Flashermac Posted October 15, 2013 Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 An estimated 2.7 million young Thais are addicted to video games and online activities, according to a government-sponsored survey. Assoc Prof Chanvit Pornnoppadol, of the department of psychiatry, faculty of medicine, at Siriraj Hospital, said the survey ws conducted by the Ministry of Culture, the Department of Mental Health and the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Rajanakarindra Institute between March and June this year. It involved 20,000 children nationwide. According to the survey report, 15% of respondents said they were addicted to online games, to the Line communication application and to Facebook. This finding could be extrapolated to more than 2.7 million young people spending most of their time on online games, given there are an estimated 18 million children in the country. Mr Chanvit said game addicts can exhibit agressive and violent behaviour, physically hurting their parents or themselves if they are not allowed to play their games. They have a tendency to skip classes and stay awake late at night to play games, which can lead to a poor school performance and refusal to join in school activities, he said. "There are many young game addicts who need to be rehabilitated, but only 30 to 40 of them come to be treated annually," he said. "This could be because their parents do not know where their children can be taken to." He said the amount of time it takes to rehabilitate game addicts is equal to the time needed to treat drug addicts, because they have to be disconnected from the IT world entirely. "Many people now just keep their heads down and look at their smart phones, and this can be seen in many public places. They're too attached to IT," Mr Chanvit said. "We'll have to provide other activities to divert their attention to other things around them." Sura Techatat, adviser to the culture minister, said on Monday that communication technology has spread to people of all ages and genders. It has brought both positive and negative developments, but the negative side of communication technology has more impact on society than the postive, he said. Playing certain games is illegal and the Culture Ministry is responsible for overseeing young people and their engagement with information technology. The ministry is working with different sectors to encourage young people to spend their time constructively, and asks the media to play a more constructive role, Mr Sura said. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/374801/2-7m-young-thais-addicted-to-online-activities Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted October 15, 2013 Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 Hi, "Playing certain games is illegal" First I hear of this. I guess they refer to games involving gambling and real money. They do have a point about young (and not so young) people spending a lot time with their phones. It's all you see on the subway in the morning. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
huumlaar Posted October 15, 2013 Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 Number seems rather small Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radioman Posted October 15, 2013 Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 Would agree with that. 5 mil might be a closer number in my humble estimation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted October 15, 2013 Report Share Posted October 15, 2013 Hi, "Playing certain games is illegal" First I hear of this. I guess they refer to games involving gambling and real money. They do have a point about young (and not so young) people spending a lot time with their phones. It's all you see on the subway in the morning. Sanuk! I was surprised by this comment but a quick search showed that all Grand Theft Auto series of games have been banned since August 2008 after an 18 year old gamer murdered a taxi driver similar to GTA gameplay. The figures don't really add up a survey of 20,000 out 18 Million only 0.111%, if it was done country wide as stated then less than 15% would be playing games in Nakon Nowhere and Bann Nok whereas about 40% would be playing in BKK and CM. Also how can Social Networking (Farcebook) and Messaging Services (Line) be classed as gaming? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted October 16, 2013 Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 Hi, "I was surprised by this comment but a quick search showed that all Grand Theft Auto series of games have been banned since August 2008 after an 18 year old gamer murdered a taxi driver similar to GTA gameplay." Funny, I bought GTA V in Fortune last week. Marcel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waerth Posted October 16, 2013 Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 the illegal copy off course Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cavanami Posted October 16, 2013 Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 People are so glued to their iPads, iPhines, etc that they no longer interact with each other! We see people in a complete panic when they lose their wi-fi connection...when they can't access Facebook...WTF... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khunsanuk Posted October 16, 2013 Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 Hi, "the illegal copy off course" Illegally sold perhaps, but a legal copy, available all over the place. Sanuk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bust Posted October 16, 2013 Report Share Posted October 16, 2013 Personally I would like to see more of it...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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