January 12th 2009 05:36 am
INTERLUDE POST: WEB & GAMING ADDICTION AT ITS FINEST (And Dumbest)
I hate my insomnia. Ugh, might as well post something. I might even bore myself to sleep with this one.
One of my lurker readers juniperberry emailed me a couple of real but inane reports from ninemsn.com on people severely addicted to gaming. According to ninemsn, "military-style" regimen is used to treat this sort of addiction.
Here is the abridged article (edited for your own boredom-avoidance purposes):
Nanometre wave machines, military formation drills, gruelling exercise regimes and electric shocks are being used to cure China’s ballooning number of internet addicts.
Some 300 treatment centres across the country hope to tackle the growing social problem of web addiction that has accompanied rapid modernisation.
"[Internet addicts] can’t adjust to school and society, so they try to escape their difficulties and avoid problems," psychologist Tao Ran, who runs a treatment centre on a military base outside of Beijing, said.
"They lack self-confidence and often don’t have the courage to continue their lives," he is quoted by ABC News as saying.
China has an estimated 17 million internet addicts, or between four and six percent of its internet users.
Dr Tao, who co-authored a controversial diagnostic manual for ‘internet addiction disorder’, says that an addict is someone who spends more than six hours per day for at least three months on internet use not related to work or study.
Most of his 60-odd patients are young men aged between 15 and 21 who are hooked on multiplayer online games like World of Warcraft and Counterstrike, ABC reports.
But there is also a handful of young women at the clinic addicted to virtual life games — decorating virtual homes, having virtual husbands and babies — or popular dance battle games.
Jesus, I’m just glad I have a life outside WoW!
And finally, on a non-MMORPG-related note, here’s gaming addiction at its dumbest:
Man solves Rubik’s Cube after 26 years
A man has matched up the bricks of his Rubik’s Cube — 26 years after purchasing it.
Graham Parker suffers wrist and back injuries from his decades of twisting the cult toy and admits to weeping when he finally matched everything up, the UK’s Metro reports.
"It felt like it had taken over my life," he was quoted by the newspaper as saying.
"I have missed important events to stay in and solve it, and would lie awake at night thinking about it."
His wife Jean says Graham was already obsessed when they met and the toy was like a third person in their marriage.
"I have often thought about getting rid of it but I knew he would not rest until he had solved it," she said.
A spokesman for the World Cube Association said it was "definitely the longest it has taken" to finish the cube.
I have no words….
…except…
…what a loser.
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3 Comments »
paul on 12 Jan 2009 at 11:53 pm #
lmfao…google rubiks solutions………25yrs man thats hilarious
Cathryn Wheel on 13 Jan 2009 at 3:50 am #
Does Graham Parker have a thing against guides and cheats? LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lestat de Lioncourt on 14 Jan 2009 at 2:51 am #
When I was a WoW addict, I had my shares of life-changing experiences. Like I wake up early in the morning to go online and post “LFG Illi run” outside the Black Temple on my chat window, skin creatures and mine minerals to put up in the auction house, and bartering for items that I need, just to earn/save gold..
And then RMTs came into the picture and made my life easier..
Ü