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Chinese camp treats internet addiction

11 March 2007 17:36 by Rich "vurbal" Fiscus | 7 comments

According to a 2006 study by the China National Children's Center, there are around 2.3 million internet addicts in China. Chinese health authorities consider internet addiction to be as serious as alcoholism and drug addiction. The government blames the condition for juvenile crime, several suicides, and deaths caused by exhaustion because players were unable to tear themselves away from games. The Internet Addiction Treatment Center (IATC) near Beijing, which has had 1,500 patients since 2004, uses a combination of therapy and military style discipline and boasts a 70% success rate.

There is little agreement in Western countries about what constitutes internet addiction, or if such a thing actually exists. However, a Stanford University of Medicine telephone-based study found that one in eight Americans, exhibit one or more symptoms of "problematic internet use", which shares features with impulse control disorders.

In 2006, China experienced a 23.4 percent increase in internet users. Xu Leiting, a psychologist at the IATC said "The main cause of Internet addiction is that parents' expectations for their children are too high." He said "they escape to the virtual world to seek achievements, importance and satisfaction, or a sense of belonging."

The government is banning new internet cafes, and is also considering restrictions on violent games.

Sources:
Reuters
CNS Spectrums

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pstamer (Member) 11 March 2007 17:39
Some of the most ridiculous crap I've ever read. I guess we're all addicts aye fellow afterdawners.Lol. [ + quote]
Pop_Smith (Senior Member) 11 March 2007 18:25
:p I would say I am kind of addicted to the net, or at least I used to be. But, I mainly use it to know whats going on in the news. But, I am not addicted to the extreme that they suggest (i.e. death by exhaustion due to gaming or even surfing addiction). If I don't check my email for a few weeks, I really don't give a crap anymore. I used to but then something clicked mentally one day and now I can't spend more then 2 hours in front of a PC without a break. I think it was because I used to spend hours on end playing video games and now its mentally 'worn-out' of me. Another reason might be because I spend about 6-7 hours in front of a computer doing phone verifications for people as my job :(. Oh well, only a few months of that job (which I started two weeks ago) and I will be into real estate! :) Peace [ + quote]
daveh8546 (Newbie) 12 March 2007 4:23
hmmm... addicted to the net.. yup i am.. and i don't care i use it for chatting to people, troubleshooting, games, help with various things i'm doing myself and for bass tabs i want to learn i can go for a while w/o being online but then i start to code on phantom keyboards.. you think they'll treat westerners? [ + quote]
eiffel65 (Member) 12 March 2007 5:28
Originally posted by pstamer: Some of the most ridiculous crap I've ever read. I guess we're all addicts aye fellow afterdawners.Lol. Yeah, that's true. [ + quote]
ZippyDSM (AfterDawn Addict) 12 March 2007 8:16
geee...do they have "camps" for people that have gone insane from the strife and poverty in parts of china? ...oy... [ + quote]
crof27 (Newbie) 22 March 2007 4:43
i think that all people have addictive natures to an extent ( some more than others ) but like most things we enjoy it takes us away from the mundanes of life for a while and the addiction starts when their life online becomes even more excitin than real life. but the bit i dont get is... if these people are addicted to the net then how does that constitute a rise in crime ?? are they robbin stores with their pc or somethin that we havent heard of yet n i dont mean hackin. anyway i used to spend allday everyday on the net for the first year or two ( fell asleep in front of the pc a few times ) but now im not bothered when i get on, i see it more as a tool than a lifestyle or maybe i just grew up lol. [ + quote]
nimon (Newbie) 19 June 2009 2:48
Nowadays there are lots of people are suffering from internet addiction. This addiction means disorder ness in surfing of internet. Internet surfing addiction refers to the over involvement in the integral part of Internet activities like chatting, mailing, online gaming etc. Internet surfing addiction can be described as a compulsive disorder. http://www.addiction-treatments.com/addi...ing-/index.html nimon [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 19 June 2009 2:51