After reading about another team
members finding on different therapies that are being used for internet
addicts, I decided to do a little more research on what other treatments there
are for teens globally. Horses are
primarily used as the main treatment in therapy, but I also came across another
therapy that seems to be successful, although not as much fun as being around horses. This other type of treatment is very similar
to military boot camp, only the people attending this boot camp are young teens
and are not preparing to go into the military.
In South Korea, where there are the most teen
internet addicts in the world, a new treatment has been devised to help with
severe internet addiction. This treatment is sending your teen to boot
camp. Jump Up Internet Rescue School is very
similar to military boot camps, where the attendees have to go through rigorous
obstacle courses where drill sergeants are yelling orders; however, group
counseling sessions and therapeutic workshops are mixed in to help ease the
time while staying at camp. The idea of
the boot camp is to have the teens focus on building emotions with people of
the real word instead of the virtual world (Fackler). By working together and living on site, the
teens are forced to do normal daily activities without being able to go on the
computer. I think that this could be
successful for teens that are severely addicted to the internet because they
are outside exercising, being held accountable to help with chores and also building
team work skills and emotions which lack when most of their time is spent
online.
-Lauren Gorowski
Source: Fackler, Martin.
"South Korean Boot Camp Weans Teens from Internet Addiction." New
York Times 18 Nov. 2007: 17. Print.
I find it quite sad that teens now are addicted to the internet so much that they must enroll in a boot camp to separate themselves from the screen. What happened to going outside? I suppose that this addiction is in direct proportion to childhood obesity as well.
ReplyDeleteAs severe as bootcamp may be, Internet addiction can be a difficult problem to tackle and in some extreme cases take extreme measures. Like any addiction, rehab is sometimes the only route and is necessary. It may seem almost comical, or trivial, but if an Internet addict shows the same signs as a drug addict then there is a problem. In serious cases, I do feel bootcamp and rehabilition is called for.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with what happened to kids playing outside and being involved in sports teams. This boot camp is set up over in South Korea where there are over 2 million teens addicted to the internet. One teen who had to go to the camp said that it did help, but instead of spending 17 hours online, he would only try to spend 5 hours online. So it could help, but I feel that parents should be more of a part of their teens life to help reduce the amount of time they spend on the internet as well.
ReplyDelete-Lauren Gorowski
"In South Korea, where there are the most teen internet addicts in the world, a new treatment has been devised to help with severe internet addiction." As i know, In China, that is a big problem too. The teen student dont go to school, they spent whole day in Computer Bar playing online games, a lot of them do online game for several days without sleep! And I heard a awful new about a 19 years old boy is blind after playing online game after 3 days without rest. this is a extrene case but lot of people spend too much time online. They need help with internet addicts!
ReplyDeleteby wenyi chen
I am not sure what China has to offer via a boot camp for their teens addiction. I can imagine that with as many people as there are addicted in that country to the internet, they would have a very similar place for treatment. One article I read, there was actually a person who died from playing online for over three days because he did not rest, eat, or go to the bathroom and died from that. It was a very sad article to read.
Delete-Lauren Gorowski
This concept of a boot camp to overcome internet addiction is incredible. I saw an episode of My Strange Addictions on TLC that showed these boot camps for addicted teens. The number of hours that they spend on the compter each day is almost hard to imagine.
ReplyDeleteIt is very sad how many hours someone who is addicted to the internet can stay online. I think these boot camps would be very helpful to those types of addicts because it forces them to interact with people and do physical work and not think about online games. It helps the teens how to deal with their emotions to because they are having to complete certain tasks and work in groups which is important in life.
Delete-Lauren Gorowski