Shocking pictures show Chinese internet addicts undergoing digital detox at extreme military-style bootcamp

[Reefa]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDeJ0Bjf_08

In China, internet addiction is a serious thing. And as these amazing pictures show, dealing with it is equally serious.

The Daxing Internet Addiction Treatment Centre (IATC) is a military-style bootcamp nestled in the suburbs of Bejing.

The young men that enter its doors are subjected to a strict military regime of exercise, medication and solitary confinement. Any kind of electronic gadgetry is completely banned.

Additionally, patients are frequently subjected psychiatric assessments and brain scans to make sure they stay on the straight and narrow.

A resident at the Internet Addiction Treatment Centre (IATC) is wired up for electroencephalogram scans to measure brain activity

The IATC has treated 6,000 patients since it opened in 2006 and claims to have "cured" 75%. Which means that, six months after their release, patients use the internet for fewer than six hours a day.

Internet addiction - as well as a broader attachment to electronic gadgets - is an issue affecting 24 million of China's 632 million internet users according to the country's government.

Many of them are young men who are addicted to playing massive multiplayer online games for hours at a time.

Residents at the Internet Addiction Treatment Centre (IATC) start a day of exercises and drills and Tai Chi

The founder of the IATC facility, a doctor and colonel in China's People's Liberation Army, says that 90% of patients come with clinical depression as a result of spending up to 14 hours a day online.

Not only is there a high demand for places at the brutal treatment centre, but it's expensive to attend as well.

It charges £1,000 per month which is more than twice what the average urban Chinese worker can expect to earn.

How many hours a day do you spend online?

I no it's a few days old but still relevant i think.. :rolleyes:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/technology/shocking-pictures-show-chinese-internet-5445158#rlabs=1

[CODYQX4]

25 Hours?

[myidisbb]

sickening

[rasbridge]

14 hours per day online, how do they function at work? Likely not well. Perhaps, that is why they pay such a high price to attend a boot camp to cure their internet addiction.

[ugurano]

sickening, but thx for this thread

[AshTheGamer]

Jesus that really is bad...

[rasbridge]

It is said that internet addiction has caused pain and suffering to 24 million Chinese people. And, I applaud the people who have demonstrated courage and honesty by enrolling in the bootcamp.

[Gabben]

This is disgusting...please delete this thread.

[rasbridge]

For those interested, you can go to www.webjunkiemovie.com to learn more about this.

[Enigmatism]

For internet addictions the best thing to do is go to boot camp? This is overkill treatment, like using a flame thrower to burn a Q-Tip. Therapeutic meetings and sessions might be more effective in treating internet addictions. Of course China is very crude to thier people, this doesn't suprise me much really. China treats thier people like absolute garbage and seeing people escape into a computer world and the Internet is a clear message: we REALLY dislike our lives due to how we are unfairly treated. Don't treat Internet addictions with anger and bluntness like a boot camp, there are better ways.

[rasbridge]

Sundance Film Festival Review: 'Web Junkie' explores Internet addiction in China

Nobody will accuse this documentary of making its subject matter look sexy.

China, you see, is the first country to label "Internet addiction" as a clinical disorder and it has been identified as a top public health threat to the nation's teenage population.

At the Chinese Teenagers Mental Growth Center, one of the more than 400 Rehab camps for Internet Addiction Disorder, young men are checked in by their parents, usually through some form of subterfuge. They're forced to live in bunks in tight quarters where they're subject to routine searches and military discipline. They wear fatigues and the march in formation and, for the dozens of pudgy, socially awkward male teens, it looks like a bit of a nightmare. To me, a week or two fully disconnected from my blog, being served what looked like rather terrific food -- lots of steamed buns and rice dishes and bowls of what I'm assuming was miso soup -- at every meal sounds terrific, but that may be a sign that I'm a different sort of addict.

And what kind of addicts are these? Well, they're almost all addicted to online gaming and, I'm not gonna lie, it definitely sounds like they could probably use a little time away. The basic definition we're given is that addicts spend six hours online daily outside of work and school. That doesn't sound so bad, does it? Some of these users are a bit more involved than that. One boasts of the 10 hours of daily World of Warcraft that he plays. One kid says 300 hours is his longest time online gaming, nearly consecutive, with only nap breaks. Another kid counters he played for two straight months one summer. Another kid admits that he spent $8500 playing one particular game.

To an man, though, these figures are delivered with great pride. And, to an man, they all disagree that they belong in any sort of treatment facility. Perhaps that's part of the purpose, though, because these are kids who admit that they have very few friends outside of the online world. They may not be pleased to be where they are, but at least they're talking to other people, even if they can't always look each other in the eye.

The treatment ranges from banal -- lectures, relearning of basic hygiene skills, chores -- to the baffling -- kids have to undergo a 20-minute process in elaborate headgear made of rubber tubing and sensors. Is the goal recovery? Cure? Brainwashing? Rehabilitation? You won't be shocked that the adults take the more charitable guesses, while the kids assume the worst.

Shlam and Medalia helpfully focus on three or four specific kids and they're able to use those kids to explore what is perhaps the most intriguing thing about this Center, namely its joint treatment with the parents. Through long counseling sessions, we get to see the strained generational relationships and, sometimes, relationships that are worse than strained. Here, the directors are able to accentuate a mixture of universal elements, but also the things that may be culturally unique to China.

There's an interesting shifting of sympathies that plays out through the documentary and will probably vary by viewing age. Early on, the kids seem like victims and Professor Tao Ran, the head of the clinic, seems like a dictatorial huckster, curing a disease that doesn't exist, but then he starts seem sensible and you begin thinking he might actually care. You watch the kids and you're certain that they're victims of repressive parenting, but then you see the social skills they've lost at the beginning and you see how much more connected they seem to other people as they go along. All the while, you wonder how much they're playing a role of "reformed" or "cured," how much they're treating this whole experience as a video game and just hoping to satisfy the requirements and level up. You hate the parents and fear the parents for behaviors that are probably abusive by Western standards, but then you wonder how much we're entitled to read our cultural values onto the things that are happening here, how much our values are actually messing with our understanding of this entire system. You realize, in some cases, that the parents are putting in effort as well, that this was an act of last recourse, that they're breaking from societal norms just to admit this problem exists and they have a part in it. But just as soon as you sway too much towards sympathy, you see parents who are pretty much monsters looking only to clip their kids' wings.

And, on a micro level, "Web Junkie" goes a persuasive job of showing that no matter where you go and no matter what country you're in, the language that fuels paranoid fears of juvenile delinquency is always the same. When a father says, "I've been supporting you for 16 years, have you ever done anything for us?" to his son, it could be an accusation at the heart of any generational conflict, ditto with the son who pouts to his father, "At home, I feel I don't exist." It really hardly matters whether what's tearing these families apart is a biker gang, the jitter-bug, heroin or World of Warcraft. A counselor says ""Distrust is the origin of despair" and she could be providing a scrawled Trapper-Keeper motto for every teenager ever.

It was on the macro level that I wanted more. I would have loved a sense of why China is the only country to take this step and perhaps gotten some sort of advanced details on whether or not Internet usage among Chinese teens actually is appreciably different from among their Japanese or American or Belgian counterparts. I have a hard time just accepting, "China is a stricter culture," without any corroboration. At one counseling session, a father mentions that the problem comes from kids growing up without siblings, which really did illuminate a culturally specific lightbulb in my brain, but again I couldn't judge that without some deeper exploration. Out of 400+ clinics for Internet addiction, are there girls who are addicted? In this movie, it's only boys. Are there addictions to behaviors other than gaming? Porn? Fantasy football? I don't know. And what the heck was up with that insane hat? Was it something Clockwork Orange-y? Or Cronenbergian? Or worse?

Part of the limitation is that "Web Junkie" largely takes an observational approach, but it isn't purely observational. Professor Tao Ran talks to the camera and answers questions. Some of the kids talk to the camera and answered questions. But, darnit, they answered only some of the questions I had.

Mostly, I wanted fact-based answers. I didn't want, and was glad not to have, the filmmakers putting their fingers on the moral scale. I liked not having a clear answer on whether or not these clinics are doing valuable work on whether or not this is a real problem. Yes, this is a lot Orwellian and that's worth being scared of, but this is a new thing. Maybe the Chinese are right! Maybe the Internet really is rotting my brain. But I'm happy to at least make my own guesses as to whether it's a disorder or an illness or whether one smart kid is right when he says, "It's not a real disease. It's a social phenomenon."

"Web Junkie" is a little sad, a little funny and a little scary. I'd say that I wish it had been a little more provocative, but I'm sure conversations after screenings will serve some of that purpose and those are conversations worth having.

Read more at http://www.hitfix.com/the-fien-print/sundance-review-web-junkie-explores-internet-addiction-in-china#b6w1ky31jIzA2IhM.99

[dMog]

The basic definition we're given is that addicts spend six hours online daily outside of work and school. That doesn't sound so bad, does it? Some of these users are a bit more involved than that. One boasts of the 10 hours of daily World of Warcraft that he plays. One kid says 300 hours is his longest time online gaming, nearly consecutive, with only nap breaks. Another kid counters he played for two straight months one summer. Another kid admits that he spent $8500 playing one particular game.

i have a nephew that aside from his alcohol and drug addictions plays world of warcraft every minute he is awake...so yes this shit is rea...if this chinese method works i would pay to have him enrolled in a heart beat

[rasbridge]

i have a nephew that aside from his alcohol and drug addictions plays world of warcraft every minute he is awake...so yes this shit is rea...if this chinese method works i would pay to have him enrolled in a heart beat

I had the privilege to travel to China 20 years ago and spend one month observing their medical care in hospitals in Beijing and Chengdu. The medical staff were competent, caring and compassionate. I steadfastly believe that the doctors treating the internet addicts are well intentioned. Therefore, I would not hesitate to admit one of my family members, if needed.

[humble3d]

[dMog]

have you ever wondered what einstein would have thought of the conspiracy theorist sites you are so fond of quoting to inform us of the always and ever present impending doom about to be unleashed upon us....no way in hell he would ever agree with even 0.000001% of infowars or similar sites

[Crazycanuk]

Content Removed (Personal attacks ect.)

[Enigmatism]

i have a nephew that aside from his alcohol and drug addictions plays world of warcraft every minute he is awake...so yes this shit is rea...if this chinese method works i would pay to have him enrolled in a heart beat

I had the privilege to travel to China 20 years ago and spend one month observing their medical care in hospitals in Beijing and Chengdu. The medical staff were competent, caring and compassionate. I steadfastly believe that the doctors treating the internet addicts are well intentioned. Therefore, I would not hesitate to admit one of my family members, if needed.

People escape from reality for a lot of reasons. Not trying to excuse his addictions to the game but enrolling people into a boot camp for an internet addiction wich sprouts from wanting to escape the reality of this world seems a bit harsh. I wouldn't wish for any of my loved ones to be savaged wrongly in a boot camp sceario for an Internet addiction. Perhaps more of a nature camp is needed, no phones or computers, just nature and lots of it. Sending a person to boot camp for an internet addiction is CLEARLY improper treatment of people, it's like chopping off a childs hands for stealing cookies. Being punished for wishing to escape this reality is understandable but punishments will only compound any problems they have.

[dMog]

it's like chopping off a childs hands for stealing cookies. Being punished for wishing to escape this reality is understandable but punishments will only compound any problems they have.

they still do that in some countries.....they also kill girls for wanting to go to school too... and women are not allowed to be spectators for male sporting events or allowed in stadiums where men will be present.....not in america tho...they do far more evil things in america don't they :rolleyes: america to some americans is the most vile place to live on this earth because of the injustice the governments, police and military do to their people :unsure: after all they keep showing us the proof

[rasbridge]

it's like chopping off a childs hands for stealing cookies. Being punished for wishing to escape this reality is understandable but punishments will only compound any problems they have.

they still do that in some countries.....they also kill girls for wanting to go to school too... and women are not allowed to be spectators for male sporting events or allowed in stadiums where men will be present.....not in america tho...they do far more evil things in america don't they :rolleyes: america to some americans is the most vile place to live on this earth because of the injustice the governments, police and military do to their people :unsure: after all they keep showing us the proof

You are fortunate to have been born in Canada, where the possibilities are endless. However, there are 8 billion others, myself included, who are less fortunate and whose choices seem limited.

[dMog]

@ rasbridge....i understand what you are saying and totally agree with your statement...what i was pointing out(in annot do politically correct way) is that there are certain factions(conspiracy theorists) in north america and in the rest of so called western democracies, that just have no idea how lucky they are to born where they were born...on daily basis they spout off about how down trodden they are or how their western institutions are systematically out to get them and come here with all manner of conspiracies and half baked "proof" of what they are saying is the absolute truth...and not even realizing that in almost all countries in the world they would be thrown in jail for even thinking their government does anything wrong...or even as in some countries they and their families put to death...are as sick and tired of the boneheads as almost all of the rest of us are at this forum.... two or three conspiracy nut holes out to save the world by posting fabricated and totally made up stories on the evil that is america and then thinking that simply because they exposed this "truth" they prevented it from taking place

[flitox]

and by positively only wanting to see that the glass is half full, you fail to realize it is half empty.....

worse apparently all you care is that it is fuller than the other!

[humble3d]

:wtf: :lol:

[Enigmatism]

@ rasbridge....i understand what you are saying and totally agree with your statement...what i was pointing out(in annot do politically correct way) is that there are certain factions(conspiracy theorists) in north america and in the rest of so called western democracies, that just have no idea how lucky they are to born where they were born...on daily basis they spout off about how down trodden they are or how their western institutions are systematically out to get them and come here with all manner of conspiracies and half baked "proof" of what they are saying is the absolute truth...and not even realizing that in almost all countries in the world they would be thrown in jail for even thinking their government does anything wrong...or even as in some countries they and their families put to death...are as sick and tired of the boneheads as almost all of the rest of us are at this forum.... two or three conspiracy nut holes out to save the world by posting fabricated and totally made up stories on the evil that is america and then thinking that simply because they exposed this "truth" they prevented it from taking place

It doesn't have to do with not knowing how lucky I am for living in a country like the USA, it has to do with the fact that the USA is merging slowly into a state of being that is liekened to many horrendous countries. Rather than thinking all is well and that's how it's always going to be no matter what, I face the changes in this country and simply say, I don't want to see the USA turn into something that resembles North Korea. Fighting for what is right IS what keeps criminals at bay and yes, exposing stuff before it happens can thwart it from happening. If you called in a repot on a bank robbery that you knew was going to take place and the cops prevented it from happening because THEY KNEW ABOUT IT, your knowlege just saved that bank from being robbed.

A conspiracy theorist is someone who doesn't believe everything they are told, they look into it. Your anger towards people like me is understandable but we can't all live in denial, we can't afford it.

[dMog]

@ rasbridge....i understand what you are saying and totally agree with your statement...what i was pointing out(in annot do politically correct way) is that there are certain factions(conspiracy theorists) in north america and in the rest of so called western democracies, that just have no idea how lucky they are to born where they were born...on daily basis they spout off about how down trodden they are or how their western institutions are systematically out to get them and come here with all manner of conspiracies and half baked "proof" of what they are saying is the absolute truth...and not even realizing that in almost all countries in the world they would be thrown in jail for even thinking their government does anything wrong...or even as in some countries they and their families put to death...are as sick and tired of the boneheads as almost all of the rest of us are at this forum.... two or three conspiracy nut holes out to save the world by posting fabricated and totally made up stories on the evil that is america and then thinking that simply because they exposed this "truth" they prevented it from taking place

It doesn't have to do with not knowing how lucky I am for living in a country like the USA, it has to do with the fact that the USA is merging slowly into a state of being that is liekened to many horrendous countries. Rather than thinking all is well and that's how it's always going to be no matter what, I face the changes in this country and simply say, I don't want to see the USA turn into something that resembles North Korea. Fighting for what is right IS what keeps criminals at bay and yes, exposing stuff before it happens can thwart it from happening. If you called in a repot on a bank robbery that you knew was going to take place and the cops prevented it from happening because THEY KNEW ABOUT IT, your knowlege just saved that bank from being robbed.

A conspiracy theorist is someone who doesn't believe everything they are told, they look into it. Your anger towards people like me is understandable but we can't all live in denial, we can't afford it.

i still maintain info wars is 99.9999999% or more complete bull ....

[Reefa]

@ rasbridge....i understand what you are saying and totally agree with your statement...what i was pointing out(in annot do politically correct way) is that there are certain factions(conspiracy theorists) in north america and in the rest of so called western democracies, that just have no idea how lucky they are to born where they were born...on daily basis they spout off about how down trodden they are or how their western institutions are systematically out to get them and come here with all manner of conspiracies and half baked "proof" of what they are saying is the absolute truth...and not even realizing that in almost all countries in the world they would be thrown in jail for even thinking their government does anything wrong...or even as in some countries they and their families put to death...are as sick and tired of the boneheads as almost all of the rest of us are at this forum.... two or three conspiracy nut holes out to save the world by posting fabricated and totally made up stories on the evil that is america and then thinking that simply because they exposed this "truth" they prevented it from taking place

It doesn't have to do with not knowing how lucky I am for living in a country like the USA, it has to do with the fact that the USA is merging slowly into a state of being that is liekened to many horrendous countries. Rather than thinking all is well and that's how it's always going to be no matter what, I face the changes in this country and simply say, I don't want to see the USA turn into something that resembles North Korea. Fighting for what is right IS what keeps criminals at bay and yes, exposing stuff before it happens can thwart it from happening. If you called in a repot on a bank robbery that you knew was going to take place and the cops prevented it from happening because THEY KNEW ABOUT IT, your knowlege just saved that bank from being robbed.

A conspiracy theorist is someone who doesn't believe everything they are told, they look into it. Your anger towards people like me is understandable but we can't all live in denial, we can't afford it.

i still maintain info wars is 99.9999999% or more complete bull

@dMog..Is that @Ambro..Sure sounds like him to me.. :naughty: