to sign back on the next day! and the next! and the next! I think my addiction began the moment I heard "You've Got Mail!" The funny part was that the first piece of mail I received was a welcome note from AOL. They knew what they were doing! They new they were going to snag a majority of us forty-something, recently or going to be divorced folks. I say that because as I began chatting with all 35,000,000 people on line (or so my kids calculated), I learned that there were many lonely people out "there".

I didn't even need a cup of Java in the morning. The Internet became my Maxwell House. I would sign on in the early morning and sometimes I would say my last goodbye in the early morning (the next day!). As I looked back to that time of my life, I didn't know how it happened or why it happened, but it happened. I was in a needy state of mind. I know that much. I had two teenagers at home who were piercing this and that, I had a daughter come home from college pregnant, I was going through a divorce, I had an elderly Dad come to live with us, I had a Yorkie who used to get anxious and who would pee on the kitchen table when his nerves got out of hand, and then there was me . . . I had just had neck surgery and I was going to be confined to the home for a

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