Xu Xiaohui often sleeps away the day in order to spend the night
at the Internet cafe. He doesn't mind skipping meals, but he can't
stand missing his Internet fix.
"I feel guilty. I do," says the sophomore from elite Hefei
Polytechnical University in east China's Anhui Province. "I owe my parents a lot.
They're both peasant farmers and had to borrow more than 20,000
yuan (about US$2,500) from close relatives to finance my college
education."
But that doesn't stop him from repeatedly succumbing to the
Internet temptation. In fact, the guiltier he feels, the greater
his obsession with cyberspace, which eats away his time and
money.
But the virtual world cannot protect him from the hard facts of
reality: fail grades in seven courses last semester.
Internet addiction has proved to be the downside of information
technology in China, a country with 111 million Internet users.
In a midnight spot check of 25 cyber cafes close to campus,
officials of Hefei Polytechnical University, in the eastern Anhui
Province, found about 800 students from nearby schools and
universities chatting or playing games on the Internet.
"They were exhausted but feverish. Many looked stupified and
apathetic to what was going on around them," says Song Liming, an
official in charge of student affairs.
A new survey by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) shows that
Internet addiction is to blame for 80 percent of those who have
flunked out of Chinese colleges and universities, according to Gao
Wenbin, a counselor with the CAS Institute of Psychology.
Internet addiction does not just undermine a student's work, but
impairs their mental and physical health and leads to serious
social problems, says a teacher with Nanjing Polytechnical
University, in neighboring Jiangsu Province.
In an extreme case, a computer science major at a top university
in Jiangxi Province received the death penalty for manslaughter.
Wang Bin, an Internet addict who had become penniless, tried to
commit a burglary in a residential building and killed the
homeowner who caught him.
In an effort to curb the problem, universities have moved to
impose a new order on their campuses with more interesting
curricula and the promotion of healthier leisure activities.
Hefei Polytechnical University states in its evaluation system
that Internet addicts will not be considered for any awards.
"We can do our best to keep the students from becoming addicted,
but can do nothing to stop the illegal cyber cafes," says Song
Liming. "It's crucial for government departments, Internet cafe
operators, students and parents to work together for the protection
of young people from addiction."
A survey conducted by the China Youth Association for Network
Development show that 13.2 percent of "netizens" aged 13 to 35 are
regarded as addicts.
In Beijing, 90 percent of juvenile crimes are connected with
Internet addiction, says Prof. Tao Hongkai, a noted expert on
Internet addiction among China's youth.
The State Council, China's central government, in November
banned people under the age of 18 from Internet cafes and ordered
all Internet bars and cafes to close by midnight.
Internet cafe operators breaking the rules will be fined up to
15,000 yuan (US$1,875) and in serious cases may lose their
license.
(Xinhua News Agency April 12, 2006)