Chinese government is fighting against internet addiction

The Chinese authorities started a national program for prevention of internet addiction after the results of a recent study had been published according to which about 14% of young citizens of the country suffer from unhealthy addiction to online life. Chinese Communistic Youth Union has called Internet addiction a big social problem. It is noticible, that excessive addiction to the Internet has been called by psychiatrists for many years as a symptom of mental illness. People who lost the ability to control the time online, spend in the i-net more than 30 hours a week, and on average time spent on entertainment (chats, games, just surfing)is 10 times more that time spent of work and study. In recent months, China, along with South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam have already taken measures, to protect youth from excessive Internet using. Thus, at the end of last year, Chinese children and teenagers were banned to visit i-net cafes, bars and discos. Parliament had also decided to encourage research and development of technologies that will help to prevent the development of internet-addiction among children. Officials said that the new addition to the Law of Protection of Minors should encourage software for the establishment of programs which, for example, would stop online game after a certain period of time. He added that China was the second country in the number of I-net users after the United States. 123 million people send time online in China. As part of the program against addiction to the internet Chinese authorities finance 8 rehabilitation clinics. One of the oldest medical institutions of this kind is a clinic in the suburbs of Beijing, where from 60 to 280 patients are treated between the ages of 12 and 24 years, most of whom were sent there forcibly. The cost of treatment at the clinic is $1,300 a month. The clinic is located on the territory of the military training complex, and treatment includes variety of methods, such as strict discipline, hypnosis or electroshock therapy. The third floor is for the most severe patients suffering Internet addiction over three - five years. They are being supervised constantly. Psychologist Goh Tedzun, also practicing treatment of such patients is convinced that the methodology of the clinic is too severe. In addition, he is opposed to the use of medication, including drugs and intravenous injections. Tedzun believes that the root of the disease lies in the isolation of patients who use the Internet to compensate for the lack of communication in real life, said Star Tribune.