Bostoner rebbe, Internet addicts to be treated,not expelled.

   During  his recent trip to Eretz Yisroel the Bostoner Rebbe addressed his followers this past Shabbos. He spoke on the current events and the current challenges we face from modern technology. Many rabbonim he said, are speaking out against the non kosher cell phones and the internet. Their approach of throwing those that have it out of shuls and expelling them from the community is wrong.

    He went on to say that internet addicts should be treated just as an alcoholic goes for therapy to rid himself of his addiction, so too internet and phone addicts must be treated from the root cause, which is addiction. It shouldn't be that a person in middle of davening shmoneh esrei will get an alert and hurry up his davening to retrieve the message. However the right approach is to treat them and not to throw them out of the community and the shul.