Korean Game Addiction Treatment Looks Pretty Extreme

[vansau]

Korean Game Addiction Treatment Looks Pretty Extreme

Just be glad you never got sent to boot camp when you missed a homework assignment due to your gaming habits.

It's common knowledge that some countries take a more extreme view on videogame addiction than others. In South Korea, game addiction has made some <a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/98884-Gaming-Addiction-Leads-to-Death-of-3-Month-Old-Korean-Girl>shocking headlines over the years. However, the country's response to the problem is surprisingly harsh, based on a series of photos that have recently appeared on the Web.

The photos show a number of Korean children going through what seem to be bizarre military training exercises. Included in the pictures are images of kids, some of them quite small, standing and laying in snow while shirtless (a standard practice in Korean Army training, apparently), performing exercises in mud, and often looking like they're in quite a bit of pain.

From All Voices, which published these pictures:

In South Korea, kids who miss school, become addicted to video games or join gangs they will end up in specialized military training camps for some discipline and education. In these camps, the teens are trained military-style with standard soldier routines complete with army uniforms under extreme conditions.

This training program is aimed to make the young soldiers stronger and more responsible. During the course, the trainees are not allowed to get any form of dependence from parents. They are on their own.

According to one 15-year-old at a camp, he was forced into the program by his mother because he played too many videogames. "I hope this course would better me, so I could quit playing and give more focus on studying," he said.

One of the guards/instructors spoke to the reporter and explained the philosophy of these camps: "Nowadays, the children are selfish and really dependent to parents. They even become violent and disrespect the older. Moreover they easily quit whenever encountering problems. It can be accepted in our country. For that reason, the parents would like to send their children to the military training course to help them to be better and win themselves."

Source: <a href=http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/7917966-photos-unbelievable-military-training-program-for-spoil-children-in-korea>All Voices via <a href=http://www.gamepolitics.com/2011/01/18/how-koreans-treat-game-addicted-children>GamePolitics

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[Scarecrow]

'To make them stronger and more responsible'

More like fuck them up for the rest of there lives.

 

[AK47Marine]

Shit it's just getting sent to military school, happens all the time in the states

South Korea requires mandatory military service any way, so this will just give them a leg up when they head to real boot camp.

Edit: That said this almost seems like an excuse to avoid parenting, a parent should be able to instill discipline in their children themselves. If they really are heading off on the wrong track (joining a gang, etc) then this type of punishment and social reform would be quite valuable and more useful then Juvi

 

[HellspawnCandy]

I can't stop laughing at the guy on the top left of the picture putting ice on himself.
OT:It looks like it's for the good and they do have a very crazy country directly North of them that decides to attack them sometimes,giving the country pre-trained soldiers to fight a possible future war.

 

[Scrythe]

So how long 'till they adopt something similar in the States?

Oh wait, they call it "rehab" here, and it's as effective as a wet paper bag in the middle of the ocean.

 

[Jumplion]

While I am tempted to pass this off as "It's a different culture, different societies, etc...", I'd have to say that it's a bit extreme.

 

[SodaDew]

I like there way. If your that addicted to games not to go to school, then why not just send you to military camp >

 

[Blue_vision]

I like this idea. Even it out a bit and add a bit of liberality (perhaps on the part of parent "enlistment", and it could actually be quite good as a social phenomenon.

 

[Negatempest]

Really an iffy subject for me. I don't see it as good or bad, just pointless. Yeah, nothing says "responsibility" and "discipline" like removing individuality making every male and female the same, a soldier. Those "methods" for me are less about making a stronger individual over forcing a single type of view point into them.

 

[Ldude893]

They have those same types of camps in China, and people actually died in those.

 

[Canid117]

In the states that would be called child abuse.

 

[Sarah Frazier]

But how effective are these military camps? I understand that breaking away and having no easy access has a way of halting the problem, but how many kids just go home and return to gaming/gangs/whatever now that the access is back? Maybe part of the military training put their minds to where they simply don't want to repeat whatever bad habits, or just the thought of having to go back will be enough deterrent. It's probably more effective than raising kids with the belief that anything they do is okay through lack of punishment.

 

[dalek sec]

I'm wondering just how effective these camps really are in the long run...

It's a good thing they explained what was going on in that picture cause if I had to take a guess I would have gotten hit with the ban hammer so hard... D:

 

[justnotcricket]

Up to a certain age, making sure your children are well balanced is the *parents'* problem.

If the children are 'weak' what does that make the parents?

Let me put it this way: I realise that military training in every country is, to some, pretty harsh and barbaric anyway. In a sense, it has to be. War is not a caring, sharing place.
However, putting children through this 'training' to 'cure' then of videogaming addiction? there's such a thing as growing up too fast. Maybe the videogame 'rehab', if really necessary, could focus more on things like sports or cooking or something - something that would be useful to them in later life and not just thrash them.

 

[MadManZac]

I know we should say "different culture, different ways of looking at things". But I just cant help but think that this is really sad that Korean parents send there kinds to boot camp just because of one to many hours of playing video games.

 

[Blatherscythe]

They have those same types of camps in China, and people actually died in those.

And that was in a "Communist" country where humans rights mean shit. South Korea is a democratic piece of a country and I believe follow human rights and they have practicly the same damn way of dealing with the problem.

 

[Ashsaver]

Another sign of parents failure:dump their problem on to somebody else's lap

 

[Gilhelmi]

Now everyone start singing "God Bless America"

Now can we please layoff America, you have a new crazy country to mock.

Part of me agrees with the South Koreans, the other part of me is telling the first part to "shut the h*** up" and that he is crazy.

I just called myself crazy.

 

[TehAudioSurfer]

Well they were on the top in the education department last time I heard.

 

[Trivun]

You know what would stop the problem? Promoting and supporting more forms of entertainment in the country, and providing other things for people to do other than playing videogames. I mean, for example, I don't know how big the music industry is in South Korea, but maybe if there were more decent music groups there, then people would be more inclined to listen to music instead of playing video games. Or films, I'm pretty sure South Korea doesn't exactly have the most booming of film industries, especially given the dominance in the Asian market by the Japanese and, to some degree, studios in places like Bangkok and Shanghai. Maybe if South Korea had a more dominant film market, people would watch films instead of playing video games.

Also, they should stop the endless promotion of game tournaments and competitive gaming as a career and pastime in the country. If people can't make money by playing Starcraft anymore, then they'd have to go out and get proper jobs (which boosts the South Korean economy) and spend less time gaming (which is better for the people, and their health and well-being).

Of course, many may claim I'm talking out of my arse here, but seriously, these are not difficult things to attempt and promote. And maybe if we do see these things happening then we'll see less news like this story being broadcast to the world. Of course, the approach currently being taken assumes that video game addiction is real, when it's not been proven that such a thing is real, and indeed makes as much sense as, say, music addiction (where people can't go five minutes without listening to music, else they get withdrawal symptoms) or the like. That is, no sense whatsoever. Not that anyone in power will listen to that, because you know, people in power rarely listen to the truth or to common sense...