It started with the Nintendo 64.
Lauren recalls feverishly playing the '90s gaming console − and how it took priority over making friends or doing homework − when she was 8. Then, she says, it was her family’s home computer. Her tech use continued to take over her life, she says. She barely graduated from high school due to late arrivals, absences and missed assignments.
“I was so confused, because I knew I was a driven person,” Lauren says. “I knew that I had ambitions and goals for my life. And so, I was very confused why I seemed to just keep blowing off the things that were important to me."
At the time, Lauren didn’t know what was wrong. Now, she says she sees it clear as day: She had a burgeoning internet and technology addiction, one that continued to plague her into adulthood and, ultimately, drove her to contemplate suicide.
At the height of her addiction, Lauren says, she’d scroll for hours on end. She didn’t take care of her apartment, which became infested with fleas. She didn’t take care of herself, either. She put off eating, drinking water and going to the bathroom. She couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t get out of bed. Life, she says, felt unbearable.
