Forty youngsters addicted to the Internet will participate in
the first summer camp in China to help online addicts get back to
normal.
The 10-day camp, which is recruiting participants from Shanghai,
will open at the end of the month.
To be considered for the experimental program, potential campers
aged 14 to 22 can visit the site with their parents to take a
psychological test and speak with professional counselors for
evaluation.
According to research by Shanghai's youth affairs office, those
seriously addicted to the web should receive medical help, but this
rarely happens. A low level of Internet addiction is believed to
exist in more than 10 percent of Shanghai youngsters.
Xu Zheng (an alias) was accepted with a very high entrance
examination score by the East China University of Science and
Technology. However, the young man from Shandong could not adjust to Shanghai campus
life without burying himself in computer games. He would play day
and night, skipping classes and avoiding friends, until he was
pulled out of the Internet cafe by a supervisor.
According to Dr Du Yasong from the Shanghai Mental Health
Center, youngsters addicted to the Internet are characterized by
poor social abilities, imitating others, or an inability to achieve
their goals. When they get frustrated, they often turn to Internet
games for a feeling of accomplishment.
There has been no established correction process for these
youngsters, the youth affairs office said.
The summer camp will bring together dozens of professionals with
experience in 1,171 cases of Internet addiction. They hope to
develop an intervention process, then use it in schools, families
and communities.
In a joint effort with the camp, Shanghai's education commission
has organized a volunteer group to patrol the city's streets to
stop people under 18 entering Internet cafes.
In Hongkou District alone, the volunteer network covers more
than 70 Internet cafes. Volunteers persuade teenagers to leave the
Internet cafes. Others, working with local police, are on the
lookout for illegal practices such as online gambling in Internet
cafes,
Overcoming addiction to the web does not mean staying away from
computers. In Ludi Primary School in Jiading district, students
surf the web under the guidance of teachers. In middle schools,
students learn about web page design and the Shanghai World Expo
2010 on the Internet.
A survey released last year showed 13.2 percent of teenagers are
addicted to the Internet. There are more men addicts than women,
and a large number of them are school students.
(China Daily August 7, 2007)