i'd say that perhaps rather than treat it like a problem, their ability to sit and focus on the internet for 10-20 hours at a time should be channeled productively.

why shouldn't first-line technical support be a bunch of people who like to sit in a chat room all day and will be interesting and funny while providing you with good advice about your problem .. that's what happens in IRC/AOL chat anyways, or that's what used to years ago--the last time I experienced chat.

i think that there could definitely be solutions to channeling every internet-addict tendency into productive directions. It's not inherently bad, what's bad is that it is currently usually highly unproductive.