Becky began using the Internet when she was a seventh-grader after her parents bought her a computer for Christmas. At about age 15, she began creating web pages for her high school. Her parents divorced when she was 16, and she began to isolate herself in her room to join chat groups with other teenagers whose parents had divorced. She felt that these contacts were more genuine than those of even her closest high school friends, because she could feel "really free" to say what she deeply felt without fear of rejection. Soon, she began spending most of her available free time with her online friends, preferring her time with them to her time with her school friends. Her time online escalated at the expense not only of her friends, but also of her schoolwork as well. After she began failing in three subjects, her mother threatened to get rid of the computer. Becky convinced her mother that she would "just die" if she could not connect with her online friends and promised to improve. Becky's mother began dating and found it convenient to rationalize her daughter's time on the computer, since Becky did not seem to mind her mother's increasing absence. Becky's time online increased to the point that she began faking illness so that she could remain at home and avoid school. In spite of earnest New Years' resolutions to quit, Becky continued her Internet use. The years passed. Her mother re-married.