Can China Beat Internet Addiction? A new plan targets kids'
Internet use after a young gaming addict poisons his parents.
China has announced a new initiative to curb a growing problem
with Internet and gaming addiction. The plan is geared towards
intervening at a young age, and comes on the heels of an
incident in which a 14-year-old Chinese boy poisoned his parents
after his mother took away his video games. “Internet addiction
has become a serious problem in China,” says Li Jianwei of the
Ministry of Culture. “Although some rules restricting students
from playing online games have been introduced, the problem has
not been solved completely.” Under the proposal, steps will be
taken to diagnose the problem early on by developing a
definition for Internet addiction. "The unhealthy content
online, such as violence and obscenity, has damaged young
people, physically and mentally," says Wang Ping, of the Chinese
Society for Juvenile Delinquency Prevention Research. "But what
symptoms define Internet addiction? H