For people with attention deficit disorder, is compulsive internet surfing an example of no focus or an example of hyperfocus?  On the one hand, the addicted surfer is constantly moving from one website to another.  On the other hand, the addicted surfer is clearly focused on one thing: “the internet” and the computer he’s using to access it.

In any case, South Korea is doing something about it.  From the New York Times:

Compulsive Internet use has been identified as a mental health issue in other countries, including the United States. However, it may be a particularly acute problem in South Korea because of the country’s nearly universal Internet access.

It has become a national issue here in recent years, as users started dropping dead from exhaustion after playing online games for days on end. A growing number of students have skipped school to stay online, shockingly self-destructive behavior in this intensely competitive society.

They spend at least two hours a day online, usually playing games or chatting. Of those, up to a quarter million probably show signs of actual addiction, like an inability to stop themselves from using computers, rising levels of tolerance that drive them to seek ever longer sessions online, and withdrawal symptoms like anger and craving when prevented from logging on.

…To address the problem, the government has built a network of 140 Internet-addiction counseling centers, in addition to treatment programs at almost 100 hospitals and, most recently, the Internet Rescue camp, which started this summer. Researchers have developed a checklist for diagnosing the addiction and determining its severity, the K-Scale. (The K is for Korea.)

In September, South Korea held the first international symposium on Internet addiction.

“Korea has been most aggressive in embracing the Internet,” said Koh Young-sam, head of the government-run Internet Addiction Counseling Center. “Now we have to lead in dealing with its consequences.”

– Martin Fackler, “In Korea, a Boot Camp Cure for Web Obsession”, New York Times, 17 November 2007.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 17th, 2007 at 10:28 pm and is filed under ADD Triggers, In the News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.