A clinic for "Internet addiction" for $ 1,600 a night

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While millions spend around $ 800 on average on iPhones (or nearly $ 1,000 for the latest model), some Americans spend about $ 92,000 to keep their loved ones away from smartphones.

Since 2013, dozens of digital rehabilitation clinics have opened in the Silicon Valley, where the headquarters of the world's largest technology companies, including Apple, Facebook, Twitter and Google, are located.

These clinics offer specific treatments for young people who spend about 20 hours a day staring at smartphones screens.

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isolated

Among these clinics is the Paradise, a large, tree-lined building surrounded by gardens with CCTV cameras on the top of a hill 30 kilometers from downtown San Francisco, California.

The clinic is attended by children and adolescents between the ages of 12 and 18, whose parents are worried about their addiction to the Internet.

There are no signs at the entrance to the building, which can only be reached by car, and there are no sidewalks on the winding road to the gate.

Read also: What does science say about the damages of social media?
Parade hosts eight young people for treatment, which lasts for at least 45 days and may last for 60 days, based on factors such as levels of depression, anxiety and violence.

Treatment rates are extremely high, commensurate with the luxury services there, including a jacuzzi with stunning views of San Francisco Bay. The clinic charges $ 1,633 per night.

The use of mobile phones, laptops and tablets is prohibited in the clinic, and Internet use is restricted to classes.

Students are not allowed to browse social networks, instant messaging applications, or pornographic content.

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Patients are subject to a strict schedule for waking up, studying, eating meals, and participating in individual and group therapy sessions.

The Paradigm clinic is "reprogramming" children so that they "can rebuild their relationship with technology, reconnect with friends, family, studies and their tasks without connecting to the Internet."

"We separate them from the Internet, and this is the basic rule," Daniel Kovac, director of the Paradise Clinic, told the BBC.

"It is a period of rehabilitation for the children, and it's really wonderful when we thank many of them at the end of the treatment period for not allowing them to spend most of their time on their phones and letting them focus on themselves," she said.