About 9.72 percent of Chinese netizens between the ages of 13
and 30 suffer Internet addiction, a survey revealed on Friday.
The survey defines an Internet-addicted as one whose life,
career and interpersonal relations are harmed by Internet use, said
the report issued by the China Youth Association for Network
Development (CYAND).
"Anyone fitting in one of the three criteria we set is
considered Internet-addicted: First, a person feels happier or more
self-fulfilled online than in real world. Second, a person feels
upset, depressed, or panicked when being cut off from the Internet
for any reason. Third, a person lies to the family members about
how long he spends online," the report said.
China reported 210 million Internet users at the end of 2007 and
is set to become the world's largest at the beginning of this year,
according to the China Internet Network Information Center (CINIC),
the main Internet watchdog.
Net users between 18 and 30 accounted for 49.9 percent of the
total users. Although the CINIC did not give the figure of those
below 18. Teenagers and youths have obviously taken up half of the
total number of net users.
A clear gender difference was found among the addicted in the
survey. About 13.29 percent of young male netizens are addicted,
7.18 percentage points higher than that among female
counterparts.
Among the Internet-addicted, 68.64 percent are male and 31.36
percent are female, the report said.
About 11.39 percent of the young net users between 18 and 23 are
addicted to the Internet, the highest compared with those between
13 and 17 and those between 24 and 30.
The survey also found that more Internet-addicted youths suffer
frustration in interpersonal relations than those not.
It showed that 21.59 percent of the addicted do not get along
well with family members, compared with 9.94 percent of those
not;17.49 percent of the addicted do not have good friendships,
compared with 9.01 percent of those not.
Lots of odd stories about Internet addiction hit headlines in
recent years.
A boy named Zhang Fei from the southwest Sichuan Province
shocked the country last year. He has been enrolled in China's best
universities twice and dropped out twice because of being addicted
to online games and failing in most of the exams.
Zhang Fei was admitted to the top-ranking Peking University in
2003 and dropped out a year later because he failed seven of his 18
subjects. He went back to high school and took the national college
entrance exam in 2005, managing to enter the equally prestigious
Tsinghua University, but he left that university for the same
reason.
"I just feel vacuous and turn to online games to kill time.
Somehow I just can't stop," Zhang was quoted by the Central China
TV Station.
His ex-classmates described him as anti-social and eccentric.
Zhang himself admitted that he was loathed himself and often felt
reluctant to communicate with others.
The boy has again performed well in the 2007 college entrance
exam and was enrolled at Tsinghua University in July while
receiving psychological therapy.
The survey found that 40.77 percent of the addicted netizens
play online games, 13 percentage points higher than those not.
"We shall be careful about this. Usually addiction to online
games leads to serious Internet addiction," said Hao Xianghong,
secretary-general of the association.
The association sent out 12,000 questionnaires in schools,
Internet cafes and other public places in 12 Chinese cities,
including the biggest Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing and Guangzhou in
September last year and received 11,023 responses.
It also did online surveys at three leading websites getting
10,363 responses.
(Xinhua News Agency January 19, 2008)