Storyville Season 18 Episode 18

Web Junkies: China's Addicted Teens

Documentary which follows three Chinese teenagers inside a Beijing rehabilitation centre for internet addicts. China is one of the first countries in the world to label overuse of the internet a clinical condition. To combat what authorities deem the greatest social crisis for youth today, the Chinese government has created treatment facilities to detox and cure teenagers of their online addictions. With extraordinary access, the film shows how the teens are lured to the centre against their will by anxious parents and must endure the military boot camp conditions combined with intensely emotional counselling sessions. It documents how the boys begin to share with the health professional and their parents the reasons why they feel more connected to virtual life than their families. A thoughtful examination of a society in flux and a technology-addled generation on the precipice of an unknown future.