Tech Shout!

A military-style boot camp has been started up near Beijing, China in 2004 in an effort to battle Internet addiction, which happens to be a disorder afflicting a large number of youth in China. The Internet Addiction Treatment Centre (IATC) in Daxing County uses a combination of therapy, discipline and military drills to treat the inmates.

Thus, the Internet Addiction Treatment Centre (IATC) combines a bit of sympathy with discipline to treat the children in China who have become increasingly addicted to online games on PCs, Internet pornography, cybersex and even chats.

In the past a number of high-profile Internet-related deaths and juvenile crimes occurred in China. The Chinese government is thus taking small steps to prevent Internet addictions simply by banning new Internet cyber cafes and by enforcing restrictions of violent computer games.

The Internet Addiction Treatment Centre (IATC) at Daxing County is funded by the Daxing Centre and is run by an army colonel under the Beijing Military Hospital. And you will be surprised to know that the clinic at Daxing County is not the only one to have cropped up. There are already a handful of clinics that treat patients with Internet addictions in China.

The majority of inmates at these clinics are male aged 14 to 19 years. They generally have to be up by 6.15 a.m. to perform their morning calisthenics, and march on the concrete grounds wearing their khaki uniforms.

Since its inception in 2004, the IATC has already treated around 1500 patients, and boasts a seventy per cent success rate at breaking addictions. The enrollment fees at the IATC is about 10,000 Yuan ($1,290) a month.

According to Xu Leiting, a psychologist at the hospital, “Many of the Internet addicts here have rarely considered other peoples’ feelings. The military training allows them to feel what it’s like to be a part of a team. It also helps their bodies recover and makes them stronger.”

The director of IATC, Tao Ran has also said that the centre takes on pro bono cases for poor families. “There is no trend for Internet addiction as far as social or economic status, or geography, is concerned. So long as they can get access to a computer, there will be addiction,” Tao concluded.