In a bid to combat its estimated 2.0 million Internet and videogame addicts, South Korea will offer free software to the populace that would limit time spent online.
Under what’s termed a “consensual shut-down program,” users would be able to set the days and times that they would be able to access the Internet, reports the Korean Times. A second method of limiting screen time would involve a program dubbed Internet Fatigue, which is designed to “make gamers become bored as time goes by.”
The measures were issued by a special inter-ministry group setup to fight the overuse of the Web and games. The government is said to be focused on preventive actions and will launch educational programs expected to reach 10.0 million people, while 300,000 heavy Internet users will be able to receive counseling services. 10,000 jobs will be created as a result of the latter initiative.
The President of the Korea Computer Life Institute, Eo Gee-jun, believes that three out of every ten adults are addicted to games, versus 26.0 percent of teenagers.
Gee-jun added:
Addicted adult gamers outnumber their teenager counterparts because the former are no longer under control of their parents.
Comments
Re: Korea Launches Fight Against Game & Net Addiction
The government will make available two types of software aimed at limiting bloggers' hours online - a consensual shut-down program and Internet Fatigue, a program designed to make gamers become bored as time goes by.
Re: Korea Launches Fight Against Game & Net Addiction
If someone gets a boring job and the company they work for doesn't know about them getting on the net or doesn't care or has to use the net for their job, then wouldn't that person still get "Internet Fatigue"? Wouldn't it get boring for that person(s)? I think it would be the same thing, but applied differently.
"It's better to be hated for who you are, then be loved for who you are not." - Montgomery Gentry
Re: Korea Launches Fight Against Game & Net Addiction
The article (both here and in the Korean Times) makes it sound like Internet Fatigue is software designed to help limit connectivity. I'm going to make a shot in the dark and guess that it slows down the connection as time goes on? (It literally 'fatigues' the internet, then)
Anyway, addicts (I'm slightly addicted myself, albeit not to games as much as some of the social aspects of the internet) won't give up if they're bored. I can be around at midnight, (or later, but as an example) and no one else is online, and I have nothing to do, but I still don't go to bed 'til 2, see.
As they aren't mandatory, I actually think this whole thing is a great idea...
Edited for typo.