[Air-L] China Defines Internet Addiction

[Trudy Barber]

Of course.. it was 'cybersex addiction' that was the 'big news' in 2000.. I saw Al Cooper give a paper about the addictiveness of the internet (and mediated sex) where some practitioners offered drugs to help 'treat the condition'... -  Oh no! we're all doomed..  I'm off for some nicotine, a large bottle of hooch payed for by my online casino winnings... ;) - only kidding..!

Who wants to share my bunk at boot camp.. ?
Best to all

Trudy.



Dr. Trudy Barber FRSA
Senior Lecturer in Media
School of Creative Arts, Film and Media
University of Portsmouth
Room 3.19 St. George's Building
141 High Street
Portsmouth PO1 2HY
United Kingdom
Trudy.Barber at port.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)23 9284 5307
F: +44 (0)23 9284 5372
http://www.port.ac.uk/research/ceisr/members/title,69965,en.html
Ongoing current project see:
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>>> "Mark D. Johns" <mjohns at luther.edu> 11/10/08 2:42 pm >>>
It's official, internet researchers. We are all over the edge. I'll look 
forward to seeing you all at boot camp. See news story below.
-- 
Mark D. Johns, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Head of the
  Department of Communication Studies
Luther College, Decorah, Iowa USA
http://academic.luther.edu/~johnsmar/ 
-----------------------------------------------
"Get the facts first. You can distort them later."
     ---Mark Twain


China Defines Internet Addiction
Internet addiction is on the rise in the world's largest Net market, and 
now Chinese doctors have officially defined it as an...
Steven Schwankert, IDG News Service
Monday, November 10, 2008 12:10 AM PST

Internet addiction is on the rise in the world's largest Net market, and 
now Chinese doctors have officially defined it as an ailment.

Users who spend six hours or more per day online, and exhibit at least 
one symptom including difficulty sleeping or concentrating, yearning to 
be online, irritation, and mental or physical distress are classified as 
meeting the definition of addiction.

Being hooked on the Internet has been considered a problem in Chinese 
society as early as 2005, when the first clinic dedicated to Internet 
addiction opened in Beijing. It began accepting patients who exhibited 
dependency symptoms for those of substance abuse.

China also has "boot camps" designed to help addicts kick the habit by 
helping to change their routine.

About 10 percent of China's 253 million Internet users exhibit some form 
of addiction to the medium, and 70 percent of those people are young 
men, an official Xinhua News Agency report said.
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