Internet Addicted Children to be Treated in Special Camps

Japan is making plans to start using internet “fasting” camps where children who are addicted to the online world will be able to get some help from education experts.

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Over 500,000 Japanese children between the ages of 12 and 18 are believed to be addicted to the internet, although the ministry of education can not give an exact number, as “t is difficult to get accurate figures on the scale of the problem.”

“It is becoming more and more of a problem,” Akifumi Sekine, a spokesman for the ministry, said.

“We estimate this affects around 518,000 children at middle and high schools across Japan, but that figure is rising and there could be far more cases because we do not know about them all.”

The government received a request to fund immersion programmes designed to get children away from their computers, mobile phones and hand-held game devices, according to the international press.

“We want to get them out of the virtual world and to encourage them to have real communication with other children and adults,” Sekine said.

During the “fasting” camps, children will have no access to the internet and will be encouraged to participate to outdoor activities, team sports and games, with psychiatrists and clinical psychotherapists on hand to provide counseling if the readjusting to the real world might prove too traumatic.

Internet addiction is associated with sleep and eating disorders, depression and deep vein thrombosis, as well as low school performances.

Source: World News Site