WASHINGTON, DC – October 9, 1999 – "The reality is that the Internet has a dark side and the government should be careful not to blindly promote a tool that can be so easily misused," states Dr. Kimberly Young, a clinical psychologist and Executive Director of the Center for On-Line Addiction based in Bradford, Pennsylvania. Dr. Young serves as a guest speaker at the annual meeting of the Young Presidents Association (YPO) to discuss the impact of Internet addiction on public policy. The YPO supports young entrepreneurs to succeed in building companies, with its membership limited to those under the age of 40 who are founders, co-founders, owners or controlling shareholders of a company with gross annual sales that exceed (US) $1 million dollars. Other featured guests for the three-day conference include Tim Russart from "Meet the Press", political strategists James Carville and Mary Matalin, and ABC New’s Commentator, George Stephanopoulas.

Dr. Kimberly Young will serve on a panel group focused on parenting, media violence, and online deviancy and will be joined by Dr. John Rosemond, a psychologist from the Center For Affirmative Parenting and Lt. Col. Dave Grossman author of "Trained to Kill: How today’s Media Contributions to Teach Our Children to Pull the Trigger". Talk show host, Larry King, will moderate the YPO panel discussions.

The issue of Internet addiction has seen dramatic changes over the past few years with increasing attention towards further research and the emergence of specialty treatment programs to address its recovery. Recent studies conducted by the Center for On-Line Addiction show that mental health agencies ranging from drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers, family services, college counseling centers, to Employee Assistant Programs have all documented an increase caseload of clients with Internet-related disorders.

"Internet addiction is an important topic especially as Internet abuse in the workplace is on the rise and more families are impacted by computers," said Jerry Bedrin, the coordinator for this year’s YPO conference. "As computers move into more people’s homes, the social consequences of cyberspace have the potential to become a national healthcare crisis," further adds Dr. Young, the author of Caught in the Net, the first recovery book for Internet addiction. "Our studies show that families spend less quality time together because of the Internet, infidelity online poses significant threats to once stable marriages, cyber-predators are a growing parental concern, and that normal law-abiding citizens are encouraged to engage in deviant and even criminal behavior online because of the anonymity of cyberspace. This is a wake-up for politicians and business leaders to re-evaluate the role of the Internet and promote effective public awareness to aid in the prevention of these societal troubles through media campaigns, educational programs, and increased funding in these areas of study. While the government is unable to regulate the global nature of the Internet, they can help online users be better prepared to handle these potential problems before they log on."

The Center for On-Line Addiction was founded in 1995 as the first educational research firm to study online behavior and serves as the leading behavioral healthcare center specializing in Internet addiction recovery. Treatment and professional seminars are designed to promote "cyber-wellness" and focus on strategies to maximize use of technology while retaining a balance in one’s life. The Center is internationally recognized for its contributions to the healthcare field.