In Korea, a Boot Camp Cure for Web Obsession

[changmim.livejournal.com]

Students spend their time exercising and doing group activities to wean them from the Internet.

By MARTIN FACKLER
Published: November 18, 2007

MOKCHEON, South Korea — The compound — part boot camp, part rehab center — resembles programs around the world for troubled youths. Drill instructors drive young men through military-style obstacle courses, counselors lead group sessions, and there are even therapeutic workshops on pottery and drumming.

But these young people are not battling alcohol or drugs. Rather, they have severe cases of what many in this country believe is a new and potentially deadly addiction: cyberspace.

They come here, to the Jump Up Internet Rescue School, the first camp of its kind in South Korea and possibly the world, to be cured.



South Korea boasts of being the most wired nation on earth. In fact, perhaps no other country has so fully embraced the Internet. Ninety percent of homes connect to cheap, high-speed broadband, online gaming is a professional sport, and social life for the young revolves around the “PC bang,” dim Internet parlors that sit on practically every street corner.

But such ready access to the Web has come at a price as legions of obsessed users find that they cannot tear themselves away from their computer screens.

Compulsive Internet use has been identified as a mental health issue in other countries, including the United States. However, it may be a particularly acute problem in South Korea because of the country’s nearly universal Internet access.

It has become a national issue here in recent years, as users started dropping dead from exhaustion after playing online games for days on end. A growing number of students have skipped school to stay online, shockingly self-destructive behavior in this intensely competitive society.

Up to 30 percent of South Koreans under 18, or about 2.4 million people, are at risk of Internet addiction, said Ahn Dong-hyun, a child psychiatrist at Hanyang University in Seoul who just completed a three-year government-financed survey of the problem.

They spend at least two hours a day online, usually playing games or chatting. Of those, up to a quarter million probably show signs of actual addiction, like an inability to stop themselves from using computers, rising levels of tolerance that drive them to seek ever longer sessions online, and withdrawal symptoms like anger and craving when prevented from logging on.

To address the problem, the government has built a network of 140 Internet-addiction counseling centers, in addition to treatment programs at almost 100 hospitals and, most recently, the Internet Rescue camp, which started this summer. Researchers have developed a checklist for diagnosing the addiction and determining its severity, the K-Scale. (The K is for Korea.)

In September, South Korea held the first international symposium on Internet addiction.

“Korea has been most aggressive in embracing the Internet,” said Koh Young-sam, head of the government-run Internet Addiction Counseling Center. “Now we have to lead in dealing with its consequences.”

Though some health experts here and abroad question whether overuse of the Internet or computers in general is an addiction in the strict medical sense, many agree that obsessive computer use has become a growing problem in many countries.

Doctors in China and Taiwan have begun reporting similar disorders in their youth. In the United States, Dr. Jerald J. Block, a psychiatrist at Oregon Health and Science University, estimates that up to nine million Americans may be at risk for the disorder, which he calls pathological computer use. Only a handful of clinics in the United States specialize in treating it, he said.

“Korea is on the leading edge,” Dr. Block said. “They are ahead in defining and researching the problem, and recognize as a society that they have a major issue.”

The rescue camp, in a forested area about an hour south of Seoul, was created to treat the most severe cases. This year, the camp held its first two 12-day sessions, with 16 to 18 male participants each time. (South Korean researchers say an overwhelming majority of compulsive computer users are male.)

The camp is entirely paid for by the government, making it tuition-free. While it is too early to know whether the camp can wean youths from the Internet, it has been receiving four to five applications for each spot. To meet demand, camp administrators say they will double the number of sessions next year.

During a session, participants live at the camp, where they are denied computer use and allowed only one hour of cellphone calls a day, to prevent them from playing online games via the phone. They also follow a rigorous regimen of physical exercise and group activities, like horseback riding, aimed at building emotional connections to the real world and weakening those with the virtual one.

“It is most important to provide them experience of a lifestyle without the Internet,” said Lee Yun-hee, a counselor. “Young Koreans don’t know what this is like.”

Initially, the camp had problems with participants sneaking away to go online, even during a 10-minute break before lunch, Ms. Lee said. Now, the campers are under constant surveillance, including while asleep, and are kept busy with chores, like washing their clothes and cleaning their rooms.

One participant, Lee Chang-hoon, 15, began using the computer to pass the time while his parents were working and he was home alone. He said he quickly came to prefer the virtual world, where he seemed to enjoy more success and popularity than in the real one.

He spent 17 hours a day online, mostly looking at Japanese comics and playing a combat role-playing game called Sudden Attack. He played all night, and skipped school two or three times a week to catch up on sleep.

When his parents told him he had to go to school, he reacted violently. Desperate, his mother, Kim Soon-yeol, sent him to the camp.

“He didn’t seem to be able to control himself,” said Mrs. Kim, a hairdresser. “He used to be so passionate about his favorite subjects” at school. “Now, he gives up easily and gets even more absorbed in his games.”

Her son was reluctant at first to give up his pastime.

“I don’t have a problem,” Chang-hoon said in an interview three days after starting the camp. “Seventeen hours a day online is fine.” But later that day, he seemed to start changing his mind, if only slightly.

As a drill instructor barked orders, Chang-hoon and 17 other boys marched through a cold autumn rain to the obstacle course. Wet and shivering, Chang-hoon began climbing the first obstacle, a telephone pole with small metal rungs. At the top, he slowly stood up, legs quaking, arms outstretched for balance. Below, the other boys held a safety rope attached to a harness on his chest.

“Do you have anything to tell your mother?” the drill instructor shouted from below.

“No!” he yelled back.

“Tell your mother you love her!” ordered the instructor.

“I love you, my parents!” he replied.

“Then jump!” ordered the instructor. Chang-hoon squatted and leapt to a nearby trapeze, catching it in his hands.

“Fighting!” yelled the other boys, using the English word that in South Korea means the rough equivalent of “Don’t give up!”

After Chang-hoon descended, he said, “That was better than games!”

Was it thrilling enough to wean him from the Internet?

“I’m not thinking about games now, so maybe this will help,” he replied. “From now on, maybe I’ll just spend five hours a day online.”


ACCOMPANYING PHOTO SLIDESHOW:




In South Korea, perhaps the world’s most wired nation, broadband connections are fast and cheap. Millions have embraced the Internet, but some can’t seem to tear themselves away from their computer screens. Here, at a “PC bang,” or Internet parlor, young people gather to play computer games.





South Koreans’ ready access to the Web has come at a price: legions of compulsive users have developed a new and potentially deadly addiction — to cyberspace. Users have been known to drop dead from exhaustion after playing Internet games for days on end. And growing numbers of students have skipped school to stay online.




One expert says that as many as a quarter million South Koreans show signs of addiction. One response to this has been the Jump Up Internet Rescue School, the first camp of its kind in South Korea and possibly the world. Here, a sign promotes the camp’s programs.




Jump Up Internet Rescue School is part boot camp, part rehabilitation center, and it resembles programs around the world that try to straighten out troubled youths. At Jump Up, a student prepares for “self-control” training.




Drill instructors at Jump Up drive campers through military-style obstacle courses, including a high-wire exercise. The camp, which lies about an hour south of Seoul, was created to address the most severe cases of Internet addiction.




Jump Up is entirely paid for by the government. While it is too early to know whether such a camp can wean kids from the Internet, it has been getting four to five applications for each spot. Here, a camper prepares to jump.



Source

Comments

[spidersky.livejournal.com]

Forcing kids to go to that camp is kind of idiotic. You can't cure people who don't want to be cured and if they don't want to quit the net they'll just be back on it as soon as they get out of the camp (and just like any other addict they'll just find ways to be more crafty about getting away with it). :/

[merlinspants.livejournal.com]

ia

[chickadork.livejournal.com]

wow some of them look so young to have an addiction ;__;

[fadeintoyou.livejournal.com]

i find this a little bit ironic. lol i is net addict too and am reading about addicts getting rehab

[dreamerbri.livejournal.com]

ikr. i'm not on for 17 hours at a time but i spend way too much time on the computer too. lol

[ellyatthedisco.livejournal.com]

lol mte):

[thereisdiscord.livejournal.com]

How does leaping around help solve internet addictions? idgi

[hoyah.livejournal.com]

maybe reminds you you can have fun not sitting on your ass in front of a computer?

idk it kinda makes sense

though to be honest i'd just go back to my computer soon asi got home D: and be annoyed at how many lj updates i had to miss

[hp-groupie.livejournal.com]

Psh. I remember going on vacation and hiking for almost a week and a half. I came RIGHT back to the internet after. Eh.

[shonen-key.livejournal.com]

I swear if I live in China or Korea, my mom would send me to that camp ;__;

He said he quickly came to prefer the virtual world, where he seemed to enjoy more success and popularity than in the real one.


OMG THIS .___.

During my schooldays, I went to the cybercafe almost everyday after school hours in my school uniform [Students in school uniform are not allowed to enter, but some cafes don't care about that]. The cafe that I frequest to was raided a couple of times but I'm always lucky it's not during my visit :D If I got caught I can't imagine what'll happen.. even worse, I'm a school librarian [and head librarian during my senior year]

[thenylonkid.livejournal.com]

PUH-LEEZE! Leave these people alone.

If you want to get someone off the computer give them a book or something. But then what if they get addicted to reading, you say? INTERVENTION? Send them to camp? No, locking yourself in your room with a book it totally fine.

[aici-rua.livejournal.com]

...

[ficcy.livejournal.com]

South Korea boasts of being the most wired nation on earth.

FOR A SECOND THERE, I READ WIRED AS WEIRD.

Can I send my bros to this camp plz? They don't sleep at all to play online games. :\ And my youngest brother is so good-looking too. He looks half-dead now. I think getting them interested in outdoor activities, and convincing them that yes, they can live without the Internet, is a good program.

Though it probably won't work for those who have no willpower or interest in overcoming their addiction.

[hoyah.livejournal.com]

8D nothing about korea surprises me anymore

[invisibelle.livejournal.com]

who dug this up? i read it when the article came out in 2007. heh random.