Will Jeffery used to spend hours — sometimes days — alternating between playing video games, binge-watching TV shows on Netflix and mindlessly scrolling through the online forum Reddit.
When he checked into a rehab facility a few years ago, a therapist helped him realize that screen time was just as much of a problem for him as cocaine, pot and alcohol. “I used drugs, alcohol, video games, Reddit and Netflix bingeing as a coping mechanism for life,” said Jeffery, a 25-year-old Toronto native who will soon start his second year of classes at the University of Colorado.
The Collegiate Recovery Center, which supports students recovering from addiction, including those for whom technology — Netflix, Facebook, video games, pornography — is their drug of choice, is providing assistance to Jeffery.
“What we see here is just like other areas where someone might struggle,” said Sam Randall, program manager for CU’s Collegiate Recovery Center. “It’s often that the student might be seeking something that the screen time is giving them. For some, it’s a form of escape. For others, it might be a form of connection or a form of release.”
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