Dateline Korea's Internet Addicts

Some teens in South Korea are so addicted to gaming, they can no longer distinguish what's real and what's not. Dateline follows them as they go through intense month-long digital rehab. One in ten Korean teenagers is now addicted and it's been described as a national crisis. One gamer stabbed his sister after playing violent games. Another killed one and injured seven others. "I feel like the game is controlling me, and when I lose it, I lose my temper," Chae Chan Woo tells Dateline's Dean Cornish. He's one of the teenagers who's been sent to the National Centre for Youth Internet Addiction Treatment. It was set up by the Korean Government and aims to tackle problems like his before it's too late. "I play for 20 hours per day," Choi Kyung Seo admits to the group. But what about on school days? "10 to 14 hours," he replies to the amazement of the group, admitting that he plays until 4am. "My favourite game is Grand Theft Auto 5," Kyung Seo explains. "Because I can drive cars and shoot guns, which I can't do in reality." But here at the 'Internet Dream Village', they have no access to any technology for a whole month. Instead they must interact with each other face-to-face and talk about their addiction, often for the first time. keywords: addiction ; compulsive behaviour ; computers ; internet ; technology ; video games.

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