Worse than Opium

The Internet is booming in China (even with all the censorship, a result that violates every premise of extreme versions of the open society). Yet with the boom has come a mental problem: Internet addiction.

Wang Yiming, 21, is a self-confessed internet addict, one of a growing number in China. He used to spend hours online each day, often going without food or sleep. His face is drawn and sallow.

He said addiction changed his whole life:

"A month or two after I started surfing the internet, I failed some of my school tests, but I was too afraid to tell my parents. When my father found out, he was very angry.

"But I couldn't control my addiction. Friends were also telling me that I was on the net too long, but I thought: 'It's my life, I can do what I want.' I became a real loner, was withdrawn, and wouldn't listen to anyone."

A young Chinese internet addict receives an electroencephalogram check at the Beijing Military Region Central Hospital July 6, 2005 in Beijing, China.
The clinic provides medical treatment and therapy

For help, Wang Yiming went to China's first internet clinic, a low-rise, anonymous building in central Beijing.

Link.

Can the howls for government-funded Internet recovery centers in the U.S. be far behind?