"Feeling tense and angry because you cannot get online?" asks the state-run China Daily. Powerless to stop scouring eBay for second-hand bargains you don't really need? Unable to tear yourself away from stalking would-be love interests on Facebook?
It could be a sign of "internet addiction", according to psychologists in China, which could become the first nation to classify the problem as a clinical disorder.
So what constitutes an official diagnosis? "I fall asleep with a laptop on my bed on top of 2 books is that bad?" asks one Lifehacker reader.
A manual expected to be approved by the Chinese Ministry of Health says staying online for more than six hours a day, instead of working or studying, and having adverse reactions from not being able to get online, are two major symptoms of Internet Addiction Disorder (IAD).
A tendency to overindulge in activities such as online gaming, watching pornography, using social networking sites and internet shopping afflicts sufferers.
The Chinese manual would be the first of its kind in the world, adding to the controversy over whether compulsive internet use should be officially viewed as a mental disorder. Earlier this year an editorial by a leading practitioner in the American Journal of Psychiatry argued in favour of such a move.
US academics have found that more than one in eight Americans showed at least one possible sign of problematic internet use, with some web surfers already starting to seek medical help.
In China, which has faced strong criticism for its attempts to control what citizens can see online, said citizens could go to one of several scary-sounding boot camp-style rehabilitation clinics. Treatment includes not just counselling but military discipline, drugs, hypnosis and mild electric shocks. Tempted?
source:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/blog/2008/nov/11/china-internet
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Subject: China classifies internet addiction as a new disease 
Mon Nov 17, 2008 7:29 am
