help for internet addicts

Korea leads the way

According to the nyt :

" 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 "

the activities the participants remind me of school camps or corporate training
with a little bit of army stuff mixed with AA thrown in
listen to this exchange between a camp member and his instructor:

“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.

if this sounds bizarre, the boy in question (yes he is only 15) used to think that spending 17 hours on line playing games was not a problem. After the camp he will play for 5 hours (!)

the story also points out that "Compulsive Internet use" has been identified as a mental health problem in the US. Here is a short quiz to find out if you are really addicted.

so it seems that universal access to the Net is not a good idea.

of course Google has more complicated plans to turn us into lazy, inefficient slobs....