Here’s an interesting story from the Times of London about a Chinese teen who was sent to an internet rehabilitation center, where he was subsequently beaten to death. The paragraph below indicates survey research recently conducted in China:

More than 10 million of the country’s 100 million teenage web surfers are internet addicts, a survey by the China Youth Internet Association found last year. China has more than 338 million internet users, more than the entire population of the United States. Zhang Zhao , a Beijing-based mental health specialist with 15 years’ experience, told the South China Morning Post: “I can tie my patients to the chair in front of me, but I cannot unlock their hearts. Nobody can cure addicts without their co-operation.”

Recently the Health Ministry in China banned the use of electro-shock therapy in videogame and Internet “addiction” treatment. This article illustrates an extreme example of a misplaced emphasis on “addiction” to Internet and gaming. A far better term is “overuse.”

Certainly, beating to the point of death, or shocking someone, or otherwise torturing them to give up video games or Internet browsing is uncalled for in “treatment” of “addicts.” Read more on my thoughts on the matter here.