Game Addict Swallows Saw Blades
According to a translation by the Chinese media site danwei.org, an internet and game addict from Beijing attempted suicide by swallowing steel saw blade fragments.
The 23-year-old, Xiao Cai, "whose four year addiction to online gaming caused him to attempt suicide various times...was so addicted to the Internet that his mental well-being was affected."
The article, which was originally published by the Beijing Morning Post said, "Feeling ill afterwards he called the emergency room asking for help. On January 4, this reporter went to his ward to check on Xiao Cai. After the operation most of the bits of blade inside his body had been taken out. Currently his condition is stable. ??His mother was by his side feeding him spinach and egg soup. Xiao Cai was eating with relish, but coughing now and again. ??After his mother finished feeding him, Xiao Cai became a little restless and started to fidget with the needle feeding him the drip. He was mouthing phrases from online games, and would occasionally laugh whilst glancing towards this reporter."
Moreover, when the reporter spoke to Xiao Cai's uncle, his uncle said, "If it wasn't because of his introverted personality, perhaps he wouldn't be so addicted to the Internet." He further stated that, "Xiao Cai began playing online games in junior high school. A while after this a female netizen betrayed him, and he was so hurt that he put the majority of his time into playing online games. Xiao Cai became more and more addicted to the Internet, even to the point of being affected mentally: he has been taken to hospital by his family for treatment in the past. Before he ingested saw blades, he had also ingested sleeping pills and pesticides. But he was saved each time."
China, which in 2009 will be the first country to recognize Internet addiction as an official medical condition is even going as far as creating rehab centers, set up for Internet addicts, "where sufferers are made to go cold turkey from wildly addictive pursuits such as online gaming." As reported by csmonitor.com, they are attempting to help people like Xiao Cai, by instituting military-style discipline, where "some 60-odd patients at his center undergo a three-month regimen of counseling, confidence-building activities, sex education, and in about 60 percent of the cases, medication. The treatment is designed to address underlying family and psychological problems, and boost their self-confidence."
Whether these are the proper measures for people like Xiao Cai is uncertain but it seems that more countries are becoming progressively concerned about Internet gaming addictions with some taking aggressive action against it.
A game addict is being treated