How Serious Is Internet Addiction? Teens In China Attend Rehab Camps

   By SheSpeaksTeam  Jan 29, 2014

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Maybe you’ve thrown around the phrase internet addiction when describing your teen’s need for connectivity 24/7, but China is the first country ready to call it a treatable behavioral disorder. A new documentary called Web Junkies details China’s effort to deprogram teens with internet obsessions by sending them off to military-style camps.

Washington Times reports about the documentary and China’s internet addiction camps. Most teens enrolled in the three and four month programs are forced there by concerned parents. While at the camps teens, who are mostly male, wear camouflage uniforms and take part in therapy sessions, exercise, nutrition control and medication to combat their addiction.

Though controversial, due to a 2009 incident at an illegally run internet addiction camp where a 15-year old boy was beaten to death, the camps claim to have a 70 percent success rate in curing internet addiction.

What do you think of reports about internet addiction rehab camps in China?

Do you think other countries should take the issue of internet addiction more seriously?