South Korea To Shut Some Video Games Off For Six Hours Every Night
from the go-to-sleep dept
For quite some time, authorities in South Korea have contended that a lot of kids there are addicted to the internet. One of the more misguided steps take to try and "cure" these kids was to put them in a boot camp where they couldn't use computers, but apparently that effort failed. So, now, the government is mandating a six-hour nightly curfew (via Gizmodo) for 19 online role-playing games that account for 79 percent of the Korean online game market. Apparently the curfew will help "eradicate video game addiction", and will apply only to underage users. However, it's not clear how the government will ensure users are accurately representing their age. It'll be great that some kids will be prompted to get their sleep, but once again, it seems like the curfew will just treat a symptom, not the underlying problem that leads people to get unhealthily immersed in online games.![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: internet addiction, south korea, video games
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
What is this "unhealthy problem."
A friend of mine is concerned about his son. But this same boy plays hours of road hockey everyday. I fail to see the problem.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
The government is treating the problem as if it's online gaming, when the real problem is the obsessive behavior.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
And poor parenting, and an ever-shortening list of legal engaging experiences in the outdoors, and widespread social-anxiety disorder, counter-narcissistic revulsion, and on and on.
But yeah.. playing a game non-stop is absolutely behavior of the individual.
'tao' do you think the government should be involved in regulating stupid but non-criminal behavior?
After all, is not the best government the one that does not govern at all?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Then you mix in a huge incentive to present yourself as older, and this bill is almost entirely useless. It will simply be annoying to a few people who weren't interested enough in a game to figure out a way around it, but those people weren't the ones with the problem.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Reality Check
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Reality Check
For example, in many societies if a child engages in hours and hours of sports related activity, that is usually considered healthy and commended. Similarly, if a child spends all their time playing a musical instrument. But as soon as you put "online" into the equation, suddenly it's some evil, unhealthy activity that must be eradicated.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Reality Check
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Reality Check
Best comment I am going to read today! May I used that as my Facebook status?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
All I am saying is that video games are like crack.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Everything in moderation, my friend, everything in moderation.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Its quite dificult for us to comment on S korea due to how pervasive the internet is in their country, its easy to say its the parents responsability but this is the same country were 2 parents left their child to starve because they were "raising" a virtual child.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Also, how many hours of tv do people watch? Zoned out like a zombie staring at the tv. At least games have multiplayer and you can still interact with people and keep your mind active.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
what comes around goes around(and around and around, etc)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re:
newspapers and movie theater both went through the same thing in their time. I know that play actors in the 1850s were considered "the devils children" (it was actually a pretty big scandal that Lincoln loved the theater so much). everything is considered evil by the previous generation. in my opinion, though, video games have gotten a really bad rap for a very long time. almost what 40 years? the tv and internet took less than a decade to become household words, but video games are still considered "evil"
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Wait...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
they're not treating it as some witchhunt, they're treating it like a public health crisis.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
hi there
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Video Games
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Video Games
[ link to this | view in chronology ]