EDUC 5199
Recently in China rehabilitation camps have sprung up that are designed around curing young Chinese teenagers of an alleged internet addiction. The Chinese government in one of the first countries in the world to classify internet addiction as mental disorder. In 2011, a Chinese man died after internet gaming for three days straight. Just last year, another man collapsed and died inside an internet cafe in Shanghai after playing World of Warcraft for 19 hours straight, despite doctors suggesting the 24-year-old take ‘significant rest’ for a health issue ( Brown, 2016). Chinese teens are flocking in record numbers to online gaming as a method of escaping the harsh realities of their own lives. Instead of being drawn to drug or alcohol addiction, Chinese teens are consuming digital technologies due to its widespread availability, cheap price, and rampant popularity. De Castell (2014) states, "What needs stressing is neither that digital gameplay has physical impacts on players, nor that real players create virtual selves in any unidirectional way; rather, it is that games refashion their "real-world" players reciprocally, even as players invent and then, through transactional enactive play, discover new selves built from game-based affordances (p.214). Teens consuming the internet are refashioning new identities that are formed through their online world[s]. The lines between reality and artificial reality (internet, online gaming) become blurred when people prefer to spend their lives in a digital world. Is this a trend that has yet to manifest itself in the "west"? As North Americans are we immune from this supposed "electronic heroin"? Perhaps internet addiction already exists around the world; the problem being stereotypes surrounding these types of addicts prevent it from being properly assessed and acknowledged. In Canada, people addicted to the internet are more likely to be viewed as introverts, nerds, lazy, freeloaders living in their parents basements. Maybe our government can learn a lesson from the Chinese government and be more proactive in treating this newly emerging mental health crisis. References Brown, Vanessa (2016). The digital addiction that has teens wearing nappies so they don’t need a toilet break. Retrieved from http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/the-digital-addiction-that-has-----teens-wearing-nappies-so-they-dont-need-a-toilet-break/news-story/5e0d321846a93337dc9f0260fc0ffc23 Suzanne de Castell. “Mirror Images: Avatar Aesthetics & Self-Representation in Digital Games.” DIY Citizenship. Pp. 213-221.
1 Comment
Reena
11/20/2016 03:29:11 pm
Hi Colin,
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AuthorMy name is Colin Lindsay and I am a currently a Masters student at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. My areas of focus include sports, music, and the survival of the Canadian identity in the shadow of American culture. ArchivesCategories |