China has decided to stop electrocuting young internet addicts. The shocking (get it?) therapy was practiced at a clinic in Linyi, Shandong province, and involved zapping recalcitrant youngsters with up to 200 milliamperes of juice for breaking rules ranging from prohibitions on eating chocolate, locking the bathroom door, taking pills before a meal, and sitting in Dr. Yang's chair. Seriously, you do not want to sit in Dr. Yang's chair.
According to The China Daily. more than 3,000 kids were "tricked or forced" into the four-month long course. Treatment cost 6,000 yuan ($878) per month. Patients were considered “cured” or “reborn” once they admitted to their addiction.
Obviously, shocking people with electricity is in no sense humane, but my question is: Is it effective? The answer, I gotta figure, is yes. It's probably very effective. If you got a hot jolt of juice ever time you logged into Facebook, I imagine you'd scream "Don't tase me, bro!" and drop your internet friends pretty quickly.
But before you start being all high-and-mighty about China and how we would never, ever do anything like that in the U.S., remember: The things done to youthful offenders in U.S. juvenile facilities often seem unimaginably cruel, and many police departments in our country equip officers with tasers, and those things hurt (I hear!).
But is internet addiction actually a real disease? If it is, is there a cure for it? Do you know anyone who is addicted to the internet?
