China's Internet Addiction
Laura Robertson
CBN News
January 24, 2007
With 137 million Internet users and counting, experts predict Chinese Internet users should outnumber their
U.S. counterparts within the next few years.
Many have focused on China’s staggering economic growth of 10.5% last year, but the China’s Internet growth of 23.6% has been even more impressive. Considering that in 1998, less than ten years ago, China only had about a million online, the sheer volume and growth is extremely impressive.
But unfortunately, this growth doesn’t come without some unwanted side effects.
Internet addiction has become a problem for about 2 million of the 18.3 million young people online. One document from the Communist Youth League considered Internet addiction “a severe social problem that could threaten the nation’s future.”
According to one recent survey, Chinese Internet addicts are about ten years younger than their U.S. counterparts, with the bulk of them being males who are between 15 and 19.
Many of these guys are so preoccupied in his virtual world that they neglect responsibilities in real life. One 13-year old from northern China even jumped off of a 24-story building in order to meet his friends from the “friends” from his computer game.
Last year Beijing opened its first clinic to treat Internet addiction, and a few more cities have followed suit. While these centers have been moderately successful, they’re not enough for some government officials who have considered limiting the number of time people can spend playing online games to 3-5 hours daily.
China’s situation might seem pretty bad, but in fairness, Americans aren’t much better. According to the results of a new survey, 65% of those surveyed said they spent more time online than with their spouse.
It’s kind of ironic that although the Internet is supposed to connect people worldwide, it can also create new types of isolation if people simply retreat behind their computers.
But all things considered, from blogs to foreign newspapers, the Internet has done more to connect China and the international community than anything else I can think of. Despite Internet addictions, government censorship, and a host of other things, I hope China’s Internet growth continues to give citizens a refreshing voice that can connect them to the real world.
A caring friend will be there to pray with you in your time of need.
