A teenager has died after she was denied medical assistance at a boot camp for recovering internet addicts. Another was left seriously injured.
Nineteen year old Lingling was seen to be bleeding abdominally during a particularly rigorous military inspired training session. She apparently begged to be allowed to stop but was forced to continue for two hours. She later collapsed and died.
Treatment centers like this are more and more common as internet addiction has taken over China’s youth, prompting officials to brand the struggle, the ‘third Opium war’. They prompted controversy earlier in the decade as several resorted to using electronic shock therapy both as a deterrent and as punishment for rule breaking.
Online gaming is often referred to as ‘electronic heroin’ due to the level of addiction it inspires; according to the China Information Network Center there are 618 million users in mainland China and an estimated 10 percent of netizens aged under 18 are considered to be addicts.
Despite recent events, these centers remain a popular choice for parents desperate to reclaim their children from their addiction. However, the efficacy of these treatment plans is yet to be seen.
Source: ycwb.com
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Keywords: Girl Dies at Internet Rehab
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It would be so much better if she has gotten into other forms of addictions; money, face, power...at least no one in this 'great' tribe would ever say she needs rehab......
Jun 18, 2014 10:58 Report Abuse
Yours (June 16th) too; much depth and beautifully articulated!
Jun 18, 2014 19:49 Report Abuse
A few good men... Parents reclaiming their child from this addiction only to put them back in the straight-jacket of their own retirement plan. For the government, people that flee their miserable reality are much easier to control that the ones that question it, and besides, there's a lot of money to be made.
Jun 16, 2014 22:43 Report Abuse
The internet is a method of escape, much like drug addicts or alcoholics. The problem is with the parenting. The kids are controlled, told what to do all the time, not encouraged to think or speak out like prisoners. This is a form of mental escape... if you want to fix the problem... educate parents on proper parenting.
Jun 16, 2014 21:44 Report Abuse
call it the new people's opium and you will use the method of the Cultural Revolution. Call it a symptom of a society in change, whose fresh generation is in jeopardy, stack in between the greediness of their own parents and their need to dream their own lives, imagine their own dreams, and you will find out your that your Country is in danger to turning slightly human. Thus you will have to use human methods, not brainwash re-educating camps. The internet shows young people that they are human too, not only Chinese. That they can give the human value to a nation educated to behave like senseless and emotionless. A breeze of international common sense, is what is feared very much, thus young dreamers, addicted to other worlds than their miserable reality, are dangerous to a China whose identity is at stake. Above anything, addictions are human weaknesses to be treated by humans not by animals. That's why the adolescent died, because of a brainwashed human who believes he is an animal and everybody ought to be treated likewise. Question: is somebody to be called to some responsibility or even be judged and sentenced to prison? The article doesn't mention about it at all.
Jun 16, 2014 21:19 Report Abuse
The people running these places are poorly educated and it's so tragic that kids have died because of it.
Jun 16, 2014 20:08 Report Abuse
Yes exactly. Pathetic and useless parents can't take responsibility for their own children and dump their problems on someone else. It's very sad that this girl died. The Chinese monsters responsible for this should be severely punished. What is wrong with society these days?
Jun 17, 2014 12:56 Report Abuse
Only 618 users? Doesn't seem much of a problem. Muppets. NOW they have changed it.
Jun 16, 2014 19:29 Report Abuse
On eChinacities they often get the number wrong. According to a previous article the equator of our planet is over 40 million kilometers long.
Jun 16, 2014 21:09 Report Abuse
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