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Raymond Wu
Dr. Gayle
English 812
23 April 2015
Progression in Chinas Culture
Technology has been growing at a rapid pace that no one saw coming; people half a
century ago can only dream about one day everything they do is revolving around technology
and the internet. Entertainment in the 21st century goes hand in hand with the internet. Humans
have come a long way in terms of entertainment: from telling stories, to listening to radios, to
reading newspaper and finally the internet. The internet may be the greatest invention in the eyes
of some people, but it may also be the worst invention. The effect of internet and technology is
immense in the sense of influencing countries around the world. Cultures in countries are
influenced the most as it has to adapt to the ever growing nature of technology and the internet.
As technology advances, countries will have to try to keep up with these changes. China in
particular has tried to prevent their citizens from becoming addicted to the internet. With the
technology industry blooming in China, it has developed an internet addiction epidemic among
its users.
The internet is a growing industry where most of the world is leaning towards. Countries
are making many things available virtually which in sense is not a bad thing. Finding information
in the internet can never be easier; just a simple Google search can answer all if not most of the
questions. If an upcoming reunion is coming up and the contacts of all of your classmates are
lost, the internet can play a big role in helping with the search of these contacts. Many people in
the 21st century have signed up for a type of social media if not all of it. (Facebook, Instagram,

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Twitter) Social media can be a way where people can connect with one another no matter how
long its been since they last talked. And lastly, the internet is a great place for entertainment as
it has everything that one would need. For example, playing with your friends a decade ago
would require a person to person interaction, but the internet has changed all of that. The internet
makes it more easy and convenient to talk and hang out with your friends; whether if its playing
a certain game or chatting about random things. However, with the ease of accessing the internet
becoming more of a trend, more and more people are joining the internet. Thomas asserted that
in the first quarter of 2000, there were only four million users of the internet. The last quarter of
that year has grown into around fourteen million users (160). With the amount of growing users,
and the long list of things to do on the internet, it is not surprising that internet addiction is
becoming a known problem in China.
Social media is a popular segment of the internet that many users partake in. Users may
not consider checking social media as addictive, but it certainly is. Daria Kuss, a researcher of
online social networking and addiction, states that the mass appeal of social networks on the
internet could potentially be a cause for concern, particularly when attending to the gradually
increasing amounts of time people spend online (3529). If people are gradually increasing their
time online, they are slowly falling into addiction. No one person wants to admit that they are
falling into an addictive as it is nothing to be proud of. Many people in China had already been
diagnosed with an internet addiction problem.
Internet addiction is comparatively not as noticeable as people would like it to be. When
people start bringing this problem into deeper attention, then addicts will start to realize that
having internet addiction is not something to be indifferent about but to be more conscious and
aware of their situation. Wang conducted a research study in the Guang Dong providence of

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China. During this study, students were surveyed and tested for Problematic Internet Use (PIU).
Out of 12,446 students who were internet users, 1,515 of them were diagnosed with PIU. That is
a percentage of 12% and the study was only published in 2011 (Wang 3). The percentage of
people diagnosed with PIU in todays time and day of the technology bloom is inevitably higher.
Wang suggested that high study- related stress, having social friends, poor relations with
teachers and students and conflictive family relationships were risk factors for PIU (7). One
way that these risk factors are contributing to PIU is the amount of hours put into using the
internet. There is a correlation between the amount of hours used on the internet and the chance
of contracting PIU. For example, those who spent more than 8 hours a day on-line had a higher
probability of developing PIU than those who spent less than 2 hours a day (Wang 7). As the
study shows, the more you spend on the internet the higher chance you have of developing PIU.
All in all, the internet will only continue to keep growing while internet addiction will be an
ongoing problem.
As the internet become more and easily accessible to people in China, there is the
problem of internet addiction. Manufacturing and production costs to make the products to get
on the internet are decreasing. In his article The Internet in India and China, Press suggested
that Chinas greater income combines with lower access costs and lower costs of computers, to
make the Internet more affordable. Internet components at a more affordable price will allow
people with less income to buy these things. The internet is no longer reserved for the people of
luxuries but made available to everyone. However, as the internet is made available to everyone,
more and more people will fall into the category of being an internet addict. Jessie Jiang of
TIME magazine asserted the amount of kids developing internet addiction is getting out of

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control (Jiang 2009). Parents are ignored by their kids while the only thing they care about is
going on the internet.
One way that that many Chinese parents are taking things into their own matter, is by
sending their kids who has develop internet addiction to an Internet Addiction Center. Life in
the treatment camp, not surprisingly, is defined by strict, semi military disciplines (Jiang 2009).
This is the only way that kids learn and self discipline them from continuing on with these bad
habits. Having these treatments have put kids into realization of how easily upset they would get
and was afraid of other people. Furthermore, there are an only small percentage of adolescents
using this treatment as it is quite pricy. Adolescents who parents cannot afford to send them to
these treatment camps are still venerable to internet addiction as it is not something they can get
over by themselves.
In conclusion, internet addiction has become an epidemic in countries like China as
technology continues to grow. Just using the internet in general can develop addiction as there
are many things to bypass time with and the list just seems to keep growing. Also, social media
plays a big role in how internet addiction develops in a persons life. With moderate use of
internet, there is no correlation of problematic interest use, but as the hours start climbing up, the
existence of PIU is ever so clear. Treating internet addiction with treatments and internet
addiction centers may be a solution that many parents will try the addiction grows deeper into
adolescences life. There should be treatment centers that are offered to all kids for free which
can also help to decrease the amount of adolescents that are addicted to the internet. All in all, the
internet will only become more and more accessible to many people around the world, it is up to
the internet users to figure out if they have become internet addicted and set out to find a solution
or treatment.

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Works Cited
Jiang, Jesse. "Inside China's Fight Against Internet Addiction." Time. Time Inc., 28
Jan. 2009. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
Kuss, Daria J. and Griffiths, Mark D. Online Social Networking and AddictionA Review of
the Psychological Literature. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 29 Aug. 2011. 35283552. Web. 22 Apr. 2015.
Press, Larry et al. The Internet in India and China. First Monday, [S.l.], Oct. 2002. ISSN
13960466. Available at: <http://journals.uic.edu/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/997/918>.
Date accessed: 17 Mar. 2015. doi:10.5210/fm.v7i10.997.
Thomas, Timothy. The Internet In China: Civilian and Military Uses. Information & Seucrity
An Internationall Journal 7. (2001): 159-173. Print.
Wang, Hui et al. Problematic Internet Use in HighSchool Students in Guangdong Province,
China. PLOS. May. 2011. Web. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0019660