Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Japan to introduce internet 'fasting camps' for addicted kids...

Japan is planning to introduce Internet "fasting" camps staffed by education experts who will help children overcome their addiction to the online world.

More than 500,000 Japanese children between the ages of 12 and 18 are believed to be addicted to the internet, although the ministry of education here says it is difficult to get accurate figures on the scale of the problem.

"It's becoming more and more of a problem," Akifumi Sekine, a spokesman for the ministry, told The Daily Telegraph. "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 don't know about them all."

The ministry is planning a comprehensive research project into internet addiction in the next fiscal year and has asked the government to fund immersion programmes designed to get children away from their computers, mobile phones and hand-held game devices.

 "We want to get them out of the virtual world and to encourage them to have real communication with other children and adults," Mr Sekine said. Full story...

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  2. What the internet is doing to our brains...
  3. Schoolchildren 'losing the power to concentrate in class'
  4. Internet addicts suffer withdrawal symptoms like drug addicts...
  5. Is the Internet driving us mad?
  6. Life is serene without the internet, says teen hacker...
  7. Generation of kids at risk of "screen addiction"

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