internetaddiction
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Doctors report a case of Google Glass addiction
You've probably heard of Google Glass owners who seemingly can't put the wearable down, but there's now at least one reported instance of genuinely addictive behavior. Doctors at Naval Medical Center San Diego claim that a 31-year-old Navy serviceman is the first person to be diagnosed with a Glass-related internet addiction disorder. The patient wore the head-mounted computer for up to 18 hours a day, and was so attached to it that he would instinctively reach for his right temple (to activate Glass) whenever you asked him a question, whether or not the device was there. He's getting better after having spent 35 days in on-site treatment, according to doctors; that reflexive movement doesn't come up so often, and the man is both less irritable and more focused.
Hands-on with MiiPC, the $99 kid-safe Android PC (video)
It was only two days ago that ZeroDesktop launched MiiPC, a $99 kid-safe Android PC, and the Kickstarter campaign's already surpassed its $50,000 goal. To jog your memory, MiiPC is an attractive 4.7 x 4.7 x 3.1-inch desktop computer running Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). It's powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core Marvell New Armada SoC with 1GB of RAM, 4GB of flash storage, WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0. The system features an SD card slot in front, a power button on top and a full array of ports in the back, including two USB 2.0, HDMI, analog audio I/O, Ethernet and power. What makes this device so unique is the software, which is optimized for use with a large screen (up to 1080p), keyboard and mouse. It provides a desktop-class web browsing experience with Flash and runs standard Android apps. MiiPC supports multiple user accounts which can be controlled and monitored remotely in real-time using a companion app for iOS and Android. The idea is for parents to create a safe online environment for their kids by managing their access to the web and to apps. We got the chance to play with a prototype MiiPC yesterday -- read our impressions and watch out hands-on video after the break. %Gallery-183957% %Gallery-183993% %Gallery-183994%
Insert Coin: MiiPC promises a kid-safe Android PC that allows surfing, gaming for $99 (video)
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line. If there's one thing that smartphones have taught us, it's that small devices can surf the internet and play games just fine, thank you. With that philosophy in mind, the brains behind eMachines have launched the $99 MiiPC on Kickstarter with the goal of giving kids their own mini PC to surf the web, play games or videos, and, yes, do homework. To keep costs down, the tiny device is packing Android 4.2, a Marvell 1.2GHz dual core CPU, 1GB RAM, 4GB upgradeable storage, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, ethernet and 1080p HDMI output to a monitor or TV. The backers say it's "designed for large screen connectivity and optimized to provide a true keyboard and mouse experience" so that each family member can run Android apps from their own accounts. For worried parents, the device brings an interesting twist: there's also a mobile iOS or Android companion app to monitor your offspring in real-time from any locale. That'll let you steer them away from verboten websites and stave off dreaded internet addiction, according to the outfit -- bearing in mind, of course, that kids can be pretty clever. The campaign's just kicked off, and MiiPC's seeking $50,000 with a $99 pledge ($89 for the first 200 backers) netting you your own device -- sans keyboard, mouse and screen, of course. Check the video and PR after the break for more.
Study claims internet addicted teens more likely to suffer depression (sigh)
1,041 Chinese teenagers got a clean bill of health; nine months later, 84 were diagnosed with depression. The cause? Why, internet addiction, of course. Dr. Lawrence Lam of the Sydney School of Medicine points the finger at "pathological use of the internet" as a major risk factor for depression, stating that those teens whose eyeballs were most glued to the screen were 2.5 times more likely to suffer from mental health problems. While Lam did guess the actual injuries were sustained from a lack of sleep due to late-night surfing and the ever-popular scapegoat online gaming rather than the direct effect of Hypnotoad, the good doctor reportedly didn't hesitate to call for school screenings and subsequent treatment for internet overuse as a result. It's perhaps worth noting this study comes from the same man who claimed (in 2009) that internet addicts were twice as likely to maim themselves.
Chinese addicts escape from Internet 'boot camp,' invade Farmville
Is the internet an addiction? Absolutely not, we can totally quit whenever we like, and so we honor the spunk and spirit of 14 dedicated World of Warcraft grinders, Starcraft APM masters, and social networking gurus who escaped from their "rehabilitation center" in China's Jiangsu province. These so-called boot camps have been described by various outlets as being a little too close to torture camps, and while shock therapy has been banned, this 14 had still had enough. They captured their supervisor, tied him to his bed, and then hopped a (presumably large) taxi to get out of Dodge. But, there was one problem: none had any money to cover the fare. The police were called, all were apprehended, and they're presumably back to the "monotonous work and intensive training" they came so close escaping. Don't give up, kids. Let Andy Williams be your inspiration.
New UK Internet Addiction clinic offers in-patient therapy to 'screenagers'
Internet addiction, as you know, is a growing worldwide concern. Recently, the UK opened its first rehab clinic for Internet Addiction (the provocatively named Broadway Lounge), but that was only the beginning. Capio Nightingale Hospital in London has announced its own plan to get gets out of the World of Warcraft and into the real world through an intensive in-patient, day care, or group therapy environment. The program is aimed at 15 to 17-year-olds, although kids as young as 12 could participate. A hospital spokesman said that the service hopes to "address the underlying causes of this addiction to transform screenagers back into teenagers." And if you thought we were running this because we wanted to use the word "screenagers," you might be on to something.
China bans corporal punishment in internet rehab, UK and USA open up their own clinics
China's, how to say this, unorthodox rehabilitation methods, which involve "beating and confinement" of internet addicts, have finally been fully outlawed. Following the death of one teenager due to the treatment he received at an addiction camp, the Chinese Health Ministry has come out with a statement to say corporal punishment and methods restricting personal freedom "are strictly forbidden." In the meantime, the UK and USA are playing catch-up by opening up their own computer addiction camps, which have been described as residential internet detox clinics. Their genius ploy to get you off the web juice has been to go cold turkey and teach people to do chores as a distraction (really, chores and boredom are the cure and not the disease?). The British version even has a 12-step program, but we advise doing what we all did -- if you find yourself spending most of your time on the internet, just become a full-time blogger. Read - China bans tough treatment of young Web addicts Read - Britain's first computer rehab clinic opens Read - Clinic for internet addicts opens in US
China bans electro-shock for treating Internet addicts, far too late to help McMurphy
It's been a while since the specter of IA has reared it's ugly head 'round here (or maybe we've just learned to accept it) but now it looks like it's back in the news. According to Reuters, the Chinese Ministry of Health has banned electro-shock therapy for the treatment of Internet Addiction after it came to light that a doctor named Yang Yongxin (also known as "Uncle Yang") has wired up as many as 3,000 teenagers in his Internet Addiction Treatment Center at Linyi Mental Hospital. The treatment included the aforementioned electro-shocks as well as psychotropic drugs, at a cost of 5,500 yuan ($805) a month -- cruel and unnecessary, sure, but a small price to pay to get your teenager off of MySpace.
Internet addiction defined in China, entire Engadget staff now officially certifiable
While American psychiatrists continue to debate whether an unhealthy affinity for all things online is really an illness or just a passing fancy, their Chinese counterparts have made up their minds. After creating halfway-houses and clinics to wean netizens off of their dependency, doctors there have now drafted an official classification of internet addiction for people who spend six hours or more online daily. The affliction's symptoms include poor sleep, irritability, mental distress, and (surprise, surprise) a "yearning to be online" -- a condition that we typically call "visiting the in-laws." We're not entirely sure if this means that Chinese physicians can now subject anyone who is symptomatic to mandated shock therapy, but we've gone ahead and indefinitely postponed our 2009 Shanghai meet up just to be safe.
Compulsive e-mailing, texting could be classified as bona fide illness
Considering the plethora of facilities that have opened just in the past few years to deal solely with individuals that have become undoubtedly addicted to video games, the internet and all things Hello Kitty (we jest, we jest), we're not surprised one iota to hear that uncontrollably texting / e-mailing could soon become "classified as an official brain illness." According to a writeup in the latest American Journal of Psychiatry, internet addiction is a common ailment "that should be added to psychiatry's official guidebook of mental disorders." More specifically, Dr. Jerald Block, a psychiatrist at the Oregon Health and Science University in Portland, even goes so far as to argue that said phenomenon (neglecting basic drives to spend more time online) be "included in the [next edition of] Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, psychiatry's official dictionary of mental illnesses." Until then, we wish you the best of luck convincing that creature living in your basement with a dedicated T1 line that he / she isn't alright. [Via textually]
Another man dies after three day gaming binge
CNN is reporting that it's happened again in China-- a man has died after a three-day gaming binge in a cyber cafe.So many things wrong with this story. First of all, how does someone sit in an internet cafe for three days without anyone else noticing? I'm sure that it must have been a huge, 24 hour, windowless warehouse type of place, with people coming and going all the time, but still, what business would allow people to basically live in their building?And then, of course, there's the gaming angle. Videogames and the Internet didn't kill this man, people, despite what CNN says:The paper said that he may have died from exhaustion brought on by too many hours on the Internet.Actually, I'm not a doctor, but I'm pretty sure he died from exhaustion brought on by staying awake for too long. If he'd been playing ping pong for three days straight, he probably wouldn't have come out of it very well either.The article says they don't know what game he was playing, so this may not even be World of Warcraft. But while it is a very sad story, it's too bad CNN fell into the old lines of "omgz internets killed a man" instead of actually pointing out that this man made some very serious mistakes of his own.
Chinese clinic treats teen internet addicts with hypnosis, shock therapy
Normally we don't really like covering this whole theory of "internet addiction," mainly because it makes us nervous about the 12+ hours we spend online each and every day, but a recent look by the Washington Post at one of those clinics for PC-lovin' teens is interesting enough to warrant a mention. As we've seen before, China -- never one of the more progressive countries when it comes to encouraging online participation -- has followed several other East Asian countries in attempting to diagnose and cure netizens and gamers of their "unhealthy" dependence on computers, but what we didn't know were some of the rather extreme methods used to achieve this. According to the Post, one clinic in the Beijing suburb of Daxing keeps some of its 12 to 17-year-old patients locked in rooms with barred windows for most of the day, treating them with a combination of counseling, medication, and military-style discipline. While some residents clearly have no need for such a facility -- one young man who only surfed four to five hours a week said he came to Daxing to "get away from my parents" -- there do seem to be more hardcore cases of lonely individuals spending all their free time online at the expense of their careers and social lives. At the Daxing clinic, these troubled teens whose "souls are gone to the online world" are housed together on the third floor of the building, where they are subjected to hypnosis and even mild shock therapy in an attempt to rid them of their love of surfing. It's not really clear from the article what the success rate is for veterans of the clinic, but we imagine many of them find the conditions so distasteful that they swear off technology altogether simply for fear of being sent back. As for you, since no one will be sending you to internet rehab anytime soon, just continue reading all of the posts on this page while occasionally glancing over at and clicking on the bright, colorful ads.[Via Smart Mobs]
