Outside Beijing, a Military-style Bootcamp For "Internet Addiction"

Press2ToContinue writes Last year, China recognized internet addiction as an official disorder. Since then, over 6,000 patients have submitted themselves for treatment, after some spent up to 14 hours a day online. And as these amazing pictures show, dealing with it is serious. The Daxing Internet Addiction Treatment Centre (IATC) is a military-style bootcamp nestled in the suburbs of Bejing. The young men that enter its doors are subjected to a strict military regime of exercise, medication and solitary confinement. Any kind of electronic gadgetry is completely banned. Additionally, patients are frequently subjected to psychiatric assessments and brain scans to make sure they stay on the straight and narrow. And the concept is gaining steam; the first Internet Congress on Internet Addiction Disorders was held in Milan in early 2014. Despite its recent official classification, Is internet addiction a real disorder? Or is it a red herring masking depression and escapism? And to make things more indeterminate, Isn't more and more time online the inevitable future?

Comments

It is Bullshit, IMO

[gweihir]

Back in the day when I was a pupil I had "library addiction" for several years. I spent most of my free time in the library reading books. I event took a lot of books with me to read somewhere else. It was a fascinating experience with all the knowledge in there. Nobody in their right mind would have thought it was a problem. This "Internet addiction" is not different in any way I can see.

Re:It is Bullshit, IMO

[Mashiki]

Except 'online gaming' is far from useless. I use it(along with regular gaming) as part of my pain management under the recommendation of my neurologist and pain specialist. It helps reduce the amount of addicting narcotics I need to take, which in my book is a good thing. The reality is, some people can have a problem with anything. I rank 'internet addiction' far below actual social/societal problems in terms of things that should be looked at. You know, like poverty, substance abuse, general run of the mill abuse, malnutrition, etc., this entire thing comes off as the 'new boogeyman' that someone thought would be great to rally around so government busybodies look like they're doing something.