Many of China Internet users are considered addicts: They spend roughly 6.13 hours online each day and approximately 42% of young Chinese considered themselves addicts.
An interesting survey was published last year regarding China Internet usage: The number of young China Internet addicts soared to 24 million by 2009, and one of every seven internet users is now considered an addict. According to Ke Huixin, the director and professor of the Survey and Statistics Institute of Communication University of China, an internet addict is defined as a person whose school grades, career or interpersonal relationships are affected by overuse of the internet. Those defined as addicts should also meet at least one of three requirements: He or she always wants to use the internet, feels annoyed or depressed if denied internet use, or feels happier in the cyber world than in the real one.
Watch: China Internet addiction problem is rising
China Internet addicts spend roughly 6.13 hours online each day, a figure that coincided with the U.S assessment of 6.14 hours a day. Research by the internet media company InterActiveCorp showed that 42 percent of young Chinese who were polled felt addicted to the internet, compared with 18 percent in the United States.
To deal with the internet addiction problem, more than 300 camps have been set up by researchers and experts who have studied the field of China Internet addiction for years. One of the researchers, Tao Ran, who set up China’s first Internet addiction clinic at the Military General Hospital in Beijing, has studied more than 3,000 “addicts” over a four year period. He was quoted telling The Times Online that: “China finds itself at the forefront of this research, because we were among the earliest to set up clinics. We had a sufficient sample of patients so that we could carry out proper scientific analysis.”
Although camps seem to be a good solution to the China Internet addiction problem, some of them have been known to use extreme measures to withdraw young people from using the internet. These methods include using electric shock therapy and antidepressants and wearing campers out by drilling them in military marching formations (some camps employ former members of the People’s Liberation Army). Other, more moderate camps are known to use less extreme measures such as forcing “addicts” to climb mountains and to immerse themselves in nature.
Some of the extreme measures are now prohibited: In a story published in 2009, one teen was hospitalized after suffering a beating in a camp; in a different story, a teen was killed in one of the camps. After these incidents, the use of extreme methods to wean children off the internet has been re-examined, and China has banned electro-shock therapy as a treatment for internet addiction, citing uncertainty in its safety and its effectiveness.
The China Internet addiction problem is severe. With lack of supervision and education regarding this problem, many Chinese youth will continue to spend their time using the internet aimlessly. Can this problem be solved? Share your thoughts!
Print
Lior Paritzky is the Editor in Chief and Manager of Laowaiblog, an internet platform that provides opinion and views about social phenomena in modern China. Look for Lior on Twitter: Liorpari 
The internet addiction problem is very serious – also in the states. the more people stay home and refrain from social activity outdoors, the more time they spend online. It can be productive, if one reads or engages in other intellectual assignments, but it also has the potential to be harmful. Supervision is definitely needed
The use of electric shock treatment is no longer legal, but it should have been illegal to begin with.
I think the use of the word “addicts” is not so appropriate,because people often has a stereotyped understanding on words like “addict“ which mainly has negative meanings. Many things, if not all, are two-folded. It may not so good for people (especially youngsters or students） to spend almost 30% of their time a day in playing online games, etc., which are perceived to bring more negative than positive effects to their life. However on the other hand, I guess that “addict” may not be a good name for people who spend most of their time online in receiving useful information or study. Here there’s another problem for us to define the word “useful”, and to make the definition precise would be too far-reached here. Personally, I support those who could make good use of internet which would bring positive utility to themselves as well as (at least not harmful) to their surroundings.
Thanks for the great development of internet, it takes far less time for us to acquire new knowledge or trend in general of the world. Thanks to internet, even the most gross-root people can have the access to the valuable information that was grasped by the upper-class before. As many smart people put it: internet has made the upside-down world downside-up.
Well I am an internet addict but I don’t want to be cured
I guess life is a matter of balance. If you are too dependent on one thing, it is never good.
If I watch sports or exercise 4 hours a day everyday and neglect my spouse or children, that is bad, and it is a soft addiction.
Or if I am a person of 1000 hobbies then I would have substitutes then I am not an addict. However when you live in a city, can you avoid any kind of addiction?