I'm not a parent, but I've been in this kid's position. I didn't have a computer at 18, and I certainly didn't have internet access. So if I wasn't at work or at school I'd hang out at the public library or hide behind books at home. I did this because I had learned that nobody actually gave a shit about me as long as I stayed out of their way. They didn't want me around, and weren't interested in how I felt or what I thought as long as "did my part" to raise my brothers and didn't drop out of school, get a girl pregnant, or murder my brothers or classmates. It was plain that I wasn't welcome in the society around me, and I had come to decide that society didn't deserve me.

There's a discussion on r/menslib that touches on this at <https://teddit.net/r/MensLib/comments/vucpf1/boys_need_help_...>.

This comment at <https://teddit.net/r/MensLib/comments/vucpf1/boys_need_help_...> is particularly relevant:

> So, as you say, the question is: did society create the computer kid by ignoring them, or did the computer kid disregard society because computers were more interesting?

> Both, possibly. But there's no smoke without fire. If you force a kid into solo, insular hobbies and to find their own ways to connect to things without the opportunity for those things to be other people, you really can't complain decades later that he's socially inept.

I felt forced to find ways to entertain myself because I grew up without friends, was emotionally neglected, and never figured out how to make friends as a kid because my parents figured that I was somehow "smart enough" to not need help with social skills. It wasn't computers for me; it was books, heavy metal albums, and console gaming.

You're not going to fix this "addiction" without first confronting the root causes. Chances are this kid was emotionally neglected, and they're using the computer to cope.