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Inside A Korean Rehab Camp For Web Addiction
caffeinemessiah writes "The New York Times has a story about a Korean kids' camp for 'curing' Internet addiction. 'Seventeen hours a day online is fine,' said one such kid at the camp. From the article: 'Drill instructors drive young men through military-style obstacle courses, counselors lead group sessions, and there are even therapeutic workshops on pottery and drumming ... this year, the camp held its first two 12-day sessions, with 16 to 18 male participants each time. (South Korean researchers say an overwhelming majority of compulsive computer users are male.)'"
I've cut back to only 4 letters a day now. I'm almost cured!
Seventeen hours? Amateur.
If all the Koreans are cured of their internet addiction, where will we get our gold farmers? China? They aren't nearly as dedicated! I bet they only get 15 hours of gold farming a day! Sleep they say! Who needs that?
You can either be an extremely powerful wizard ruling your domain with an iron fist or you can make pots and drum. Yes, that's a terrific alternative.
http://twitter.com/OLDTELEGRAM
addiction is a driving force in humans, you never get rid of addiction you just replace it with something less destructive.... i mean lets face it these kids COULD be addicted to crack instead. i think computers are a pretty healthy outlet for such personalities.
If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
Those people who become addicted to the internet and spend all of their time online will be less likely to breed. That should eventually lead to an "internet resistant" strain of human being capable of using the internet to accomplish tasks and then walk away.
Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
ok...I am gonna get flamed.
So here goes.
Addicted to computer games. Games that let you do more than any gov't/religion/philosophy will
ever let you do in "real" life.
I've played many computer games. virutal sex, virtual violence, virtual GOD, virtual CEO, etc, etc.
Did "real" life show me any of these things? FUCK NO!
"real" life taught me I'm nothing. That I would be better dead, or not born at all.
"real" life taught me that being "different" is a fucking shit crime.
"real" life taught me that speaking out against authority is SO evil its called terrorism.
"real" life taught me that people who drink are more powerful than non-drinkers.
Real life is a joke. Real life can kiss my fucking ass.
The computer, aka simulator, aka simulacrum, enables me to do what "real" life would never
let me do.
I have learned that everything is possible outside "real" life.
"real" life is SO limiting. You can't do this without $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Money.
what? oh? SO you are a fucking dictator.
I see.
You can't do this without permission? WHAT THE FUCK? Since when do I need your permission?
Nothing but power games. Some people think freedom is here.
Freedom isn't here. It isn't anywhere.
The prisoners of capitalism, democracy, communism, dictatorships, moderators, religion, etc.
Humans are prisoners of their own BRAIN.
Humans are bred to be authority driven. Its so easy to boss people around. Its not enough funny.
You are addicted to computer games? Oh, so?
Your addicted to "real" life. Your addicted to systems of slavery that have been here for at least 10 thousand years.
Your still addicted to food, air, sex, social gatherings, sleep, etc.
"real" life is slavery.
Games allow you to do what you want. Period.
Good or Evil becomes totally fulfilled.
In "real" life you have to fit in with the society. Be it cannibalism, stupid laws, stupid festivals, stupid mating games, etc.
Do you want to know the next "real" disasters?
Nuclear war is one of them.
Most of California will FALL into the ocean. lol. suckers.
Japan, New York, South Korea : ALL underwater. Gone. Obliterated.
War, Famine, Death, Plague : They will return with vengeance.
I forgot the superbugs. Heh heh. The weak will perish.
you want "real". You got it.
Lets see how you handle "real".
When these disasters become a reality, no one will say "I was right".
No one will be alive. rofl.
You can keep your "real" world.
I'm so glad Washington is on the soviets nuke target list. At least something good will happen.
ahhhh...no more white house. bwah hah hah.
Back to the topic :
addiction to computer games is far superior than addiction to the "real" world.
Freedom cannot be found when the chains of Man hold you down.
Freedom is not found in Man, homosapiens, etc.
Break free of the human brain.
FREEDOM!
Note : You are all slaves of space-time, matter, and this universe.
A prison you can see and taste and hear, yet are blind to it.
You accept this prison as "real".
Grow the fuck up.
Five human senses tell you everything ? Yeah, and ten fingers can hold 10000000000 tons without breaking.
Limited human intellect can tell you everything? Yeah, and I can make money on slashdot. LOL.
Let the flaming begin.
Assuming the ass moderators don't delete everything here. I wouldn't be surprised.
Censorship is rife throughout the world. Including the USA and Canada.
Freedom my ass.
Much of the reason Asia is obsessed with MMORPGs is because they provide a form of escape from everything. Students are pressured much harder to succeed there, and failure really isn't tolerated. As a result, children are disinclined to try new things, because they might not be very good at them.
The need for such treatment camps is perhaps symptomatic of this underlying issue - that, life is so dull/boring that a virtual world is far more entertaining. You can take risks their, and noone will think less of you for it. (Noone out of the game, at least)
The only difference from this and going on a true vacation, is on a true vacation you usually are relaxed and get to enjoy life. With the rehab camp, it sounds like you will hate life and yourself. Vacations involve technology such as computers. True vacations may include conveniences, but should contain a void of computers, cell phones, or any other wide-scale communication device. You can have them, but only use them during extremes. Just my thoughts, although I do not feel I have had a true vacation since I was a child, and even then, I spent a lot of time trying to communicate in a global sense...
You have a great point. People might actually listen, if you stop ranting for a second and say your views in a clear, concise manner.
That being said, I don't believe you deserve a negative score. I was forced to stop and think for a second.
Just -1, Troll talking to another.
Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
Some clever kid is going to figure out a way to get his drum to transmit information to a waiting microphone, that will encode the data and upload it to the internet.
Hopefully I didn't put any [] around my words.
Do you have to attend in person, or is there an online version available?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
As usual with addictions.
... well, it's easier to just stuff those kids into boot camps. No solution, but gives us that fuzzy warm feeling we're "doing something".
Folks, people don't get addicted because it's funny. People don't shoot heroin into their veins because it's such a swell feeling. Neither do people spend 24/7 on the internet because it's their kick.
In either case people get addicted because it's an escape from something. And unless that something is solved, they will eventually end up where they are now. You have to replace that addiction with something sensible. Now, what does that bootcamp offer? Drill sergeants and getting a kick in the nuts? Yeah, that's something I wouldn't wanna escape from.
Now, internet addiction is probably more of a problem than heroin addiction. Especially when it becomes a widespread phenomenon amongst youths. Generally, it means that there's not something wrong with them but with the world around them. My money would be on insane pressure to perform.
But to change that, we'd probably have to change society. And
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
So here is the deal, we reinsert you in the matrix if you give us the codes of Zion...
Lets remember the couple of guys who have died after going on an internet bender; for me, its all about balance; sure, I spend a few hours on the internet, but I tend to watch no television, what I do on the internet is reading articles or related to university study.
The problem I think also happens when people use the internet to replace human interaction; like I said, I use the internet for a few hours each day, but watching no internet and social during the day, it balances out eventually.
The question that needs to be asked - is why? why are they addicted to it? it isn't just as simple as "oh, he has an interests" - interests come and go, interests tend to have a finite limit on how long one can do that given interest before wanting to do something else.
Internet addiction tends to be the symptom of a much larger, more complex problem.
Ok, the headline says "web" addiction, but is that really accurate? The people who are addicted, what do they actually do online?
Read? Watch videos? Listen to music? Play games? Ok, let's say they spend 12 hours a day doing these things.
4 hours reading web sites
2 hours watching videos on Youtube
4 hours playing Counterstrike
2 hours listening to streaming music
Now, let's get rid of the Internet and say they did this instead:
4 hours reading books
2 hours watching a DVD
4 hours playing checkers
2 hours listening to a victrola
Hey, are they "real life" addicted now?
What if I went inside and outside my apartment to do things. Am I now addicted to doors? No, the doors give me a a way to get to places where I can do "stuff" I want/need to do.
Addicted to the Internet? How about "doing things they enjoy/have to do"? The Internet is not the "target". It's what it allows you to do. If all the Internet had was the WWW (nothing but HTTP servers), and they all contained web pages filled with the word "monkey", there would be no "Internet addiction".
It's a means to an end; it is not an end unto itself.
Now, if you want to argue that people are addicted to some individual thing that you just happen to be able to do on the Internet, fine. Game addiction, "chatting" addiction, "reading" addiction, OK. There's a reason it's called "nicotine" addiction and not "cigarette" addiction. Means != ends.
The label is stupid.