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China's Internet Addiction Clinic
An anonymous reader writes "China has decided that if you are spending too much time online, you must be an addict. They've just opened a clinic to treat these internet addicts. Scarier is the head gear they have one patient hooked up to, and the fact that they think that this is some sort of epidemic and will shortly be expanding and adding 200 more beds to their clinics. In my opinion, the internet is way better and safer than alcohol and drugs any day. " We also covered this story last july.
Imagine how the gear would be, when they realize that its not the head thats messed up ;)
Story is a dupe...original story can be found here.
I'm not complaining, mind you...the original story garnered a scant 31 comments, so I'm glad to see it posted again. I'm especially glad to see the pic of the bizzare headgear composed of equal parts ignition wiring and surgical tubing...I have a new wallpaper!
Seriously, though, from TFA: I went through the same thing during my big MUD/MUSH phase back in the early 90's...14+ hours online every day of the week, and I was losing weight because I was forgetting to eat. But you know what? Somehow, I survived, and I didn't need some scary nurse wrapping my head in neo-bondage gear to do it. This 'clinic' is selling digital snake oil...nothing more.
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
Can we get these for all the religious addicts in this country, too?
If anything China should embrace online addiction and create there own state sponsored MMORPG. What better opiate for the masses?
M$ it's whats for diner!!!!!
there was a story on TheRegister about a chinese man dying from playing a game for 4 days solid.. crazy.. I agree that it's healthier than doing drugs/drinking, though maybe in China they take gaming to more of an extreme than here, to escape their crazy government? Heh.
which is totally what she said
So it is not an addiction if you visit coffee house after coffee house.
But it is an addiction if you visit internet chat rooms after chat rooms.
If you think that being online can be addictive then you're less likely to surf around and read things the government doesn't want you reading.
"There are more important things than stopping terrorism. Upholding the Constitution is one of them." - Ars Forumer.
If you think about some people who don't want to leave hospital here. Then maybe there will be people who don't want to leave the clinic there. Then they will have to be re-introduced to the Internet to amke them leave the clinic. What a waste of time and money.
what is scary is the liklihood that drug companies will find a pill to cure you of the addiction to the Internet. All they have to do is find a compound that not only makes you not want to surf the Internet, but also has viagra side effects. Yes, scary, but then the *AA will be supporting it too because you won't want to download illegal copies of stuff. With a market the size of China, what drug company can resist the lure of selling 2 pills per day to half a billion people?
Yes, I think the fears of certain science fiction writers were well founded.
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
The head gear is probably used for an EEG. In psychiatric hostpitals it is standard procedure to take an EEG (and sometimes CT as well) of each patient just be to sure the problem is not rooted in organic brain problems.
Better? I don't think so.
Nerd Rock In Progress
Back when I was traveling through Brugge, Belgium in 1994 I met a couple who counseled those addicted to BBS's. I imagine they are quite busy still.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I spent ages trying to think of sig, but never did
"We also covered this story last july." - Then why are you covering it again???
should read
In my opinion, the internet is way better and safer on alcohol and drugs any day.
> They've just opened a clinic...
> We also covered this story last july.
So have they just opened the clinic or not?
Cool...do they have a website? how 'bout an RSS feed?
Wow, they created a clinic for overworked gold and rares farmers? Sweet!
"We also covered this story last july."
I see dupe addiction is spreading amongst the editors with Zonk being paitent zero. When will we see a clinic for that?
This is my opinion. To make sure you don't steal it, it's covered by the DMCA.
In my opinion, the internet is way better and safer than alcohol and drugs any day.
You couldn't be more wrong. Alcohol and drugs suppress your higher brain functions, as well as your desire to do anything but get more alcohol and drugs. Properly managed, you will continue to be a loyal servant of the state, since we produce the alcohol and tolerate the drugs.
Excessive use of the Internet, on the other hand, could lead to independent thought, social instability, and rebellion.
Please report to Minitrue immediately.
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
just yesterday I got modded down for saying in this thread:
7 59610
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=164875&cid=13
that mental "illness" easily morphs into a flimsy excuse for social control.
Too bad I had to get modded down six times to say it.
Rank my idea: http://www.sinceslicedbread.com/node/531
There is a general rule guiding almost any human activity--be moderate. An overdose of Internet surfing, gaming, TV, drinking, etc is very unhealthy. A healthy lifestyle may include any of the above including alcohol, as long as it is not abused. Internet addiction may be far more damaging to your health than alcohol -- it's all about being temperate.
If your spending so much time on the internet, that you end up not eating, losing your job, or failing out of school, then it is a problem that should probably be addressed. Most of the stuff on the internet is just a big waste of time. It's probably one of the hardest addictions to kick too. There's very little money required to spend every hour of your life online, not to mention that nobody (meaning the cops) really tries to stop you from spending your entire life online. Also, it's possible to get to a point where you're really addicted, without anyone else noticing.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Because they learn from their mistakes and adapt. China *was* the asian superpower before the West destroyed them by addicting them to opium. Looks like they aren't going to let that happen again... time to print out a certain 38-dimensional figure?
Granted, most people don't go out killing folks on account of the internet (with some exceptions of course), but an "addiction" to the internet can be extremely damaging nonetheless. Whilst I was in HS I saw my grades drop from straight A's to C's and D's because I was online so much I didn't do any homework or studying. So basically I had no social life (unless you count chat rooms and the like) and wasn't very productive at all. Of course, I managed to beat my own addiction by just setting limits when I actually went to college, and I graduated Salutatorian and got married. I obviously agree that Internet addiction is real, and I can realt personally to Wang Yiming in TFA. I don't really think you need a clinic though, but maybe.
/.'ers suffer similar addictions to the internet. Just my two cents.
Addiction that stems from the mind, and not drugs, is a real thing. I had a college professor who was addicted to running and the "high" it gave him. It got to the point of being unhealthy. Right now, I'm only mildly skeptical of the clinic, but from TFA it doesn't seem that China is "Forcing" people to go, so if a person feels they should voluntarily submit themselves to treatment then I say more power to them. Recognizing an addiction is really the first step. I'm sure, just because this is China, that people will react strongly to it, but I'd wager that at least a few
Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.
Internet Addiction Clinic = Luddite Re-Assimilation Camp
Also known as the Falun Gong Realignment Centre
If you're talking about what Jack Daniels can do to you in half-liter doses, I'm way ahead of you, buddy.
"Sir! Terrible news! We can't keep censoring the internet! People keep finding workarounds, and it's costing us too much just to keep up!"
"What if we tell people it's a dangerous, addictive, drug-like concept?"
"Brilliant! 'The Internet: It'll kill you', I'll get the posters and rehab clinics up right away!"
If they want something to worry about, they should consider smoking. China must have the highest smoking ratio outside of a Huntingdon Beagle Lab.
Open Source Drum Kit, LPLC deve board - mjhdesigns.com
admitting you have a problem is the first step, refresh.. refresh.. refresh..
I don't know if it's safe than drugs and booze... to yourself at least. I've had a lot of good times with drugs and booze, and I don't feel any the less for it. As long as you aren't driving, more power to you. Same goes for being online all day, more power to you, but there was a point in my life when I couldn't stand straight, my neck was always cricked, I got fat, my sleeping schedule was completely fucked, and I didn't have a social life at all. I really do believe it hurt me a lot more than booze and alcohol ever did.
LS
There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
My wife cures me with one word...
alimony...
My ZooLoo
I see they have no clinics for addiction to books, movies, tv, sleep, food or work. They better get right on that.
The GeekNights podcast is going strong. Listen!
In my opinion, the internet is way better and safer than alcohol and drugs any day.
I dunno about you, dude, but I've know people who have spend hours and hours of their time online because of their net addiction, often going to bed at 4:00 AM because they're so busy IMing. I've had friends fail out of school and lose their jobs because of this. I've never had a friend of mine lose their job because they smoked pot; even the most pot-addicted of them (and trust me, I know a few) are reasonably functional, and probably healthier than those people who stay up until 4:00 eating junk food and then getting little sleep and complaining about their "insomnia".
In my opinion, the internet is way better and safer than alcohol and drugs any day.
That is great, but just because it's 'safter' than something does not mean the behavior is healthy. Smoking is 'better' than snorting coke but neither behavior is very good for you.
This is what happens when you starve people of both information and their ability to express opinions. It's no different from when people dying of thirst are suddenly given a huge supply of water... they'll drink in dangerously excessive amounts.
Internet Addiction seems silly until you look at what really goes on within the mind of the addict. Often the need for the internet (often porn or gambling) is an escape from reality. Much like alcoholics. This use of the internet to "shut out" the world turns into a habit, then a compulsion, then an obsession. At some point the habit becomes an addition and forces the user to act against their will. This ruins careers, families and the addicts lives.
The idea of a clinic for internet addiction is a good idea. Also, there are 12-step programs that deal with these issues, but may not be internet specific. There is Gamblers Anonymous (gambling) and Sexaholics Anonymous (porn) just to name a few. In fact, there are many 12-step programs for people who find themselves unable to stop their destructive habits. The gambling industry or porn industry is not to blame for addicts, but the internet has been the "crack cocaine" for those with a pre-disposition for addiction.
Anonymous (but not a coward)What with the RIAA, IP patents, and Serenity probably not making enough money to generate a sequel, the internet is getting to be pretty depressing these days. I think I need a drink.
Makes you wonder. How many of those the Chinese Government says are addicted to the internet, are really just normal people trying to grasp on to any bits of uncensored news.
But drink and drugs can be a lot more fun and can involve bumping into real life horny drunken girlies and having even more fun.
...in Cuba potential Terrorists must pose nude.
You know, that really depends on what you mean by "safe". I'm not arguing the alchohol so much as the smoking pot. You see, net addiction leads to sleep deprivation which is INCREDIBLY unhealthy, often times poor diet decisions and bad hygene and perhaps one of the biggest problems is the social issues it causes.
You see, alchohol and pot tend to be more "social" vices (yeah, you have your closet boozers and potheads, but the vast majority of people use it socially), which has you interacting with people in the flesh versus the net where you interact via a screen.
Physical human face to face contact is something all humans need, and I would worry about the long term mental health consequences of net addiction...especially since I myself have suffered from it.
But a hell of a lot less fun. And drugs (the good ones, anyway) bring you closer to reality, unlike the Net.
Now if only they can figure out how to cure TripMasterbatorMonkey's Slashdot First Post addiction...
Anyone have the cure?
I went through the same thing during my big MUD/MUSH phase back in the early 90's...14+ hours online every day of the week, and I was losing weight because I was forgetting to eat. But you know what? Somehow, I survived, and I didn't need some scary nurse wrapping my head in neo-bondage gear to do it. This 'clinic' is selling digital snake oil...nothing more.
But then surely you admit that there is such a thing as Internet addiction, and that it can really mess up a person's life for a while. If it can be treated in some reasonable and effective way (which this clinic surely is not), then isn't such treatment a good idea?
It's not really useful to say 'Well hey, I got over it... so you addicts should just snap out of it!'
Of course, this kind of obsessive behavior is really new. But the Internet really does seem to have great potential to draw people into it. After all, in the days long before D&D and the Internet, you didn't see fantasy geeks spending 14 hours every day re-reading "Ivanhoe" or whatever.
The challenge is that the Internet is always available, and always ready to interact. It's like having a TV channel that always shows new episodes of your favorite progam. I'm glad that I don't have a problem with it, but I sympathize with those who do.
Instant Cure...click here
In my opinion, the internet is way better and safer than alcohol and drugs any day
But alcohol and drugs don't expose you to the concept of freedom and independance. What they're really trying to stop is the influx of such ideas.
If someone gave me electo-shock "therapy" I know I would stop using the Internet. In fact I think I will stop now just in case. No carrier....
I used to have a better sig but it broke.
Way to go, idiot. If you had been paying attention, you would have noticed that the "We also covered this story last july." blurb was hastily tacked onto the story about five minutes after TMM pointed out the dupe.
Thanks for playing, though...
"Everybody need a pre-nup. People think you gotta be rich to get a pre-nup. You got twenty million and your wife wants ten, big deal, you ain't starvin'! But if you got thirty thousand, and your wife wants fifteen, you might have to kill her!"
"So you gotta think about OJ's situation. 25,000 a month, another man drivin' his car, fuckin' his wife, and a house he's still payin' a mortgage on. Now, I'm not sayin' he should have killed her, but I understand."
In my opinion, the internet is way better and safer than alcohol and drugs any day.
Addiction is where any behavior begins to affect how you live your life. I'm addicted to breathing, eating and sleeping, but I can live a normal life doing all of these things. It's when you do something to such an extent that it significantly harms your way of life. I've known people who by most measures were alcoholics. They drank all the time, waking up with a screwdriver, etc. But in the end, they functioned fine in their daily lives. Never lost a job, beat their kids, etc. They just drank a lot.
The same goes for Internet addiction. It's not being on the Internet a lot that's bad. It's when other things suffer for it. When you don't eat, don't sleep, don't socialize, etc, then it's a problem. And ultimately you have to decide if it's a problem for you. I'm on-line a lot myself. I work on-line, I go home, and maybe spend 2 or 3 hours on the average night not on-line, then I'm back on-line again. But in the end, I'm married, I get out and socialize with friends, I eat, I sleep, etc.
As for "healthier". Well sitting in one place all the time, eating junk food and pumping yourself with caffiene is probably not much better for you than drinking a lot, smoking, or doing harder drugs. Arguably more people kill themselves with Internet addiction than say marijuana. I've never heard of somebody dying after a four day streak of getting stoned.
This sig has been temporarily disconnected or is no longer in service
All Fsckin' THREE AT ONCE! Would that put me in 3 clinics? That would be a full time job in itself, showing up at all the clinics...
Sig Hansen?
Internet Addiction is becoming a big threat to humanity nowadays.
It's interesting seeing this story taken at face value by so many. I don't think the numerous 'victims of Internet' stories coming out of China are for our consideration. They deigned to influence people in China. I'm guessing they are trying to create suspicion of those who use the Internet and foster a general fear of the Internet.
People get over smoking, drinking, and heroin on their own too. Some people. Others need help.
China's Psychiatric Terror
At its triennial congress in Yokohama last September, the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) overwhelmingly voted to send a delegation to China to investigate charges that dissidents were being imprisoned and maltreated as "political maniacs" both in regular mental hospitals and in police-run psychiatric custodial institutions known as the Ankang. (The word literally means "Peace and Health.")
The psychiatrists who staff these institutions, Dangerous Minds shows, tend to assume that their patients are mad because of their political beliefs or actions. The diagnoses made in both the political dissident and Falun Gong cases, ranging from "delusions of reform" to "paranoid psychosis," are highly reminiscent of the long-discredited label of "sluggish schizophrenia" that the Soviets used to apply to their dissidents and religious nonconformists.
Will the hospital have free WiFi?
________________________________________________
suwain_2
You said that mental illness was an ILLUSION, which is why you got modded down.
It's better to vote for what you want and not get it than to vote for what you don't want and get it.
- E. Debs
"In my opinion, the internet is way better and safer than alcohol and drugs any day."
Sounds like someone is in denial.A friend of a friend of mine has a mother that is this stuffy old woman who runs a car dealership (another story). She claims that computers are "all bad" because "computers are the Internet" and "the Internet is the Web" and "the Web is pornography" and that is illegal !!!
Crunch!
China, the bastion for personal freedom in the eastern hemisphere, doesn't have a history of modifying the normal behaviour of its citizens. I'm frankly very surprised and dismayed that this is taking place.
And yes I'm being mostly sarcastic.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
The submitter's comment sounded like he was trying to legitimize and downplay his own internet addiction by saying "Oh, well at least it's better than drugs and alcohol." I spend a large amount of time on my computer for both work and play, but I still make time to socialize in real life. Drugs and alcohol are used by addicts as an escape from their everyday lives. How is spending 16 hours a day on the internet any different than that? It's just a new medium of escape and should be taken seriously.
There have been numerous cases of people dying due to internet/gaming addiction. When something becomes detrimental to your survival, then it is an addiction and should be treated.
Don't trust a bull's horn, a doberman's tooth, a runaway horse or me.
Recently computers are used in developing dangerous nuclear weapons.
WTF? Steel is also used in developing nuclear weapons. So is plastic and electricity. I should create a blog about the 'negative effects of using steel' I guess?
People are thrown out of their jobs due to the computerization. This has affected the working middle aged persons a lot.
People were thrown out of their jobs due to the invention of the printing press as well.Nowadays computers are misused by lots of people for sharing pornographic materials.
Better ban printed pictures as well. Oh, I guess cave-paintings are dangerous too.
In all seriousness, what is this ragtag group of drivel supposed to mean? I could come up with a simmiar list of the negative effects of useing oxygen.
Living in Japan and with a little knowledge of (South) Korea, it's interesting to compare those relatively free socities to China. There are defintely internet addicts in both countries and while there might be a social stigma on that (defintely in Japan, despite the recent run of Densha Otoko a soap about an internet romance). But indidivuals are relatively free to decide how to spend their leisure time. Moreover, they have access to the wealth of information on the Net.
Whereas in China, this hole into the wide world is obviously a problem for the Chinese government.
Thoughts?
"There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
China has decided that if you are spending too much time online, you must be an addict.
... and as well, DID do when I was a younger man! My physical hobbies have withered on the vine ... generally in favor of hours devoted to reading Internet-based news items.
Makes you wonder. Oriental cultures have a distinctly different approach to social arrangement. And in America, we've seen more than enough people devolving their lives with playing EQ, indulging in chat rooms in lieu of real socialization, ditching husbands, wives and lovers for "true life mates" they meet online, etc.
Often enough, I look at my own life and wonder if I haven't made a bad trade by investing time in Internetting than things I otherwise could do
The Chinese may be onto something here. When a person favors a machine over a person, they may well have a mental problem. And with rampant technophilia in the West, Westerners will probably fight tooth and nail before admitting THAT.
[You have a stable society when some nut guns down a schoolyard and the law doesn't change.]
In my opinion, the internet is way better [...] than alcohol and drugs any day
Dude. get to a clinic.
Why stick up for big business?
Arguably more people kill themselves with Internet addiction than say marijuana. I've never heard of somebody dying after a four day streak of getting stoned.
:)
Indeed. I can't imagine too many people on a four-day weed bender forgetting to eat, for instance
The lack of social contact and prolonged solitude has a profound effect on the mentality of the hikikomori, who gradually lose their social skills and the necessary social references and mores of the outside world. Anguished about their isolation and acutely self aware of their problem, they immerse themselves into the fantasy worlds of manga, television or computer games, which in turn becomes their only frame of reference. As time passes, the hikikomori, lacking interpersonal stimulus, developmentally stagnates into routine behaviors of sleeping all day and staying up all night only to sneak out into the kitchen for food when the family is asleep. Eventually, hikikomori may abandon their diversions of books and TV and simply stare into space for hours at a time. -- Wikipedia, "hikikomori"
It's such a big problem in Japan that the birth rate has dropped substantially.
If you convince the populous that the Internet is a Bad Thing (TM) then it increases the amount of propaganda you can safely distribute.
/Preview
/Submit
/Logout
ctrl+w
I have absolutely no data to back this up, but I think that by doing the bulk of my reading on the net, I'm losing something. I think it's because most of the writing on the net is for 12 year olds and under. There are, of course some exceptions. It's the same as watching too much TV as opposed to reading. My spelling is turning to shit as a result too.
That's my $0.25 opppinion.
Evil people don't think they're evil. - George Lucas, Making of Ep III
well i have more than one question here:
1. what is their definition of addicted to the internet?
2. who decides if you are addicted and should be placed in one of these clinics?
china's government already doesn't like the internet. could this soon be a humane-LOOKING way to do the dirty human-rights-destroying censoring they're already doing? instead of putting someone in jail for the rest of their life because they said something the gov didn't like, they could have them "voluntarily check into an internet addiction clinic".
perhaps this is the most revealing and disturbing part of the article:
"Every day in China, more than 20 million youngsters go online to play games and hit the chat rooms, and that means that internet addiction among young people is becoming a major issue here."
so somehow large numbers of people doing something means that addiction to that something is becoming a major issue?
-- lol pwned
The internet addicts go on a two-week course involving medical treatment, psychological therapy, and daily workouts. The latter are a key part of the programme. Many of the men have spent every waking moment in front of a computer screen and have never experienced regular exercise.
Dr Tao Ran, head of the clinic, said the scale of the problem in China was enormous:
"Every day in China, more than 20 million youngsters go online to play games and hit the chat rooms, and that means that internet addiction among young people is becoming a major issue here.
The freedom one finds in the internet in China must be much greater than when moving about in the outside world. As a primary means of escape, the internet has become the alternate reality of millions of lonely, bored and information-hungry people. The same can be applied to the US and Europe, but as to an addiction, it is no more addictive than television and junk food.
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
If you are honestly working on the internet, that's one thing, but if you are just surfing and gaming for 14+ hours, then you do have a problem.
I think China's approach is a bit much, but think about it, if you're a teenage kid that has completely shut him/herself off from the world, then there is indeed a "problem." The body needs to exercise, and the mind needs face-to-face social interaction. I work on the internet for 8-10 hours a day, but I make it a point to get up, go ride my bike, go to some social event, and workout. It balances things out. So, I think the headgear is a bit over-dramatic, but maybe it's all a placebo to give these teenagers a reality check.
Health Insurance Quotes
Benzos like valium, xanax and klonopin are also considered addictive, but they're quite safe in that the worst that could happen is that you sleep a lot but you will not hit a lethal level (unless you take so many your stomach exploads, like in Se7en with the fat guy). Yes I know if you put barbiturates into the picture, like booze, it's a different story, but if you mix internet addiction with smashing your head into the monitor constantly it can be fatal as well; so the alcohol mixture point doesn't nullify the analogy.
btw: This is supposed to funny.
Send Peter Clifford Francis Macrae comdoms to 23 Bedford St, St.Neots, PE19 1AX, England
I was addicted to MUDs, too. Currently I'm addicted to XBox. Just because (before I got another job) I spent 12-18 hours straight on the computer or with a controller in my hands doesn't mean I forgot to eat or sleep. Now I didn't eat well, just some Ramen, Mountain Dew, and who knows what other junk, but I did force some things into my stomach. And sleep eventually takes care of itself. Though the random characters from a face impacting the keyboard can have a negative effect on your gameplay ... :)
Xbox reviews.. We think they're funny.
Whilst I was in HS I saw my grades drop from straight A's to C's and D's because I was online so much I didn't do any homework or studying. So basically I had no social life (unless you count chat rooms and the like) and wasn't very productive at all.
Idle curiosity: where were your parents/guardians while this was happening? Why wasn't anyone guiding you during your formative years? This is a bigger looming problem than the perils of [alleged] "Internet addiction".
I want to drag this out as long as possible. Bring me my protractor.
This smells like a scam to me. If they think Internet addiction is a problem, where were they with television and radio addiction, phone addiction, newspaper reading addiction, or for that matter Mah Jong addiction? I don't know what their equivalent of Congress is, but they must have corresponding equivalents for hey Senator, nice to see you, oops, you dropped this envelope full of $100 bills, wink wink.
Do they have a web site?
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
Sounds good, anyone know if they offer free Wifi access?
I spent hours and hours a day on BBS's when I was a kid - even met my husband on line. Does that make me a pre-internet adict or just a geek?
Genius is one percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration, which is why engineers sometimes smell really bad.
Certainly does have a lower STD transmission rate than dope or booze.
You say that like it's a *bad* thing.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Is it only me here seeing a more-than-slight resemblence between this and this?
We all know that a good tinfoil hat will prevent such addictions, but ONLY if properly grounded.
I'm seeing so many comments about how the concern about internet addiction is some vast Chinese government conspiracy designed to put people off the internet so that they can't be exposed to new ideas. How about a simpler explanation? That parents are just concerned for their kids? You know you get fears about internet addiction in the West as well. Chinese parents generally take a very controlling attitude to their children's lives. I can definitely see them falling for a clinic scam as well. Chinese mothers esp. thrive on gossip. "My brother's neighbour is a doctor and he says that there's this new medicine..." or "You know, my friend at work's brother says that he read in a newspaper that X causes cancer." happens all the time. Gossip, rumour, "something someone read in a newspaper" are often acted upon by Chinese mothers. It's pretty common.
The Communist party is not to blame for everything in China you know. Sometimes it's just normal scam artists.
"Oh! I see by the Big Board we got a Negative Nellie in Sector Two. I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask the whole family to kind of freeze and prepare for Re-Neducation!"
I'm Wen Jiabao and I approved this message.
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity but they've always worked for me" - HST
I totally denounce the way summary is written and poster allows such posting. It sounds as if people are being force to the clinic (which I don't see in the article, from CNN for gosh sake), and make it sounds horrifying and crazy that they will add '200 beds'. This addiction is uncommon, but problems happens here as well.
Guys, open your eyes instead of just read what you want to read, or post what you want to post. This /. culture of putting down ANYTHING 'China' is sickening me. We in the western world have access to such vast amount of information compare to developing country such as China, yet we would rather use tunnel vision: anything deviates from 'our way' is 'freak'. All prejudice starts from ignorance. Posters: please once and for all think about the way articles are being summarized; if you don't stop them you're pretty much helping to spread the hate.
Yet just a few months ago, someone in Korea died in an internet cafe.
I don't think there is really much difference between addictions, whether you're on heroin, alcohol, glue, or internet. There is a reason people have addictions and its the reason that needs to be addressed. People that have internet addictions now will have drug/alcohol addictions in the future without intervention/therapy. As mentioned above, some people really do need help.
With that said, I wish I could find an addiction that would make me forget to eat.
I don't know, if it's so harmful then why can it net you a nice job if you're good at it?
The same thing couldn't really be said for being a drunk, pothead, smoker, or any of the other "bad" habits I can think of at the moment. Sure in each profession there are connoisseurs, but generally they aren't people who indulge in excess, which is the sign of addiction right? (arguable I guess, but true in the majority of cases)
On the other hand a lot of tech jobs involve quite a bit of internet surfing/interaction per day - enough to satisfy a junkie? Quite possibly.
I'm probably a good example - I learned a lot of what I know from reading tons of material on the internet. In the end it was probably 1/2 trial-and-error and 1/4 random internet reading (Important for knowledge to get the job in the first place) and 1/4 internet research (Finding specific information to maintain the position and keep current)
China Government is right: free (as in freedom) thinking is an addiction: once you taste it you cannot live without it!
I just wonder how big can be an Addiciton Hospital for a billion of people!
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
Slashdot comments about internet addiction is like asking a coke addict if they use too much. It's good that someone is reconizing the problem and treating it. Getting the internet community to see this as a health issue and not political control is another story.
lay off the crack pipe slashdot
You take a people who have been denied non-propagandized news sources all their lives, and hand them an information tool so rich that the government can't effectively stop ALL the light from getting through, and they eat it up.
I wonder if they would treat people who read for 4 hours a day for paper addiction.
With that said, I wish I could find an addiction that would make me forget to eat.
Here you go....just follow this simple program, and you'll shed that unwanted weight in no time! ^_^
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
China's powerful want to keep control of their population as much as possible. This is only another way to achieve this goal.
Oh it couldn't be because japanese women have become pro-women's rights bitches, heavens no!
that is what the government wants you to think
I think that as a society we have decided that every problem must have an excuse. Everything is a disease or an addiction. Granted, I think that this could be true in the majority of these cases. However, I recall when I was a kid that talking in class and not paying attention was just being a normal 10 year old boy. Now it's a disease. What happened to good old personal responsibility and discipline? If you are fat, put down the damn twinkie! If you spend too much time on the Internet, get off the computer! I mean seriously, when are we going to start expecting more from ourselves and quit blaming everyone else, or in this case, making up some addiction to blame for one's personal choices.
Do what is right and let the consequence follow
The headgear looks pretty cool... is it some kind of new game interface? Where do I get it?
"The Internet has expanded our ability to pacify average Americans better than ever by offering fantastical adventures to every corner of the imagination. Your home office is the window to your world, and the heart of your social life."
I use a 5 step program:
1. Admit you have a problem.
2. Connect online only through a Wildcat BBS system and 9600 baud Hayes Courier.
3. Connect online only to text based CompuServe using a 300 baud modem circa 1985.
4. Freedom from addiction.
5. Profit! (mine)
There are many people that use the Internet for socialising instead, since it's easier to communicate for them compared to "real world". It's easy to speak with people, you don't get distracted by other things... I think the Internet is great for people who otherwise has problems with socialising.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8430811/
"It's the little touches that make a future solid enough to be destroyed" --William S. Bourroughs
I agree that people who use the internet to the point that they aren't eating, sleeping, bathing, holding down jobs or keeping grades up is a bad thing. But how common a problem is it that it becomes that drastic? Personally, I see this as the continuing war against people who simply want to be left alone. The article is talking about China, but I see it here in the US in the form of general pressures for people to be "team players" and the encouragment of competitive behavior. Like it or not, not everyone was meant to be an outgoing social person who likes being with other people. But those people want some kind of connection to the outside world and the internet gives them that. From what I've seen, most introverts don't like the fact that they aren't in control. Again, computers and the internet address that. There is nothing wrong with wanting to control the way things happen and it can be very frustrating and distressing when you can't control other people. At least machines and the internet allow introverts that kind of control.
I have to wonder how long before the corporate world (who seem to abhor individuality and introverts) tries to make it a "disease" when you want to be alone and dislike most people? We've already seen the introduction of drugs for social anxiety disorder. Again, there are certainly people who can benefit from that. But the problem lies in these sorts of things being overdiagnosed. All of those people out there who like to spend time alone working on their own interests will suddenly be labelled "disordered" because they don't want to join the rest of the morons in haging out at bars, watching sports or reality TV and buying into mainstream political views. We're fast moving towards a kind of hell that I really don't want to be a part of. Anyone who tells me I've got some kind of "disorder" is full of crap. I just genuinely don't like most people unless they pass my social litmus test. There's nothing wrong with being selective and making friends online... That's not an addiction, it's an outlet.
-"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
In soviet russia drugs take you! anyway, the best thing about the internet, is drugs, you can be completely wasted and there is so much to entertain your brain in its childish state :)
FlyGuy is amazing when you've had a few bongs and its 3am...
"the internet is way better and safer than alcohol and drugs any day"
SPeak for yourself...
"We are all geniuses when we dream"
- E.M. Cioran
From TFA:He used to spend hours online each day, often going without food or sleep. His face is drawn and sallow.
Could someone explain the difference between the above statement, and those used by Comp Sci, and Engineering students nearing assignment due dates and exams?
I remember taking two courses in the same semester that everyone warned me about not taking in the same semester. That resulted in me "often going without food or sleep" in an effort to make deadlines. I entered the semester a healthy student, came out looking like I went to war.
They should have clinics for people like me filled with young nurse hotness.
Live forever, or die trying.
Totalitarian countries- which China aspires to, although they cannot achieve it at the moment- have historically used mental health as a way to subjugate and control dissidents. No stalinist or maoist show trial was complete without a learned doctor explaining that the defendant was almost certainly crazy (and if they weren't, they probably would be by the time the train got back from Siberia). Mental health hospitals were used as prisons for a special class of criminal- those who committed thoughtcrime. These "clinics" are nothing more than an extension of this totalitarian approach.
It's not surprising that China is undergoing an internal struggle over how to handle the internet- the net is the most obvious disease vector for thoughtcrime there could be. It's also the key to unlocking China's economic potential, allowing much simpler commercial integration with the rest of the world. It's hard for the authorities to keep a lid on it- no matter how much companies like google, cisco, and yahoo willingly participate in selling freedom down the river.
I suspect that this is intended to be a warning to dissidents- 200 beds in China won't be terribly effective- and perhaps a symbol for the other members of the politburo as to how sincere their sponsor is in his willingness to crush dissent, particularly people who dare to post anything of significance on their blogs.
These guys don't play games, they kill people.
What a strange bird is the pelican, his beak can hold more than his belly can.
I doubt the existence of this clinic. I've noticed that all these "internet addiction" or "man plays online for days straight and dies" stories come out in regular intervals and only from Asian countries. If anything, I would say that these stories are fabricated by the governments of said countries and picked up as fact by other news agencies.
It's just propaganda, nothing more. Look at the headgear that guy's got on. What purpose could it possibly serve in curing "internet addiction"? Methinks the story and the pictures serve to scare the populace from excessive computer use (assuming they actually take these stories seriously).
"...self-confessed internet addict..." "But I couldn't control my addiction."
Sound scripted? Like somebody told him what to say? This just reeks of 1984.
- I voted for Nintendo and against Bush
Clockwork Orange reference. Too bad I don't have mod points today. 8-)
Tyranny isn't the worst enemy of a democracy. Cynicism is.
what about ordering a beer online?
...games all day? Treating the internet addiction is clearly just treating the symptoms. What really needs to be cured is the desire of these people to interact with other people. Not only would this stop people using chat rooms - it might stop then posting in blogs and most importantly of all - it would stop them using the most obnoxious and dangerous form of technology invented in the last century: the mobile phone. If these people would just stop trying to be sociable then the world would be a much better place.
We naturally select for addictive personality. In fact, I'd say that another word, more positively connotative, is 'driven.' The Chinese are a pretty driven people, and have naturally selected this trait (they aren't alone in this). Now, since information is at their fingertips, they're addicted to it.
I'm not saying that it shouldn't be treated. I'm saying the opposite, in fact. What I am hoping to add to the discussion is the idea that all addictions are *probably* genetic. Certain ethnicities have been shown to have a propensity toward certain addictions (native americans to alcoholism for example).
You know that consumerism? That burning desire to be super-successful? It's natural (as in nature vs. nurture) addictive personality. You are more likely (albeit slightly) to have an addiction to drugs, alcohol, power, adrenaline, sex, etc. than your parents. We even embrace that as 'rebeliousness.'
If I'm right, then this has dire consequences for society over the (really) long term.
Does that head gear include a looping recording of Beethoven's 9th Symphony?
Hmm...let's compare: Clockwork Orange to Chinese Internet Addict Clicnic
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
When are they going to extend to Korea?
/. articles -- err, gathering research materials for that proposal due next week.
When, oh when?
These people aren't being diagnosed with internet addiction based on symptoms, they're willfully coming forth and admitting that they have problems with self-control. There is no such thing as a better-than/worse-than addiction, and there is no grand-scheme social conspiracy. These are people who have accepted the fact that they spend way too much time and money reading
Rehab isn't about eliminating unwanted behaviors, it's about introducing and reinforcing newer, more positive behaviors. It's about restructuring day-to-day habits... you know, the kind that involve eating, sleeping, and keeping yourself clean. It looks as though some of them are even learning about this fabled thing called exercise.
I can stop looking at slashdot whenever i want :-)
No kidding, if you were still using BBS's in 1994 then you would have had to been extremely hard-core since the rest of us had already moved to the Internet.
Smartass; actually, there were plenty of BBSs *on the Internet* in 1994. I know because I used them (*) when I first got in the net in late 1993 (before I'd heard of the WWW, and was still trying to figure out gopher) and they were still there in mid-1995.
Obviously they died out in the face of the web and such like, but they did exist and let you do 'BBS-ish' things, such as uploading files, leaving messages, chatting, and so on. If you think about it, it's pretty natural this should happen; phone-based BBSs used your computer as a glorified terminal, and the telnet protocol/program does pretty much the same thing. Like it or not, cultures don't change overnight, and the culture in the early-1990s was still BBS-based.
OTOH, telnet itself doesn't get as much use these days either...
(*) Actually, I've *only* used Internet-based BBSs; never dial-up ones.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
Otherwise known as China's Porn Addiction Clinic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroencephalogram
Yeah.
This 'clinic' is selling digital snake oil...nothing more.
;(
My first thought is that they are brainwashing these kids that come in for 'treatment'. Which is an even scarier thought. *sigh*
China scares me more and more every day.
Jho
Sorry man... the Internet pooped on me.
Like seriously.
Can't they just cure the Internet addiction online?
Would be so much easier to go to a website that helps you with your addiction than to go to China....
I can't believe we are wasting our time arguing or talking about this sort of behavior. In the future, when direct connect to brain tissue or brain waves is not only possible, but a "commodity", millions will choose to lay around for hours, days or perhaps forever, while thier consciousness is "online"
Computers controlled via thought
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
The headgear looks like an EEG (electro encypphalogram) probe to me. In other words, it is used to measure brain voltages. Probably to see which portions of the brain are active while you perform specific actions. Maybe there is an 'addiction-region' in the brain or so? Anyway it does not look unreasonable to use it and it doesn't hurt.
Unlike USSR, people actually believe the Chinese government this time. It shows how far in the past USSR is when kids now believe in such a thing as internet addiction. Or maybe it isn't the distance in time but our dissatisfaction with capitalism that makes us want to believe in China's government.
Maybe the political divisiveness in the western world is so great that we want to believe China's state news is for real and it really doesn't have a terrorist problem. We want to believe that a centrally run economy works and free market economics is the wrong road.
Maybe telling free market economists they have an addiction is the right strategy.
In my opinion, the internet is way better and safer than alcohol and drugs any day.
...Well sir, while I may not agree with what you have to say I will defend with my life your right to say it :P
... but that's just my opinion, IANAP(sychologist)
But seriously, the article isn't about ranking addictions, it is merely trying to define them by examples and liken what they call internet addiction to that definition/those examples.
Now, while the clinic mentioned may be bunk, I feel that the concept of internet addiction is not. The way I see it, an addiction is a lack of moderation in one part of one's life. I think we can all agree the internet is part of our lives. And thus, an addiction to it must be possible
Most people are afraid of being alone.
... Kirk, "The Mark of Gideon," stardate 5423.4..
Odona, the daughter of Gideon Council leader Hodan, is returned to her people delighted that she will cause a lethal plague to reduce the overpopulation.
We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
I think Slashdotters may be a bit too eager to see everything technology-related the Chinese government does as a bad thing. What's scary about this? It's not like they will be forcing people to enter these clinics. They're providing a service that will be valuable or even life-saving (so to speak) for some. Hint: thats a GOOD thing.
Reminds me of old anti-Soviet propaganda where the country was criticized for attacking the institution of marriage and the family (in favor of loyalty to the state, or so the propaganda went) by providing free child care.
Property is theft.
They are doing something much more far-reaching... brainwashing the populace into thinking they need the treatment in the first place, or will need the treatment if they let their internet browsing get out of hand. All they have to do is make this clinic look as unappealing as possible and fill it with 'self-proclaimed' internet addicts who are all on the verge of death, and all of a sudden people are afraid to touch a computer. Clever clever...
I sometimes wonder how much of this is a drive by a medicine industry to seek out new diseases and develop cures for them. The United States certainly isnt immune from this tendency. Half of the commercials on news shows seem to be for "diseases" of little concern a decade or more ago.
In my opinion, marijuana is way better and safer than alcohol and other drugs any day.
In my opinion, prescription pills are way better and safer than alcohol and other drugs any day.
In my opinion, sex is way better and safer than alcohol and drugs any day.
In my opinion, extreme sports are way better and safer than alcohol and drugs any day.
You'd better watch it, you yourself could be an addict :)
Those who know, do not speak. Those who speak, do not know. ~Lao Tzu
I was on a web board the other day where someone asked the owner to temporarily ban her because she couldn't control herself enough to take a break and stay away from the board.
Given that we are talking about the PRC I suspect a sinister motive, bu t whether it is addiction or just compulsion I think there might be something beyond just the sinister motive.
You survived, right, that's super. And how many hours a day do you spend trying to get first post and point out dupes on Slashdot? Now imagine if you channeled all that time and energy into something useful... maybe a job? That nurse isn't so scary after all, is she?
And I've heard that a substantial portion of chinese citizens have a serious labor addiction, working 18+ hours a day. They don't sleep or eat well either, and don't earn much on top of that.
But I'm sure the chinese government are on top of that too, helping all these people get a break!
There's no 'on' position on the Slacker switch!
In my opinion, the internet is way better and safer than alcohol and drugs any day.
Who says alcohol and drugs and the Internet are mutually exclusive? Ever seen a drunk stoned nerd trolling Slashdot? Now THAT's dangerous!
Anyone who believes those clinics are supposed to treat Internet addiction, is just sooo naive. They are to eliminate the democratic opposition, just as the USSR used to put its dissidents into asylums. It will be very easy to say "he spends too much time on the Internet" (it being an important means of communication for every self-respecting dissident) and put him/her in the clinic, for "treatment".
"Long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead." (John Maynard Keynes)
Addiction is where any behavior begins to affect how you live your life. I'm addicted to breathing, eating and sleeping, but I can live a normal life doing all of these things. It's when you do something to such an extent that it significantly harms your way of life.
/. so I don't know how it came up). His definition of insanity was that to be insane, you had to be unable to either work or love. And I can see Internet addiction doing that to some people.
In Literature Theory class yesterday we were talking about Freud (yeah, was on
Is there a website I can go to for more information?
Believe it or not, once you mastered "the munchies",you start to loose weight-
w00000t!!!
^_^
Suppress your higher brain functions? You maybe need to re-examine your propaganda-based beliefs. Suppressing your desire to do anything but get more alcohol and drugs? What are you smoking? That's just addictive behavior, and the only reasons drugs are so correlated with it is because they're the lowest common "feel-good" denominator (well, along with sex). Boy, people sure waste a lot of time having sex, I guess we'd better outlaw it before it becomes an epidemic.
You are the screaming stereotype of the ignorant, judgmental, anti-drug zealot with no more education or experience on the subject than the D.A.R.E. tripe you were fed in high school.
Anyway, go back to living your non-addictive, drug-free lifestyle (which I'm sure doesn't include caffeine, because anything that addictive and destructive must be a tool of a state).
If other reasons we do lack, we swear no one will die when we attack
Don't forget there is a patch for internet addiction. Just download it at....
"It is not my intent to offend, but if offense is taken, the fault lies with the audience." attributed to Patrick Henry
Some people can't tell their ass from a hole in the ground.
Some don't have the will power and self control of a infant.
I have thoughts about this, but I'll post them when I get my hunter to level 51...
The perfect sig is a lot like silence, only louder
I know. If others discover the tactics of the USA and uses them we're all done for.
if all addicts from slashdot signed in at once, is that also a form of slashdotting?
China is just worried that internet surfers will be able to access sites that Yahoo hasn't blocked yet.
Internet addiction which seems to be overglorified bad habit is a social addiction not a physical. It doesn't produce any ill health effects or affect your physiology in any way. However, it does take a hit at productivity which can be bad. Reading slashdot a few times a day during can be hampering but it is controllable. It is like reading the news paper in the morning. It just something you do out of routine. Now, porn addiction is a different animal, but I leave it as we discussed this to death on slashdot.
You don't have to be smart to use a Mac, you just have to be smart enough to buy one
Good way to learn math, true, but apparently not to understand it. Anyone who truly understands probabilities won't gamble, knowing that it's the casinos that win.
"That's so plausible, I can't believe it!" - Leela
if the gov't can claim it's dangerous to your health, it just validates any law or efforts to control and regulate the internet.
Peace, or Not?
but original objective story has a little comments It is only about a clinik in beijing want to cure abnormity caused by internet. "The symptoms of internet addiction mentioned in the article include sleep deprivation, depression, and nervous shaking of the hands." but why writer think it is a nation action ("China has decided that if you are spending too much time online, you must be an addict")?
Thats a good thought, but delete 'the internet' and replace with 'yourself' :D
>>could lead to independent thought
>omg lol
Me too!
I recently read some news from South Korea, mentioning people who died by having gaming sessions for days (and nights) without sleeping and eating enough.
Different from people in Europe, about 70 percent of the South Koreans have broadband internet access, and half of them are gamers. Hence, I think, internet may be a real threat for the nation.
Here's an USA today article related to that topic in Korea.
Why shouldn't that be true for China as well?
Okay, China is a totalitarian system, but does that exclude, that this kind of threat exists there?
If you're interested in sending fan mail, TripMaster Monkey is really Michael Hokenson of 1515 Crystal Lake Cir. Apt #5, Green Bay, WI 54311
I'm sure he'd appreciate anything witty or insightful, especially if it's received early in the day (First Mail gets priority reading).
Please go away. You're karmawhoring blather has reached a crescendo and thus I speak for the /. community in asking that you fuck yourself and never return. -- Thank you.