Chinese have cure for Internet addicts

Getting the Internet monkey off the backs of young citizens is one of the newer psychiatric endeavors of the Chinese government. Check out the modern, scientific payload on top of this male subject.

Now imagine your own brain hooked up to this marvelous miracle of the collectivist paradise known as the People's Republic.

As the BBC describes it, the problem is horrific, and clinics like the one they document in the article are ramping up to take care of it:

Rising personal wealth means more people are able to buy computers or pay to go online. The vast majority are young people using the net to chat or play games.

But behind the boom, there is a downside.
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The clinic itself is part of a bigger addiction centre also treating those hooked on alcohol or drugs. The internet addicts go on a two-week course involving medical treatment, psychological therapy, and daily workouts.

The latter are a key part of the programme. Many of the men have spent every waking moment in front of a computer screen and have never experienced regular exercise.

Dr Tao Ran, head of the clinic, said the scale of the problem in China was enormous:

"Every day in China, more than 20 million youngsters go online to play games and hit the chat rooms, and that means that internet addiction among young people is becoming a major issue here.

"And it's only recently that the authorities have started to wake up to the seriousness of the problem with more articles in the papers highlighting the dangers of going online for too long," he said.

Consider these factors:

The cure takes all of two weeks.

It is not clear from the story whether treatment is always voluntary.

The BBC does not say whether there is invasive surgery involved.

The Chinese want to help run the internet for us.

Where is that aspirin?