The Chinese Teenager Mental Growth Base of the General Hospital of the Beijing Military Area Command of the PLA, and the China Youth Association for Network Development have jointly launched two guidelines in the hope of helping Chinese parents to keep their children from becoming addicted to the Internet.
Called "Guidelines on Preventing Network Addiction at Home" and "Basic Principles for A Harmonious Family", the two sets of guidelines are reported to have been based on interviews, observations, and studies of more than 800 network addicts by experts from Chinese Teenager Mental Growth Base of General Hospital of Beijing Military Area Command and have put forward concrete measures for preventing Internet addiction in the family.
Tao Ran, director of the Chinese Teenager Mental Growth Base, said that Internet addiction relates to the family, school, society, and the character of the children in question, but the family is often the main reason, so a harmonious family plus correct guidance can help the children better develop.
Relevant surveys provided in Chinese media show that Internet addiction mostly occurs on youngsters between 12 and 22 years old and 95% of network addicts are boys, of whom 86% lack paternal guidance.
