Internet Addiction In Korea
from the if-everyone's-addicted...-is-there-an-issue? dept
We’ve had plenty of stories about internet addiction here in the US, but over in Korea – where they have much wider internet and broadband adoption some appear to think it’s a huge problem. The article, though, simply seems to assume that people who use the internet a lot are addicted, and that that’s bad. It doesn’t give any weight to the idea that maybe internet usage is beneficial to many people. Certainly, if internet usage is interfering with someone’s ability to function away from the computer there’s an issue to be looked into, but from the description in the article, they’re mostly just talking about people who like using the internet a lot – not those who are “addicted”. The article’s evidence is to talk about the popularity of various sites that let people put up their own homepages with pictures. However, they don’t give any proof that anyone is actually addicted to these sites. Instead, with no explanation, the article says that most people are addicted to internet games. If that’s the case, why focus on these homepages? They also claim that nearly 50% of middle school kids have been identified as “addicted” to the internet – but don’t explain what criteria they use or how that “addiction” is harmful. If there’s a real problem, then it should be looked into. However, unsubstantiated fear mongering stories don’t seem to do much other than get people riled up.
