Danah Boyd grapples with the use of the word addiction in reference to teen’s online activity, and unrolls a few attitudes towards the dominantly adult anxiety of children’s overexposure to media. In her book, “It’s Complicated: The Social Lives of Networked Teens”, Boyd references dozens of interviews and examples of teens who share their story of online activity in an effort to catalogue healthy and unhealthy use of online communities. In the chapter about addiction, we learn that most clinical discussion surrounding addiction of any capacity is derived from an “overuse” or “misuse” of given behavior.
I discovered a video recently, revealing a institutionalized response to “Web Junkies”, or those who are addicted to the internet in China and it brought up several issues that Danah Boyd touched on, in psychological analysis of online addiction. The video is a bit disturbing at times and shows extreme institutionalized treatment facilities that wouldn’t be allowed in the United States for many reasons. Yet, even in my discomfort of viewing there are moments that I find myself agreeing with the intention of a treatment center.
Tao Ran, the addiction specialist at the treatment camp, works with kids who strategically wear diapers as a way to avoid using the restroom during binge gamming episodes. Every kid shown in the video shares a similar story of being brought by parents against their will, parents are still encouraged to stay and learn from Tao. Perhaps the only part in this video that Danah Boyd would remotely agree with, is when Tao explains the addiction as a manifestation of loneliness.
In our reading, Danah discusses the challenges of teens freely hanging out in person as a result of fearful parents and a dangerous society. This I understand firsthand as my parents were very protective and wouldn’t allow me to bike to my friends house “because something may happen”. So in an effort to appease my parents, I would stay in and satisfy my social desires online.
Teens are inherently social beings, and Danah Boyd makes a good point that, “being ‘addicted’ to information and people is part of the human condition: it arises from a healthy desire to be aware of surroundings and to connect to society.” However I think the teens depicted in this video have a lot more than just an addiction to gaming that needs to be sorted out, attention on healing a personal sense of connectedness may be the most important step.
I totally understand where you’re coming from. Asia seems to have it pretty bad and it’s too bad the It’s Complicated doesn’t cover how parents are treating the internet and their children (although I think I read in the prologue that she did go to Asia was was surprised by the similarities). More details would be nice. I know for a fact that Asian children are often overworked and face very high expectations academically. So technology must be a way to escape and create their own worlds they can have more control over.
In terms of addiction I read that in Korea schools are encouraging children to play with horses as a way to deal with their tech obsessions. This article I found about it explains that horses are easy to relate to and connect with and they tend to be sweet and they are “real,” which is what the psychologists are going for.
I think it’s interesting how an influx of technology could lead to a desire for more equestrian centers to make for cute lil’ ponies. :3
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/09/us-korea-internet-horses-idUSBRE90803020130109
make room for*
This post made me think about how danah boyd’s work (and, as far as I can tell, all of the works we’re reading in this class) are written from a Western cultural perspective. It’s very possible (or even probable) that the networked relationships that are manifested in new media as it’s used in the US do not manifest in the same way in other cultures that have different social paradigms and historical contexts.
This particular institution for supposedly Internet-addicted teens is definitely a drastic attempt to resolve their personal issues. The director lectures the parents about their parenting, pointing out the main problem facing their children is loneliness. To that extent I can agree, but from the “sinister” looks of the actual facility and military-like interactions between the staff and the institutionalized children, I just don’t see how detaining these young kids in an institution resolves their loneliness.
Your post, and video in particular really hit home for me. While I agree that some of these measures are harsh, and thats putting it lightly, I do empathize with the kids. I myself was addicted to a massively multiplayer online game (MMO) and I spent three years of my life playing a game just about every minute I wasn’t at school. I now do realize that I was addicted, but I feel that I had my reasons to be, and as such I am trying to see where these kids are coming from. For myself, the game was en scape, a safe haven from the realities of my real life. I used the game to forget about my life, to rid myself of responsibilities and care to a certain extent. I don’t know what the living conditions for these children are but I spent about six months backpacking through Asia and wherever I was there were internet cafes strictly for online gaming. These halls were always filled with locals children playing for hours on end. I realized that many of these kids didn’t have much money and that these game either provided an alternate reality for them or an actual opportunity to make an income. Some of these kids played the game competitively on teams or used the games to sell ignore products or money. Though I cannot agree with playing to the extent of having to soil yourself, I do understand the mental/emotional need to play. One month my parents decided to not pay my monthly prescription to play my online game and I had an emotion freakout. I felt personally attached to this game, that my characters needed me, that I needed to escape to that other world. I was too young to pay the monthly fee myself but as time went by I realized that I had no means to play and as such my need, my craving, my obsession diminished.
It was hard for me to net get emotional watching this video but it was a reality that I needed to revisit. For that, I thank you.
– Felipe Carbonell