Number of young Web addicts doubles
- Source: Global Times
- [03:18 February 03 2010]
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By Jiang Wanjuan
Experts warn that Internet addiction remains a threat among adolescents with a new report revealing over 24 million young people are hooked online.
The figure, released in a report issued yesterday by the China Youth Internet Association, shows that over 14 percent of young Internet users, aged between 6-29, are addicted.
The rate is higher than that of 2007, but as the number of Net users grows, the number of addicts has doubled, the report said. Another 13 percent have a tendency to addiction.
Young people in cities spend an average 80.2 minutes on the Internet on weekdays. People who are addicted spend twice the time on it than people who are not.
The survey, conducted by the Statistical Inquiry Institute of Communication University of China, covered four municipalities and 26 provincial capitals.
It received 7,083 valid questionnaires from face-to-face interviews and 1,860 questionnaires online between September last year and this January.
Almost half of the addicts indulge in online games, the top cause of addiction, with Web chatting or online romance far behind in second, but still a temptation at 13 percent.
The percentage of addicts in developed cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou stands at around 8 percent, much lower than that in underdeveloped cities, for example Guiyang (about 32 percent) in Guizhou Province.
Tao Ran, founder of Beijing-based China Youth Mental Health Center, told the Global Times that people in developed cities were exposed to the Internet earlier and they know how to make better use of it.
"However, people in less developed places are more curious about the Internet and it's easier to indulge in online games. And they have less extracurricular work and entertainment," Tao said.
The report also found that people with Internet addiction are more accepting of violence. 66.5 percent of non-addicts think beating a person is wrong, but only 48 percent of addicts agree.
Tao said that 40 percent of net addicts suffer from mental disorders such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which can be treated.
