Chinese are targeting Web addiction of kids

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Oct 29, 2006 | by Associated Press

BEIJING -- China's government wants to develop technology to stop children from becoming addicted to the Internet, according to a news report.

Chinese officials encourage Internet use for education and business but express growing worry about its effect on children and the possibility that it could be addictive.

Chinese psychologists are looking into the possibility that heavy Internet users suffer a form of addiction, and a handful of clinics have opened to wean patients off compulsive Web use.

Parliament is considering a measure to "encourage research and development of technologies to prevent minors from becoming Internet addicts," the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday.

It said the proposed measure -- an amendment to a law on protection of minors -- would encourage research into such things as software that stops online gaming at a fixed time.

The measure also would ban minors from Internet cafes, bars and commercial dance halls, Xinhua said.

China has the world's second-biggest population of Internet users after the United States, with 123 million people online. But the government tries to regulate what Web surfers can see, barring access to material deemed subversive or obscene.