A growing number of Chinese are afflicted with Internet addiction. China, which is home to the world’s largest online population clocking in at 253 million people and growing, is reporting that about 10 percent of China’s Web users under the age of 18, or four million people, are addicted to the Internet, mainly to “unhealthy” online games. Recent research by Internet media company InterActiveCorp showed that 42 percent of Chinese youngsters polled felt “addicted” to the Web, compared to 18 percent in the United States. China is defining this addiction as users who spend six hours or more per day online, and exhibit at least one symptom including difficulty sleeping or concentrating, yearning to be online, irritation, and mental or physical distress are classified as meeting the definition of addiction. China cites this issue as going as far back as 2005 and has established “boot camps” to help addicts kick the habit. About 10 percent of China’s 253 million Internet users exhibit some form of addiction to the medium, and 70 percent of those people are young men, an official Xinhua News Agency report said.

(Sources: NetworkWorld, AFP)