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China Bans Physical Punishment For Net Addicts

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the no-more-actually-kicking-the-habit dept.

gimmebeer writes to tell us that months after a teen was beaten to death in an Internet boot camp, China has banned the use of physical punishment to help teens kick their net addiction. "The death of 15-year-old Deng Senshan, just hours after he checked into an Internet bootcamp in the southwestern Guangxi region in early August, caused a media storm in China. Days later, another teenager, Pu Liang, was taken to hospital with water in the lungs and kidney failure after a similar attack in Sichuan Province. The government in July had already banned electroshock therapy as a treatment for Internet addiction, after media reports about a controversial psychiatrist who administered electric currents to nearly 3,000 teenagers. The latest guidelines suggest officials in Beijing do not think that those with unhealthy Internet habits should be forced offline permanently."

7 of 139 comments (clear)

  1. Wow, that's impressive by pclminion · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Wow, so you banned beatings for ONE class of prisoners. What a step forward China.

    1. Re:Wow, that's impressive by palegray.net · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The parent should not be modded "flamebait." If this is how people who have been determined to suffer from an addiction to the Internet are treated, imagine what must be happening to those diagnosed with more "serious" addictions to other vices. Add in gross human rights violations against those accused of actual crimes, and the situation begins to look very grim.

      --
      512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
    2. Re:Wow, that's impressive by Darkness404 · · Score: 5, Insightful
      A prisoner is defined as:

      a person who is confined; especially a prisoner of war

      lets see here, the kids A) Didn't choose to come on their free will B) Can't leave when they choose C) Are mentally stable and can make their own decisions and D) are being held against their will. I would call them prisoners.

      --
      Taxation is legalized theft, no more, no less.
    3. Re:Wow, that's impressive by schon · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A) Didn't choose to come on their free will B) Can't leave when they choose C) Are mentally stable and can make their own decisions and D) are being held against their will.

      By your intrepretation a toddler put in a crib is also a prisoner.

      Methinks you skipped some of the criteria there.

  2. I read this as.... by russ1337 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "The death of 15-year-old Jake Simpson, just hours after he checked into an Copyright bootcamp in the southwestern Californian region in early August, caused a media storm in the USA. Days later, another teenager, Paul Schmitt, was taken to hospital with water in the lungs and kidney failure after a similar attack in Seattle. The government in July had already banned electroshock therapy as a treatment for Copyright Infringers, after media reports about a controversial RIAA psychiatrist who administered electric currents to nearly 3,000 teenagers. The latest guidelines suggest officials in Washington do not think that those with unhealthy copyright habits should be forced offline permanently."

  3. Wrong source? by BoppreH · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Electroshock therapy for Internet addiction? Are you sure this isn't from The Onion?

  4. these camps by euyis · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The real nature of these camps:

    Parents take the children (not always children, at least in one case it's an adult - university student) to the camps, with force or deception, pay the camp owner money and leave. No questions asked - they don't care whether the "patients" are really "net addicted" or not. Then the victims are stuck here, beaten and drugged by the drillmasters every day. Most of them are runied forever when they leave (alive).

    So it's basically a way for the parents to get rid of their problematic children, without trying to solve the real problem behind - survey indicates that most "net-addicted" children's parents have bad habits, e.g. addiction to gambling, and don't care what does the child think.