As a kid I was out of the house for 12 hours a day playing outside. Although my parents were both working and we had food on the table, we were a pretty poor family. They were both exhausted after work and I yearned for their attention but I guess I could see that they were tired and suppressed my own needs. I became very withdrawn never speaking about my emotions or myself. Then age 10 my mother died and father became withdrawn alcoholic, basically in one fell sweep I lost both my parents. Computers and the internet were my only refuge. Be it pirated movies I could watch or play games.. I was there. At some point I became a really good competitive gamer so that gave me an opportunity to socialize a bit. I moved to a different game and crushed it there and made more internet friends. I got diagnosed with a lifelong chronic illness at that time (Graves Disease) but I still kept surviving. I was alienated from most of my real life friends because I couldn't relate to them. I was in a constant physical and emotional struggle and they were in the seat of stability. I wasted a lot of time but slowly I learned. At some point I realized that games aren't going to be a good financial support so I started learning programming and here I am in my mid 30s with a few years of coding experience(without a job currently and struggling). I can boldly say the internet has saved me, other people where I live and had nothing succumbed to street gangs and drugs. I know that I'm behind many peers I have in terms of life achievements but I also know where I come from and take pride that I've been able to survive up until now. I have stopped walking before thinking it's over but every time I have the strength to sit back up and start walking again.