The youths of America get a bad rap for their dependency on technology, but apparently things could be much worse. Take China for instance. Our communist friends are known for their ability to censor anything on the World Wide Web but it looks like they still haven’t found a cure for internet addiction among teens. Things have gotten so bad that voluntary dismemberment has now become a way out for those who log too much time online.
One Chinese teen reportedly chopped off his own hand in order to end his addiction to the internet. According to the Telegraph, a 19-year-old man known as “Little Wang” severed his left hand while sitting on a bench before calmly calling a taxi to drive him to a nearby hospital. (He even left a note for his mother telling her he’d be back soon. What a thoughtful guy.) The hospital was able to reattach Wang’s hand, so I’m guessing therapy for the kid is Plan B.
As wacky as this whole story sounds, internet addiction is evidently a serious problem in China with an estimated 14% of teens suffering. (It’s so bad, people are throwing around the word “epidemic.”) The country isn’t the only place dealing with the digital disease. In Taiwan, parents are hit with fines for letting their kids spend too much time online, and Japan has camps geared specifically towards young people trying to kick their technological habits.