China is expected to become the first country in the world to officially classify internet addiction as a mental disorder.  Chinese government officials would be required to register the term with the World Health Organization, which has seen an increased interest in internet- and game-related addiction.

Around 253 million of China’s 1.2 billion population use the internet, with the number expected to grow as remote parts of the country build necessary infrastructure to support the internet.

Dr. Tao Ran studied at least 3,000 patients over a four-year period to help him classify internet addiction, which will be a condition similar to alcoholism or compulsive gambling.

A person who spends at least 6.13 hours online each day can be considered an addict.  InterActiveCorp research indicates 42 percent of young internet users feel they are addicted to the internet, while only 18 percent of American youth feel they are addicted.

Dr. Tao Ran: “We took symptoms that appeared at the same time in more than 50 percent of patients and then we noted how frequently these same symptoms were repeated. China finds itself at the forefront of this research because we were among the earliest to set up clinics … we had a sufficient sample of patients so that we could carry out proper scientific analysis.”

Only here in China have I started to think how about big of an energy hog Americans are. We complain so much about the price of oil and electricity but we never really do anything to try to conserve energy. Here in China, it seems that everyone is trying to use the least amount of energy as possible.

Read the rest…

Over at The Asian Economist blogger Nhuong Son has written a nice article on the differences he’s seen in energy usage by students between his time at Drew University in New Jersey here in the US when compared with the rationed electricity used by students at China’s Nanjing University in the student housing.  The post is well worth reading and as an added treat, the post ends with some beautiful after dark photos of Shanghai and Nanjing.