There's no mention of what he was doing online. Was he watching state sanctioned porn? Or was he, more likely, using state sanctioned social media. Could he have been a troubled kid, with social anxiety issues, using the internet as a means to maintain some form of social interaction, albeit in digital form? Could cutting him off from his only connection to the outside world have driven his already fragile state of mind over the edge?
None of these things are ever considered, because the stereotypical 'boy in the basement' image is almost always applied to people like him. Could he have secretly been working one of those time-consuming online jobs to make a bit of yen? Maybe he was playing an online game like the Koreans do, and took it a bit too far?
Who knows. All I DO know is that virtually all of the West spend a LOT more time online that the previous generation did, and I imagine they spent more time online than the last.
The internet isn't a form of addiction - the specific actions that can be taken ON the internet is possibly addictive. And noone seems to know what this guy did, that was enough to send him to a place that ended up killing him. Who's really to blame? The 18 yr old for whatever he was doing? Or the centre for not recognising a vulnerable young adult?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
