A hospital in central London has begun a rehabilitation clinic for children suffering from addiction to the internet. While there are currently no established methods for dealing with internet usage addiction, the problem is quite common and this rehab clinic is a good first step towards establishing a way to help out these young individuals.
The existence of the clinic is not all that surprising, in a way, our society had it coming. The real concern here is in knowing what role the internet should have in our daily lives.
There are already plenty of adults who are addicted to social networking –people who cannot spend more than an hour without using their mobile phone to post a Tweet or check on Facebook and people who spend hours and hours in front of the computer all day doing nothing productive. This form of social escapism is twisted in its nature. Despite not actually being able to be around other people, the internet still manages to fill in that need for socialization.
For children, this can prove to be a dangerous stimulus; at their young age, they are not yet able to establish the difference between physical presence and chatting online. Impersonal interactions over the internet quickly become a norm and are more accepted because it is safer, easier to deal with and most importantly, provides users with a sense of anonymity –some children may even learn to prefer chatting instead of actually interacting in real life.
The Capio Nightingale hospital steadily teaching kids how to cope with real life, and how to enjoy life without having to rely on their electronic devices too much. Hopefully, these treatments prove effective in bringing these kids back to the real world.
Get to know more about internet addiction and the rehab clinic at the Telegraph UK.