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China news tagged with: Internet addiction (32)

• China Bans Physical Punishment for Internet Addicts

  

  The Chinese government has banned the use of any physical punishment in Chinese internet addiction clinics:

  Many of the camps are imbued with a military atmosphere. Patients are forced to replace hours in front of the computer with arduous physical drills or even more extreme “treatments”.

  “When intervening to prevent improper use of the internet, we should … strictly prohibit restriction of personal freedom and physical punishments,” the ministry said in a draft guideline for internet use by minors… The latest guidelines suggest officials in Beijing do not think that those with unhealthy internet habits should be forced offline permanently.

  “The goal of intervention is … to urge the target people to use the Internet in a healthy way,” the guideline said. “It’s not to stop them from using the Internet.”

  See also past posts on internet addiction.

  » Read more
  • November 5, 2009 11:25 AM

• Video: Escape from a Net Addiction Center

  

  Danwei translates a video parodying treatments for Internet addiction:

  The clips that make up this spoof are taken from the CCTV program “War With the Internet Demon” (战网魔), broadcast in 2008. The program was intended to illustrate the damaging effects of Internet addiction and praise Yang’s compassion, but the disturbing images of dazed young men wandering the halls of the Linyi Mental Hospital in Shandong Province make it hard to sympathize with Yang or the producers.

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  • September 11, 2009 11:14 AM

• Editor Sacked for Report on Death at Internet Rehab Camp

  

  China Daily is reporting that an editor whose paper reported on the death of a teenager at an Internet addiction rehab clinic has been fired by local officials:

  Liu first broke the story about the beating death of 15-year-old Deng Senshan at a rehab camp in the local Nanguo Morning Post (NMP) on Aug 4, attracting nationwide media coverage.

  “I hope my former colleagues at NMP will continue their efforts to successfully run the newspaper, while trying to avoid risks,” he wrote.

  Deng was allegedly beaten to death by counselors at the Qihang Salvation Training Camp in Nanning, the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on Aug 2.

  “All Senshan’s family members are very sad about the authorities’ decision to fire the editor, while wondering if the reason behind it was that NMP reported the truth of my son’s death openly and justly,” said Deng Fei, the boy’s father.

  » Read more
  • August 26, 2009 8:36 PM

• An SOS from Internet Addiction Center Inmates

  

  Following the death of a teenager in an Internet addiction clinic, Southern Metropolis Daily visited a related facility in Guangzhou. Danwei translates:

  When the reporter arrived outside the rear wall of the school, children on the third and fourth floors started to stick notes into aluminum cans, drink bottles, and slippers, and others folded notes into paper planes. They tried to throw them over the wall, but owing to the distance, none of them succeeded.

  Some children had papers bearing the messages “SOS” and “beating” which they waved out the windows. Some wrote calls for help on their clothing, which they displayed to the reporter. Some even yelled for help. They were all stopped by the instructors.

  » Read more
  • August 10, 2009 9:29 PM

• China Bans Electro-shock Therapy for Internet Addicts

  

  Good news for China’s Internet addicts. From Reuters:

  China has banned electro-shock therapy as a treatment for Internet addiction, citing uncertainty in the safety and effectiveness of the practice after criticism in the local media.

  The Ministry of Health announcement followed recent media reports about a controversial psychiatrist in Linyi, Shandong Province, who administered electric currents to nearly 3,000 teenagers in an attempt to rid them of their Internet habit.

  The Chinese government has led a campaign for over a year against Internet addiction, saying young people’s excessive time in Internet cafes, known as Web bars in Chinese, is hurting their studies and damaging family life.

  » Read more
  • July 14, 2009 7:03 AM

• China’s Parents Try Shock Tactics To Cure Net ‘Addicts’

  

  From The Sunday Times:

  Chinese teenagers hooked on the internet are being subjected to electro-shock therapy at a clinic that claims they will be “reborn” free of the obsession.

  However, its harsh methods have caused an outcry after some of the 3,000 youths treated so far began posting their experiences – on the web.

  Overuse of the internet has become a household worry in China. The country has more than 300m internet users, 40m of whom play online games.

  An official study two years ago claimed that almost 10% of the nation’s young people were “addicted to the web”.

  » Read more
  • June 7, 2009 12:40 AM

• China Soul Searches its Obsession with Internet Addiction

  

  David Bandurski of China Media Project has pulled together a number of comments on the highly criticized treatment methods used by Yang Yongxin in a Chinese Internet addiction clinic. Yang’s measures included, for one, electric shock.

  Commentary from Hu Yong:

  . . . So-called Internet addition refers to the repeated and excessive use of the Internet to the point that is becomes a kind of mental disorder. It can manifest itself as the intense desire to use the Internet repeatedly, and withdrawal symptoms are often observed when Internet use is decreased. At the same time, the disorder can result in somatic symptoms. Some experts have given us chilling numbers, saying that approximately 20 million people in China have Internet addiction or are predisposed. This shocking number prompted Yang Yongxin to write on his blog that if we cannot effectively control the spread of Internet addiction, it would mean the “death of the party and the nation” (亡党亡国) and would mean entire Chinese people “would be without children and grandchildren,” that it would make America’s 1970s policy of “victory without war” become a reality, allowing Chinese culture to perish under the onslaught of online imperialism!

  Well, with things coming to such a point as that, how can our party and nation afford not to give this top priority? What is regrettable, though, is that these experts [like Yang Yongxin] have not to this day been able to define clearly what Internet addiction is . . .

  Oiwan Lam of Global Voices Advocacy has summarized a report by　Guo Jianlong of the 21st Century Business Herald on the Internet addiction clinic supervised by Yang. The original article could not be published in its entirety, and was posted in full on his blog instead.

  Every morning there is a morning assembly for creating public pressure or more concretely humiliation in the public against stubborn patients. The gathering, attended by more than 300 people, reminds people of the public prosecution and psychological torture during the cultural revolution. For example, patients are asked to admit their wrongs and attack others’ wrongs in the public; kids are demanded to bow to their parents to show their willingness to be submissive. Sadly, the parents are convinced of the effectiveness in the treatment by such act.

  Everyday, patients have to go through morning public assembly and performance review, afternoon military training and evening another performance review session. Taking tranquillizers is also part of the treatment.

  » Read more
  • May 15, 2009 8:29 PM

• Anti-Online Game Addiction System Proves to be Effective in China

  

  Xinhua reports that China’s “anti-online game addiction system” has been effective in abating the number of online game players:

  China developed the anti-online game addiction system in July 2007 to reduce on-line addiction among young people. All game operators in China are required to deter minors from playing their games for more than three hours a day. Online gamers are also required to register using their real names and identity card numbers to determine whether or not they are under the age of 18.

  The system will restricts a minor’s playing time by canceling half their earned credits if they remain online for more than three hours a day. If the child plays for more than five hours a day, all of their gaming credits will be lost.

  The survey also showed that about 60 percent of youngsters are satisfied with the anti-addiction system.

  More on Internet addiction in China:
  

  » Read more
  • March 20, 2009 7:26 PM

• China’s Tough-Love Approach to Internet Addiction

  

  Many Chinese teenagers are sent to a military compound in Beijing by their parents to detox from an Internet obsession, from Time:

  Even though it was just before Lunar New Year–the most important family holiday on the Chinese calendar–Wang Hongxia was forcing her son out of the house. The 45-year-old accountant had decided to take her 12-year-old from their home in the northwestern city of Xian to a secluded military compound in Beijing, more than 700 miles (1,125 km) away. Like many Chinese parents, Wang felt she had no choice. “Things have absolutely gone out of control,” she said, almost in tears. “My son just beat and bit me again this morning after I wouldn’t let him touch the computer.”

  With an estimated 300 million Web users–the most in the world–China is struggling with an epidemic of Internet obsession among its youth. Since the establishment in 2004 of the country’s first Internet-addiction-treatment facility, the China Youth Mental Health Center, more than 3,000 patients have been treated there.

  » Read more
  • February 22, 2009 6:18 PM

• In an Increasingly Wired China, Rehab for Internet Addicts

  

  From Christian Science Monitor:

  A 6 a.m. wake-up call. Afternoon drills in military bearing and formations. And a grueling regime of push-ups and leg lifts before the 9:30 p.m. lights-out.

  Welcome to rehab for Internet addicts – People’s Liberation Army (PLA) style.

  Here, on a military base outside Beijing, a progressive Chinese psychologist, Tao Ran, has established a treatment center for a distinctly 21st-century malady.

  The center is an experiment in treating “non-material” addictions – others include work-, shop- and sex-aholism – that are booming along with China’s rapid modernization, says Dr. Tao.

  “The problem is getting worse,” says Tao. “[Internet addicts] can’t adjust to school and society, so they try to escape their difficulties and avoid problems. They lack self-confidence and often don’t have the courage to continue their lives.”

  » Read more
  • January 6, 2009 1:39 AM

• China: Too Much Time Online? You’ve Got Psychosis.

  

  On a update of an earlier post on CDT, China has become the first country to list internet addiction as a mental disorder as stated by the Ministry of Health. According to one of the definitions in a manual by Chinese psychologists, anyone who spends over 6 hours on the computer with a mouse has the disorder, and a guideline is expected to head to hospitals soon. Global Voices Online reports:

  Symptoms of net addiction, as the manual introduces, include impulsive use of internet, irritation and unreasonable distress when offline, and the failure to concentrate.

  According to the leading expert Dr. Tao in the country’s first addiction treatment center, among the 253 million netizens in China, about 10% have been inflicted by the addiction, most of them male, aged from 18 to 30. His research on 3000 patients shows they might have strong psychological dependence on internet, which undermine their normal social activities and daily life. He points out that online games which now totally take up over 4800 million users in China, such as World of Warcraft, are a great problem that they weaken users’ ability to distinguish virtual world from the real.

  Also, internet may contribute to crime rate. 76% of juvenile offenses in the capital city of Beijing are related to the Internet, said Dr Tao.

  A selection of netizens’ responses can also be read on the report. This isn’t the first time that China has placed restrictions of online culture, such as crackdowns at internet cafes or deeming gaming a danger.

  The Telegraph reports on what the new treatment might entail, which Dr. Tao state will cure 80% of addicts in three months:

  Tao Ran, an expert at Beijing’s Military General Hospital, which drew up the diagnosis, said special psychiatric units in Chinese hospitals would be designated to treat addicts.

  The popularity of online gaming in Asia has led to the creation of enormous salons in which hundreds of users play games for several days in a row.

  China’s government has already tried to limit this practice by forcing each user to register their full name and identification number and by building software into the games which kicks players off after five hours.

  Gao Wenbin, a researcher with the psychology institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said Chinese youths were finding refuge online from the pressures of being only children. “Most children in China are the only ones in their families. They are told only to study hard, but no one really cares about their needs,” he said.

  See also CDT’s stories on China’s internet censorship and other forms of Internet control.

  » Read more
  • November 16, 2008 12:38 AM

• China Could View Web Addiction As ‘Disorder’: State Media

  

  From AFP:

  China could become the first country to classify Internet addiction as a clinical disorder amid growing concern over compulsive Web use by millions of Chinese, state media said on Monday.

  The health ministry is likely to adopt a new manual on Internet addiction next year drawn up by Chinese psychologists that recognises it as a condition similar to compulsive gambling or alcohol addiction, the China Daily reported.

  It cited psychologists involved in drafting the diagnostic manual.

  » Read more
  • November 10, 2008 2:12 AM

• Chinese Crackdown On Gaming Or Censorship – Ed Flanagan

  

  From NBC News World Blog:

  The startling story out of China’s southern town of Guangzhou this week of a 30-year-old man dying of exhaustion after a reported three-day online gaming binge may be an odd curiosity in the West, but it underscores growing concerns about Internet addiction in this country of more than 160 million Web surfers.

  With a little more than 10 percent of China’s 1.3 billion population now online – thanks in large part to a booming economy and the nearly 113,000 Internet cafes that dot the country – the past few years have seen a rash of Internet addiction issues popping up and, recently, a serious governmental backlash against them. [Full Text]

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  • September 22, 2007 9:15 AM

• White Book: Chinese Internet Users Are Unhealthy – ChinaTechNews

  

  Following news that a man died after playing online games for three days straight, a health-oriented portal in China has released a report which reveals that Internet users may not be living the healthiest of lifestyles. From ChinaTechNews:

  According to the newly released “White Book on Chinese Netizens’ Health Status”, more than 40% of Chinese Internet users spend most of their weekends surfing online and over 70% of the netizens have a certain degree of associated mental problems.

  The White Book, released by 39.net, one of the top health-related portal websites in China, says that with the increase of the Internet population and their dependence on the Internet, symptoms such as worsening eyesight, injured necks, sore waists, insomnia and anxiety, have become overwhelming. [Full text]

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  • September 17, 2007 8:05 PM

• China Man Dies After Three-day Internet Session – Reuters

  

  
  
  More bad news in China’s battle against Internet indulgence, from Reuters via Australian ABC:

  A Chinese man dropped dead after playing internet games for three consecutive days, state media said, as China seeks to wean internet addicts offline.

  The man from the southern boomtown of Guangzhou, aged around 30, died on Saturday after being rushed to the hospital from the internet cafe, local authorities were quoted by the Beijing News as saying.

  “Police have ruled out the possibility of suicide,” the newspaper said, adding that exhaustion was the most likely cause of death. It did not say what game he was playing. [Full Text]

  [Image: A sign in a Chinese internet bar indicates no minors allowed, by eschlaik via Flickr.]

  » Read more
  • September 17, 2007 1:40 AM

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