Doctors Specialise In Weaning Young Web Heads Off Internet
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday May 28, 2005
Liu Pinyi is a new kind of addict being treated in a Chinese military clinic here: she is hooked on the internet.
This week the 19-year-old dropout from a telecommunications college voluntarily entered the clinic for 10 to 15 days residential treatment to get her off the net. The clinic, run by Dr Tao Ran at the Beijing Military Hospital, has 14 young patients at any one time. They are mostly forced to go by parents who are worried about their day-and-night sessions on interactive web games. The course costs 400 yuan ($64) a day.China has 94 million regular users of the internet, and out of them a survey suggests 4.4 million are teenagers addicted to the point where they neglected all else. "The real world meant nothing to me when I was fully involved with online games," Ms Liu told the South China Morning Post. "I lost track of time, space, hunger, pain, everything." South Korea, the world's most wired nation, has already reported young people dropping dead from lack of sleep during game sessions. The addicts develop a chemical imbalance in the brain, stimulating production of a compound called 5-HT, which produces feelings of euphoria while online. When away from the screen, levels drop off and the addict suffers withdrawal symptoms including anxiety and headaches. An educational consultant,Tao Hongkai, says: "Chinese education places so much emphasis on test scores that the children cannot grow up psychologically healthy."
© 2005 Sydney Morning Herald