China’s 10-step Program For Internet Addicted Teen-agers
Xinhua reports that in a 2005 survey, 13% of young Chinese Internet users were addicted to the Net and that 90% of all juvenile crimes were related to being addicted to the Internet.
In response: the
1. Civilization Office
2. Spiritual Civilization Steering Committee
3. Central Committe of Communist Youth League of China
4. State Press and Publication Administration
5. Ministry of Information Industry
6. Ministry of Culture
have all decided to gang up on the youngsters. I mean these six groups formed a joint statement -
“We should make great efforts to develop ‘green’ online games, which are suitable for teenagers, and actively recommend them to teenagers.”
Yep, I am sure the kids will listen and begin to change in response to that advice from people they (the kids) can relate to, eh?
The ten step program includes -
1. Compilation and publication of decent books and movies (decent being the operative word)
2. Organization of Internet-related activities for teenages – uh, is there a conflict here?
3. Set up alliances to promote healthy online entertainment – uh…again, is there a conflict here?
4. Exploration of technical methods to prevent teenagers from being harmed by unhealthy online info.
5. Extablishing rehabilitation and treatment agencies for those teenagers already addicted…that sounds scary.
Kids, adults, too who find themselves overly attracted to online chatting, pornography, online gambling and other activities need help. To China’s credit they are taking action.
But, six government agencies ganging up on young people might NOT be the best way to go about it.
What do you think?
[...] Belew, author of East Asia Fair, wrote up a very amusing article about China’s 10-Step Program for Internet Addicted Teens. If you love dry humor and are curious about life in Asia, then East Asia Fair is for you. In this [...]
Leave a comment!