Now I am not saying that physical activity can cure all ills, but I recently read a very disturbing report in the local paper that bothered me tremendously.
It went something like this,
‘ In a desperate attempt to cure himself of his internet addiction, a Chinese teenager simply chopped off his own left hand. the 19 year old, from the City of Nantong, in Jiangsu province, took the drastic measure.’
According to experts, China with its 649 million internet users, is in the midst of a major internet addiction epidemic. Reports suggest that there are nearly 24 million young ‘web junkies’ in the nation.
A gruesome reality.
As a result of these addictions, a growing number of military style boot camps have been designed to rehabilitate internet addicts.
I read our own break down of the daily activity programs for our Team Active trips, fitness routines and scuba diving packages and although I am no psychologist I have to wonder just how many of these poor kids would benefit massively from the activity driven challenges that we provide.
Is it just a question of sensible ‘moderation’ that is not being applied, a lack of understanding or do the troubles run much deeper? Without doubt physical activity has, in one form or another, helped me weather some rough storms and there is no doubt in my own mind when I say that almost ‘everyone’ can benefit in some small way from an increase in physical activity. Activity that pulls them away from a computer, a smart phones and the like and engages them again or for the first time, 1 on 1 with the great outdoors and everything mother nature, or planet earth has to offer.
When 14% of the youth of China are ‘hooked’ or ‘addicted’ (call it what you will) to the Internet – you have to wonder if without even realising it we aren’t all, slowly slipping in to our own version of ‘The Matrix’.
My simple advise is to fight it on all fronts – yes we have to work to earn our daily bread and that might mean sitting in front of a computer all day, but outside of the working day – do yourself a favour and get yourself outdoors – dive, walk, hike, swim, stumble, skip, jump, train, run – whatever it takes, even for a moment – get yourself connected or reconnected to nature and see what it offers you.
I guarantee that with a little application and a boost of confidence it will offer more reward than any random ‘surfing’ session on your Internet device – include a friend and that reward will be boosted even further.