Nineteen Year Old Girl Abused To Death At Chinese Internet Addiction Camp

from the permanently-offline dept

While there has been blissfully only minor advancement in the US about the non-existent disease known as "internet addiction", the same can't be said of certain other countries. South Korea has a version of it, which mostly involves shutting down online video games for a certain portion of the day. But the real mover and shaker in this made up land of dependency is China, where six hours online a day makes you an addict (someone tell my employer!) and they've actually gone so far as to create internet addiction "camps" where people learn to eschew cat videos, Facebook posts about food, and ostensibly the news posted online that they're probably being horribly abused at that very camp.

That seems to be the tone of the reporting now that one family has been compensated $120,000 after their 19 year old girl was killed at one of these camps.

Earlier this year in May, LingLing passed away in a hospital in Zhengzhou, Henan province. It was reported by the Chinese media that she actually died before reaching the hospital. LingLing was reported to be attending Zhengzhou Boqiang New Idea Life Training School. While at addiction camp, LingLing was singled out by her instructors. She was reportedly taken to "extra" lessons on more than one occasion. According to another girl that attended the addiction camp, LingLing was singled out. According to the media and government reports, LingLing was beaten and dropped onto hard surfaces. The Zhengzhou coroners office reported that LingLing died from extreme head trauma.

I guess I'm not really certain what picture I had in my head when I imagined an internet addiction camp, but it sure as hell didn't involve young women getting their brains beaten so badly that they expire. Also, that hundred-and-twenty-large seems a little light, considering the horror this family had to go through after being duped into believing such an internment was necessary to begin with. It all sounds worse when the report goes on to state that incidents of abuse have happened at these camps several times before as well.

So, while the "camp" in question, the one that essentially murdered a young girl, has had its license revoked, Chinese parents are going to have to start asking themselves which is more dangerous: "internet addiction" or the camps that purport to fix internet addiction.

Filed Under: china, internet addiction, internet addiction camp

PA Hospital First To Open Inpatient Treatment Program For Addiction To The Internet

from the does-that-make-us-pushers? dept

It's been a while since we heard supposedly smart health professionals, who are clearly addicted to making claims about addiction, discuss internet addictions. You may recall that a couple of years back, China declared that spending six hours in a day on the internet meant you were addicted. Even some of our domestic psychiatrists were lobbying for an addiction to the internet being included in the DSM book, which is the kind of light reading that would give a hypochondriac a case of the tight-pants. Sadly, to date, the concept of an overarching addiction to the internet hasn't been deemed fit for inclusion.

But that won't stop hospitals from profiting off of the concept, now that the very first inpatient program to treat internet addiction has been launched at Bradford Regional Medical Center in Pennsylvania.

The voluntary, 10-day program is set to open on Sept. 9 at the Behavioral Health Services at Bradford Regional Medical Center. The program was organized by experts in the field and cognitive specialists with backgrounds in treating more familiar addictions like drug and alcohol abuse.

"[Internet addiction] is a problem in this country that can be more pervasive than alcoholism," said Dr. Kimberly Young, the psychologist who founded the non-profit program. "The Internet is free, legal and fat free."

As someone who has to use the internet for most of the day due to employment requirements, you can understand how worried I am about this. Would my time be better spent drinking sweet, awesome scotch, or snorting a couple of lines off my desk? It's hard to know for sure, but I suppose I should probably switch the screen off and stop writing this post right now. But... I can't. Writing internet posts is so alluring. Maybe writing is an addiction, too? After all, I really like doing it, so it has to be bad, right? I wonder what makes the scary internet suffer its own unique addictive traits, oh super-wise medical professionals?

Most people with a severe Internet addiction have some type of undiagnosed psychiatric disorder or personality problem, according to Dr. Roger Laroche, the medical director of the department of psychiatry at Bradford Regional. Each patient in the program, which costs $14,000 out-of-pocket because insurance does not cover the expense, will be psychologically evaluated after undergoing a 'digital detox.'

Oh. So internet addiction isn't actually a "thing", but rather it's a mistaken diagnosis for symptoms of other entirely separate mental health disorders. Well, that makes a lot more sense. After all, we don't see a person who cuts their arms habitually and say they're addicted to cutting themselves. We say they're depressed, or suffer from bi-polar disorder, or an eating disorder, or whatever. It's a symptom, not a disease. What may look like internet addiction is really just a symptom of something else. But, hey, why not charge $14k for a program that isn't covered by insurance, even though a properly diagnosed disorder would likely be covered?

Duke University's chairman of the DSM-IV, Dr. Allen Frances, sums it up nicely.

"If we can be addicted to gambling and the Internet, why not also include addictions to shopping, exercise, sex, work, golf, sunbathing, model railroading, you name it? All passionate interests are at risk for redefinition as mental disorders."

I'd be diagnosed with addiction to at least four of those, so I'm either screwed or I just have a lot of really enjoyable hobbies in my life. You pick.

Filed Under: addiction, hospitals, internet addiction, treatment

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.

Filed Under: internet addiction, south korea, video games

Chinese Killer Blames Video Game Addiction

from the responsibility?-what's-that? dept

For years, video game haters like Jack Thompson have tried to use bogus claims about video games to absolve criminals of responsibility for their crimes. It's really rather sickening, that rather than getting criminals to stand up and accept responsibility, they try to blame some video game. However, with China now embracing the concept of internet addiction, it appears that an accused killer is now trying to similarly pin the blame for poisoning his parents on his online video game addiction. These stories really have nothing to do with video games, and everything to do with criminals trying to skirt responsibility for their actions by throwing the blame on video games that had nothing to do with the actual crimes.

Filed Under: addicts, blame, china, internet addiction, murder, video games

China Says Six Hours A Day Online Makes You An Internet Addict

from the seems-a-bit-extreme dept

While there are some doctors who are pushing to make internet addiction an official disorder, most folks recognize that internet addiction has been shown not to be a clinical addiction, but rather a sign of problems elsewhere (depression, family problems, etc.). However, over in China, where folks have been treating internet addiction with shock therapy for years, it appears that the government is getting set to officially recognizes internet addiction as a disorder. However, the definition is raising some eyebrows, as apparently it's based on some "research" that says someone who spends more than six hours a day online is an addict.

Of course, it's worth pointing out that the Chinese doctor who set the definition that the government is expected to approve just so happens to have built China's very first internet addiction center. In other words, he stands to personally benefit quite a lot by having internet addiction made official, as it will drive "business" to his treatment center. It's difficult to see how you can claim that an addiction is based solely on the amount of time one spends online as well, considering that plenty of people have to spend that much time (or more) online for work, and others spend much more time online but don't have it negatively impact other areas of their life. Once again, this seems like an attempt to call something an addiction just because it helps get some doctors business, rather than a real attempt to look at the underlying issues of said "addicts."

Filed Under: addicts, china, internet addiction

Some Psychiatrists Addicted To Prescribing Internet Addiction

from the must-be-good-for-business dept

Over the past few years, we've seen so many "calls" to label the use of certain technologies as "addictions" that we've noticed something of a... well... addiction by some to call for new technology addictions. Among the long, long list of possible addictions has been email addiction, web addiction, online porn addiction, video game addiction, internet addiction, and mobile phones or other gadget addictions. Almost every time, the call for addiction comes from a psychologist or psychiatrist trying to build up a reputation for treating such "addictions." It must be good for business (and perhaps a lot less harrowing than treating some other types of addictions).

So it shouldn't come as any surprise to see a psychiatrist now calling for internet addiction to become an officially classified addiction in the next version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (basically the official rulebook for such things). Of course, there are a few problems, including the fact that research has shown little evidence that the internet is really addictive, and almost every story of internet addiction really tends to be about deeper issues that resulted in someone seeking an outlet on the internet (from depression, bad family situations, alcoholism, etc.). Focusing on the "internet" part tends to have people trying to treat a symptom, not the disease. Hopefully, this new push will follow the same path as the one last year to have video games declared an addiction too. It didn't take long for that idea to get shot down.

Filed Under: addiction, internet addiction, psychiatrists

Korea's Internet Addiction Bootcamps Mistargeted

from the the-symptom-rather-than-the-disease dept

For years, we've pointed out how ridiculous it is for people to be blaming internet addictions for things, when almost every case of "internet addiction" that's demonstrated that the actual problem was something else, and the internet usage was just a way of "escaping" from those other problems. It didn't help that many of the big supporters of "internet addiction" happen to be the people (i.e., doctors) who are most likely to profit from such a thing existing. On top of that, reports have shown that so-called "internet addictions" tend not to be particularly harmful, and it makes you wonder what the big deal is. However, more recently, we're seeing some governments take the "threat" seriously. The NY Times is running an article about a "boot camp" in Korea to help cure kids of internet addiction, incorrectly suggesting it's the first such camp in the world. Earlier this year, we pointed out that China was opening a summer camp for internet addicts, which followed Chinese attempts to cure internet addiction with electric acupuncture, shock therapy and special halfway houses.

Still, as you read the NY Times piece about the Korean boot camp, you see that the folks running the camp are marking the same assumption: that it's the internet or computers to blame, and therefore, the solution must be to remove kids from the internet and computers entirely. This is fighting the symptom, not the disease. There's a reason why people started spending so much time online, and simply taking away access probably won't change that. The one kid that the article discusses in any detail started spending more time online because he wasn't very popular in school. Taking away the internet isn't going to fix that. There's no doubt that some people can spend way too much time at their computers, and it can potentially damage other parts of their lives -- but simply blaming the internet and pulling it away completely seems like a cure that's not likely to help very much. If the real problems that lead the person to spend so much time online aren't dealt with, then they will simply manifest themselves in some other manner soon enough. Calling something an internet addiction seems easy enough (and it's catchy, so it gets headlines), but if people are treating the internet part, rather than the real problems, it's not doing anyone any good.

Filed Under: addiction, internet addiction, korea

If You Want To Stop Your Husband From Using The Internet, Chopping Off His Hand Seems A Little Extreme

from the next-time-maybe-pull-the-plug dept

We've certainly heard of family members growing frustrated over the amount of time a spouse or a child was spending on the internet, but you have to admit that it's on the fairly extreme side of the spectrum of responses to deal with this by chopping off the person's hand. However, according to some news reports, that's exactly what one woman in China did to her husband after she felt he wasn't paying enough attention to her. As he sat at the computer in an internet cafe she chopped off his hand. Oddly (and somewhat unbelievably) the guy claims he only noticed when the pointer on the screen stopped moving and he felt a numbness in his hand that had been on the mouse (and then he noticed the blood). It's not clear how he didn't notice his hand being chopped off -- or even how it was chopped off. So, perhaps the story is simply urban legend, but there appear to be a fair number of news organizations reporting that same story. We're hoping that at least one bothered to fact check to find out that it really happened.

Filed Under: internet addiction

Chinese Authorities Start To Understand That 'Internet Addiction' Is A Sign Of Deeper Issues

from the put-the-shock-treatment-away dept

Chinese authorities have long viewed "internet addiction" as a real problem for the country's youth, even though some research says that in and of itself, internet addiction isn't really a clinical disorder. The government classifies 13 percent of the country's 20 million internet users under 20 as addicts, and it's tried some radical approaches to "curing" them, such as shock therapy and detox units with electric acupuncture and drugs. It's also tried some other, less invasive, ways to get kids offline, by limiting net cafes and forcing game companies to cut back the points games award after certain periods of time. The problem with all of these methods, though, is that they only seek to stop people from spending a lot of time online; they don't attempt to do anything about the underlying reasons and problems causing them to want to do so. When a halfway house for young internet addicts was opened in China, their first visitor was a 17-year-old with some problems at home, so he talked to a psychologist and the house's staff went to his house to talk with him and his parents. It seemed like the kid was going online as a means of avoiding or dealing with the issues in his home life, and fixing those issues is where the focus should be, not on trying to keep him offline through aversion therapy. It now looks like this message might be starting to sink in, as word comes that authorities in China are opening an experimental summer camp for 40 supposedly net-addicted kids, where they'll be treated for depression and other underlying issues that could be prompting them to spend inordinate amounts of time online. So-called internet addiction, in many cases, isn't an ailment, but just a symptom of some deeper problem. Working to solve that problem is the real solution, rather than the band-aid approach of "curing" the addiction.

Filed Under: china, internet addiction, psychology