Thread: Over 2.7m children addicted to computer

Over 2.7m children addicted to computer


PAKAMAS JAICHALARD
THE NATION October 15, 2013 1:00 am





MORE THAN 2.7 million children in the country are addicted to computer games, according to the latest estimate based on a nationwide survey.

Conducted during the second quarter of this year, the survey covered 20,000 children and suggests that as many as 15 per cent of children are addicted to gaming. There are about 18 million children in Thailand's population according to official statistics.

"Children with serious gaming addictions are aggressive and show a tendency towards violence. Some have even been found to physically hurt their parents, or attempt suicide when barred from playing games," Assoc Prof Chanvit Pornnoppadol said yesterday at an event to launch the "Thai Children and IT" project.

Chanvit, who works for the Department of Psychiatry, the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, said that some gaming addicts also skipped classes and stayed awake late into the night to play games.

"They refuse to join school activities, become emotionally unstable, and show poorer academic performance," he said.

Children who developed serious forms of gaming addiction needed to undergo treatment, said Chanvit, adding that between 30 and 40 children seek treatment each year.

"However, I believe the number of children needing treatment is much higher than this," he said.

Speaking at the same event, Sura Techatat, adviser to the culture minister, acknowledged that IT technology also had its negative side.

"We have to watch out for problems that may occur with our children and try to find solutions," he said.

The Culture Ministry's permanent secretary Preecha Gunteeya said the ministry was seeking to provide children with safer access to computer technology.

"We are also trying to boost their access to safe and constructive media sources," he said.

Over 2.7m children addicted to computer - The Nation

Not to mention adults. Get on any BTS train or a bus and see adults , especially women, with their heads buried in their mobile phones playing some game or other.

Then that would be 5.4m parents too fucking stupid, lazy, ignorant, and brain dead to enforce any control whatsoever over their destined-to-grow-up-ignorant, malignant offspring - who will no doubt be even more useless than their parents. Job done.....

Wot he said...

the coin has 2 sides

I gotta admit I don't restrain the kids now that its school hols, but a strict rule of no comps during week days when schools in.

I could start a small shop with the amount of confiscated electronic gadgets in my wife's closet.

Originally Posted by Thormaturge

People are wandering about the streets in a daze trying to reach a new personal best on the latest version of Tetris with no sensory awareness of what is going on around them.

Well agreed there, mate.

There's two types of people wandering around the streets these days, those wired into their mobiles and mostly oblivious to what's going on around them, and those without any electronic interference clouding up their sensory receptivity.

The latter don't bump into things and get run over and stuff, they can actually communicate with passers by, while the former are a total selfish lot, a pain in the social but, a traffic hazard and accidents waiting to happen.

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

I could start a small shop with the amount of confiscated electronic gadgets in my wife's closet.

Hmmmm.....would that be an adults only kind of shop ?

Originally Posted by Thormaturge

People are wandering about the streets in a daze ......

As bad as texting :

Our uni's got a good policy working re all that junk, we used to have hoards of students wandering around in a daze and mobiles going off in lectures with students knee-jerking into response, yelling answers to invisible partners and such.

There's been an education campaign going on, so fewer mobile phone zombies are parading around these days looking stupid on campus, they've realised how addictive their dependency on mobiles had become, so kicked the habit of carrying them around in their hands all day, for starters, and fewer of them wander around with ear pieces, too.

Crikey, you can now say g'day and get an answer!

^^ Yup.

the mine sites i work have a policy of no mobile phones on site,
only supervisors-engineers -foremen allowed to use them,
the people under late 20's have a hard time giving them up,
only one warning then you get the arse if caught using them,great idea i reckon.

but OK for the old kunts though?

Heavily conditioned.

Not addicted.

Willful addictions can usually be overcome from within.
Deep instinctive conditioning is a different beast....

Surely this figure is conservative, 2.7mil. They must be only counting ones with game-specific addiction, what about social networking?

Originally Posted by Kurgen

but OK for the old kunts though?

kurgen, i think you have taken it the wrong way,
a engineer- supervisor etc can be in their early 20's, but they need them in the
course of their work, other people are just a safety hazard when they do not have
limits on mobile phone addiction.