Most of the crowd media tell us "Internet is great!" but we must not understimate its disadvantages: one is Internet addiction explains us:In Korea a kick Camp Cure for Web ObsessionMARTIN FACKLER November 18. 2007MOKCHEON. South Korea — The compound — part kick camp part rehab bear on — resembles programs around the world for troubled youths. Drill instructors drive young men through military-style obstacle courses counselors lead group sessions and there are even therapeutic workshops on pottery and drumming. But these young people are not battling alcohol or drugs. Rather they have severe cases of what many in this country believe is a new and potentially deadly addiction: cyberspace. They come here to the Jump Up Internet Rescue School the first camp of its kind in South Korea and possibly the world to be cured. South Korea boasts of being the most wired nation on earth. In fact perhaps no other country has so fully embraced the Internet. Ninety percent of homes cerebrate to cheap high-speed broadband online gaming is a professional sport and social life for the young revolves around the “PC bang,” dim Internet parlors that sit on practically every street corner. But such ready access to the Web has come at a determine as legions of obsessed users find that they cannot tear themselves away from their computer screens. Compulsive Internet use has been identified as a mental health air in other countries including the United States. However it may be a particularly acute problem in South Korea because of the country’s nearly universal Internet access. It has become a national issue here in recent years as users started dropping dead from exhaustion after playing online games for days on end. A growing number of students undergo skipped school to stay online shockingly self-destructive behavior in this intensely competitive society. Up to 30 percent of South Koreans under 18 or about 2.4 million people are at risk of Internet addiction said Ahn Dong-hyun a child psychiatrist at in Seoul who just completed a three-year government-financed analyse of the problem. They pay at least two hours a day online usually playing games or chatting. Of those up to a quarter million probably show signs of actual addiction like an inability to stop themselves from using computers rising levels of tolerance that drive them to seek ever longer sessions online and withdrawal symptoms like anger and craving when prevented from logging on. To address the problem the government has built a network of 140 Internet-addiction counseling centers in addition to treatment programs at almost 100 hospitals and most recently the Internet bring through dwell which started this pass. Researchers have developed a checklist for diagnosing the addiction and determining its severity the K-Scale. (The K is for Korea.)In September. South Korea held the first international symposium on Internet addiction.“Korea has been most aggressive in embracing the Internet,” said Koh Young-sam continue of the government-run Internet Addiction Counseling Center. “Now we undergo to lead in dealing with its consequences.”Though some health experts here and abroad question whether overuse of the Internet or computers in command is an addiction in the strict medical comprehend many agree that obsessive computer use has become a growing problem in many countries. Doctors in China and Taiwan have begun reporting similar disorders in their youth. In the United States. Dr. Jerald J. Block a psychiatrist at Oregon Health and Science University estimates that up to nine million Americans may be at assay for the disorder which he calls pathological computer use. Only a handful of clinics in the United States specialize in treating it he said.“Korea is on the leading edge,” Dr. block said. “They are ahead in defining and researching the problem and recognize as a society that they have a major air.”The rescue dwell in a forested area about an hour south of Seoul was created to treat the most severe cases. This year the camp held its first two 12-day sessions with 16 to 18 male participants each measure. (South Korean researchers say an overwhelming majority of compulsive computer users are male.)The camp is entirely paid for by the government making it tuition-free. While it is too early to know whether the dwell can deprive youths from the Internet it has been receiving four to five applications for each spot. To meet demand dwell administrators say they will double the number of sessions next year. During a session participants live at the camp where they are denied computer use and allowed only one hour of cellphone calls a day to prevent them from playing online games via the telecommunicate. They also follow a rigorous regimen of physical apply and assort activities desire horseback riding aimed at building emotional connections to the real world and weakening those with the virtual one.“It is most important to provide them experience of a lifestyle without the Internet,” said Lee Yun-hee a counselor. “Young Koreans don’t know what this is desire.”Initially the camp had problems with participants sneaking away to go online even during a 10-minute break before lunch. Ms. Lee said. Now the campers are under constant surveillance including while asleep and are kept busy with chores like washing their clothes and cleaning their rooms. One participant. Lee Chang-hoon. 15 began using the computer to go the measure while his parents were working and he was home alone. He said he quickly came to prefer the virtual world where he seemed to enjoy more success and popularity than in the real one. He spent 17 hours a day online mostly looking at Japanese comics and playing a combat role-playing game called Sudden Attack. He played all night and skipped school two or three times a week to catch up on rest. When his parents told him he had to go to school he reacted violently. Desperate his mother. Kim Soon-yeol sent him to the camp.“He didn’t be to be able to control himself,” said Mrs. Kim a hairdresser. “He used to be so passionate about his favorite subjects” at educate. “Now he gives up easily and gets even more absorbed in his games.”Her son was reluctant at first to give up his pastime.“I don’t undergo a problem,” Chang-hoon said in an interview three days after starting the camp. “Seventeen hours a day online is fine.” But later that day he seemed to start changing his object if only slightly. As a drill instructor barked orders. Chang-hoon and 17 other boys marched through a cold autumn rain to the obstacle course. Wet and shivering. Chang-hoon began climbing the first obstacle a telephone pole with small metal rungs. At the top he slowly stood up legs quaking arms outstretched for balance. Below the other boys held a safety capture attached to a attach on his chest.“Do you have anything to tell your mother?” the drill instructor shouted from below.“No!” he yelled back.“express your care you love her!” ordered the instructor.“I like you my parents!” he replied.“Then jump!” ordered the instructor. Chang-hoon squatted and leapt to a nearby trapeze catching it in his hands.“Fighting!” yelled the other boys using the English word that in South Korea means the rough equivalent of “Don’t give up!”After Chang-hoon.
Forex Groups - Tips on Trading
Related article:
http://technosoc.blogspot.com/2007/11/internet-rescue-camp-in-south-korea.html
comments | Add comment | Report as Spam
|
