Chinese "Web Addicts" Get Boot Camp, Therapy 279
itwbennett writes "A large number of Chinese parents are finding their teenagers to be exhibiting such psychological symptoms as depression, antisocial behavior, and slipping grades. The cause: Internet addiction. World of Warcraft and Counter-Strike rank beside Chinese role-playing games as those that hook the most patients, says Tao Ran, the founder of a youth rehabilitation center on a Beijing army base. Online chat programs more often hook girls, who make up a handful of Tao's current 70 patients. The teens are subjected to a 'strict regimen of military drills, martial arts training, lectures and sessions with psychiatrists.' And, most importantly: no Internet."
Re:Your Rights Online (Score:2, Interesting)
These drils and training (Score:5, Interesting)
World is a changing... (Score:5, Interesting)
50 years ago, going out was the norm. 20 years ago, occasionally going out was the norm.
Today, spending an evening at home is the norm, where it's cheaper and you can connect with someone halfway across the world who you know will share your interests, and not spurn you(and if they do, you can find someone else). You're also not faced with personal problems such as personal performance, social anxiety, or the real fear of making an ass out of yourself, etc. There's people you never have to face, but will listen.
Move forward 10 years, as the new kiddie-tech generation moves even further online? I see individuals who will prefer to remain connected at all costs because of this. We have people now who need to know all information at all times, need make sure that they're in instant contact with the world around them. And are experiencing this now.
I don't see it changing, I see it increasing. China, US, Canada, any country in the world can do whatever they like to try and change it. But the more interconnected the world becomes, the smaller it gets. The smaller it gets, the more people want to remain connected to it.
Yes, that makes sense (Score:5, Interesting)
Take a bunch of kids that like to sit around playing games and browsing for porn, isolate them from friends and family, label them as "addicts", brainwash them, put rifles in their hands and train them how to kill people, then declare them "cured". I'm glad that society has its priorities right.
Good idea. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: Military Strategy (Score:4, Interesting)
That sounds like our history of immigration.
Wave after wave, all of them eventually assimilated. It turns out to be pretty good for the economy.
Re:Your Rights Online (Score:3, Interesting)
If China does not stand behind UNHR, it should state clearly what parts of it it disagrees with because they don't "reflect their values". China is a grown up country, it doesn't need you to defend it. But just out of curiosity, which of the enumerated rights in that document you think don't agree with Chinese values? They were drafted in order to be universal, hence the name, and one of the main people involved in drafting them was actually Chinese (P. C. Chang - admittedly from Taiwan but surely representative of Chinese culture and values).
I also mentioned the extreme amount of violence in China's recent history to contrast it with our own country's, which has not had any invasions or sustained any real violence on anywhere near the same scale. The average American Slashdotter is likely to have a very different perspective, in which it seems reasonable to view WoW-deprivation as some sort of evil government tyranny.
Oh, well, that I can agree with. I don't think the story in this article is a major example of government tyranny or anything like that. However it's worth remembering that there are plenty of real examples of government tyranny in China and saying that somehow that's ok because it's their culture to not respect the rights of individuals is patronizing as well as untrue. I know plenty of Chinese people here in the US and they seems to have much the same values as I do.
Re:Your Rights Online (Score:4, Interesting)