Your parents send you to boot camp. Yes, I said boot camp. A boot camp now exists in South Korea, possibly the first of its kind in the whole world, which is created by South Korea’s goverment to help those addicted to the internet. The boot camp’s main target market is the youth of Korea who have grown up with the internet and can spend up to 17 hours a day on the internet, which includes web browsing, chatting, and online gaming. They would be on their computer all night long and skip school to catch up on sleep. Some would also die of exhaustion from continuous game play that would be days on end.
So the goverment created the boot camp and funds it as well so it is free of charge to those who enter into the boot camp. The boot camp is made to show other activities the youth, mostly male, can do including outdoor activities such as exercise and horseback riding rather than staying inside and on the computer most of the day.
To ensure the youth are not cheating, they are monitored 24 hours a day to make sure that they aren’t online, even on their breaks. To take their mind off of the internet, they are given activities such as chores and outdoor activities to occupy their time.
There is no definite proof that the boot camp works but it does seem to work on some. Ask Chang-hoon who attends the boot camp and thought 17 hours on the internet was fine but after an interesting obstacle course says “I’m not thinking about games now, so maybe this will help,” he replied. “From now on, maybe I’ll just spend five hours a day online.”-NYT
For more details, click here, via New York Times Online.
Impression:
Wow, pretty interesting. It has gotten so bad in South Korea that a boot camp was made to help those addicted to the internet. I myself am probably an addict, I estimate my time on the internet to be around seven hours a day. I’m usually online looking for stuff to download, reading blogs, looking at anime related stuff, or researching for information. I rarely play games online anymore, though thats probably because I’m too cheap for P2P (Pay to Play) games lol. Admitting is the first step to recovery ^^. I want to know, how many hours do you spend on the internet? Do you have any friends that you might suggest the boot camp to? Maybe a favorite internet story like “I spent 17 hours playing WOW (World Of Warcraft) and went up 5 levels.
Loading ...
rofl…
i really think this is crazy…who would spend 17 hours in front of the computer…i try to spend some time here but between school and my normal life i find it rather difficult so i guesss i only spend like 5 hours…sometimes more…
Rakushu’s last blog post..Kodomo no Jikan….
interesting. at least i’m not in Korea. I could spend my entire day on the comp. At least I get sleep at night and then i’m too lazy too get up the next day.
choco’s last blog post..Fate/unlimited codes official website updated !
Well, you can call me an Internet addict, but I have circumstances that reduce the gravity of my sentence. They are as follows:
-I live abroad for studies and I’m an indoors guy (I don’t enjoy partying at all, etc.). I’m still open to friendship and discussions and the very occasional dinner with friends. I keep ties with family too.
-I totally gave up on television and radio as media. I have stopped playing The Legend of Zelda Master Quest for now and I don’t play Online games.
-I take naps when I can (which are no good but it’s better than nothing) and don’t sleep at school or skip classes.
-Least but surely not last, I am an anime addict and the best resources are online. It’s also fun to discuss about things with people around the world in a constructive manner on a regular way.
This said, I should be sleeping soundly now. Exams should be dealt with in a matter of hours. AS, thanks for wishing me luck last time. I will do my best then… *Mumble* *Mumble* Zzz… And don’t worry, I shall not oversleep.
I meant “last but surely not least”. Killer typo.
Well, see you on another post then.
I think it was around 2003/04 that I started getting into online games. That was some crazy stuff where I pretty much forsook everything around me and I had to be screamed at by family and friends just to eat my meals. During the peak, I was pretty much clocking like 36 hour runs on the game and just sleeping during the peak hours when servers would be crowded to avoid mob snatching :p
I guess with online games, the main issue is that once you even relax for a bit, the game doesn’t wait for you like console games do, and before you know it, you’re suddenly left behind. So to maintain your ranking/achievements, you just compel yourself to stay in-game as long as possible. The chance of obtaining “rare” stuff as well just make matters worse.
But I’m not so nuts on online gaming now, it gets scary once you think back to the past. But since I have internet at work, I’m pretty much online for the majority of the day. No more crazy compulsion to skip meals and avoid going out now, heh. Like D_Blade, I’m an indoors person myself and haven’t watched much telly since ‘98 (The TV’s only good for console gaming I say xD), I might have needed to be sent to the boot camp back then, but all’s well these days ^^b I think…
shinohai’s last blog post..～向坂環 小女Ｖｅｒ．とフィーたん － Tamaki Kousaka [Girlhood Ver.] & Fee-tan～
@Rakushu: I have had friends who stay online for 24+ hours, though thats usually because they are downloading something lol. Balancing your life is something you need to do and can’t rely on the internet all the time.
@choco: Wow, the whole day huh. I don’t think I could do that lol, as I am pretty much finished with all the daily site visits in about one hour ^^.
@D_Blade: Sleep is good, it helps to repair your body and mind. I’m also an indoor type of guy but keep close ties with friends. I need to study for my own midterms in about two weeks.
@shinohai: That’s good that you stopped your internet binge ^^, I don’t believe it was healthy for you. I need the internet at work too, if I don’t I have to do everything manually which takes longer.
I guess I’m similar to shinohai, having been into online gaming at one point. I used to spend about 14 or so hours per day playing. Now, I spend about 6 or so, mainly reading blogs and discussions relating to anime.
Sylon Beta’s last blog post..The Ephemeral Sol is recruiting writers!
if you spend 17 hours on WoW every day, i envy you