CYBERPSYCHOLOGY, BEHAVIOR, AND SOCIAL NETWORKING Volume 14, Number 6, 2011 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2009.

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Internet-Addicted Kids and South Korean Government Efforts: Boot-Camp Case

1 1 Chulmo Koo, Ph.D., Yulia Wati, S.E., Choong C. Lee, Ph.D.,2 and Hea Young Oh, Ph.D.3

Abstract

Computer overuse has been a serious problem for the past several years. One aspect of the information age has been the novel concerns deriving from advanced IT technologywhich include Internet addiction, gambling, and so on. These Internet-based problems have emerged in many countries, including South Korea. In an effort to solve this problem, the South Korean government has created a variety of programs designed to cure teenagers Internet addictions, most notably the Jump Up Internet Rescue School, a camp designed to cure Internet-addicted or online game-addicted children. In this study, we review this boot-camp program and present a brief review of the literature concerning Internet addiction and habit theory. Additionally, we provide some useful implications for the Korean government and other countries, practitioners, and researchers. It is also anticipated that the ndings from this study will provide us with a better understanding of how case-studybased research into Internet addiction curative programs can be regarded as a burgeoning eld of Internetrelated research.

Introduction

omputer overuse has been a serious problem for the past several years. The computer and the Internet have become indispensable components in the lives of adolescents, progressing beyond the level of recreation.1 Unfortunately, the Internet also contributes to the creation of a negative habit in the form of Internet addiction.2 This Internet issue has emerged in many countries, particularly in developed countries and advanced technology countries, including South Korea.1 With one of the most advanced IT infrastructures on earth and almost universal access to the net, Internet addiction is on the rise in South Korea.3 In an effort to solve this problem, the South Korean government has created a variety of programs designed to cure teenagers Internet addictions, most notably the Jump Up Internet Rescue School, a camp designed to cure Internet-addicted or online game-addicted children. The South Korean Internet addiction boot-camp program was initiated in 2007, initially on the basis of the habitual concept of Internet addiction. To cure the addiction, abstinence from the addictive behavior, habituation to the cues that trigger it, or conditioned aversion may break the addiction cycle, along with social-skills training and family therapy to maintain recovery.4 Thus, through this paper, we intro-

duced habit theory to vindicate the possibility of behavior change in the addicted children participating in the bootcamp program. This article contains a review of this boot-camp program as a case study and a brief review of the literature regarding Internet addiction and habit theory. Grifths,5 in his study of Internet addiction, mentioned the importance of case studies. The majority of case studies recorded by Widyanto and Grifth6 have focused on Internet users, and a few of them have specically discussed case studies of treatment efforts. Furthermore, after a decade or more of academic research, the concept of Internet addiction remains incompletely realized, and is perhaps still in its infancy.7 As such, case-study research conducted from an academic perspective is required in order to evaluate its results practically. For this purpose, we conducted a semi-structured interview with the Senior Ofcer of this boot-camp program and collaborated with the program manager of the program at the Korea Youth Counseling Institute. We gained special permission from the assigned institution to evaluate the program from an academic perspective. By analyzing this boot-camp case, this study enhances habit theory in elucidating Internet addiction behavior. This study also provides some implications that should be useful for the Korean government, as well as other countries, practitioners, and researchers.

1 2 3

College of Business, Chosun University, Gwangju, South Korea. Graduate School of Information, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea. Korea Youth Counseling Institute, Seoul, South Korea.

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392 Internet Addiction and Habit Theory The concept of Internet addiction was used rst by Ivan Goldberg in 1995. Internet addiction is an individuals inability to control their Internet use, which in turn leads to feelings of distress, functional impairment of daily activities, and denial of the problematic behaviors.8 To this extent, previous studies (e.g., LaRose9,10) have recommended the necessity of habit in studying media addiction. LaRose et al.9 interpreted perceived addiction as an indication of habit formation, a sense of losing control over ones online behavior. From this concept, addiction is dened as a repetitive habit pattern that increases the risk of disease and or associated personal and social problem often experienced subjectively as loss of control that continues despite volitional attempts to abstain or moderate use (Marlatt et al.,4 p. 224; LaRose,10 p. 226). Habit formation is accompanied by decreased attention to self-monitoring, making it less likely that self-reactive incentives will be consciously applied to moderate the behavior.10 Boot-Camp Case in South Korea Research conducted by the Ofce of the Government Policy Coordinator reported that among 384 overall respondents and 706 students, the percentages of Internet game-addiction cases were 73.4% and 83.9% respectively, and parents and school teachers considered the most serious Internet problem to be online game addiction.11 To mitigate this issue, the Korean government has organized a boot-camp program called the Jump Up Internet Rescue School. During this program, the addicted student receives a range of treatment for 12 days, 11 nights. The integrated program is presented in Figure 1. The objective of this program is to provide participants with a facility for engaging in outdoor sports and activities

KOO ET AL. rather than Internet games or surng. The program content is divided into two main courses: education activities and training activities. The education activities course consists of: (a) mental training; (b) brain education to train the frontal lobe (an area in the brain located at the front of the cerebral hemisphere); (c) brain system training; and (d) emotional control. Mental and brain training were designed to recall the addicts cognitive skills. Addictive thinkers are likely to worry more often than normal people, which in turn may contribute to addictive Internet use.13 Moreover, an emotional approach is needed to deal with this Internet addiction in that the Internet gives addicts feelings and gratifying sensations that make them keep coming back to the addictive experience.14 Thus the four aforementioned education activities are necessarily important, as behaviors related to the Internet have the same ability to provide emotional belief, mental escape, and ways to avoid problems, as do alcohol, drugs, food, and gambling.13 These four activities were also chosen because the physicians are likely to pay special attention to the role of the frontal lobe, as its functions involve the ability to recognize future consequences resulting from current actions, choose between good and bad actions, determine similarities and differences between things or events,15 and control social behavior.16 Online addiction may reduce the roles of this part of brain by encouraging disinhibition.17 The association between addiction and frontal-lobe disorders has also been demonstrated in various cases such as pathological gambling,18 drug addiction,19 and alcohol misuse.20 For example, from a neuropsychological perspective, Miller21 reported that patients with frontal-lobe lesions presented impulsive behavior and worse performance than healthy control subjects. Therefore, by focusing on frontal-lobe functions, this bootcamp program was organized to enable the individual to

FIG. 1. Conceptual rescue-camp model (adapted from Ahn, 2007).12

INTERNET-ADDICTED KIDS AND SOUTH KOREAN GOVERNMENT EFFORTS regain the ability to live normally as part of social society. In addition to the two main programs, there are two additional programs: personal counseling and parent/family counseling. The training activities also include outdoor activities, pottery courses, and challenging activities. In 2007, there were two rounds involving 16 and 17 participants respectively. Integrating the Habit Concept into the Boot-Camp Program Behavior can become bad or harmful habits when they turn into conditioned responses to dysphoria and when negative life consequences result.10 Thus, by viewing Internet addiction cases in this boot-camp program as bad-habit cases, the only completely effective therapies are abstinence and habitual change.10 Several criteria have been used to evaluate the efcacy of this program: students Internet belief, game belief, depression level, and social life-score measurement. Habits form as self-regulation becomes less vigilant; in LaRose et al.s10 study, they redened the term Internet addiction as decient self-regulation. Thus, by evaluating the participants self-efcacy, self-belief, and their social life, this program effectively integrates the habitual cues to break the addiction cycle. Evaluations conducted by the program manager after a 1-year period showed that around half of the 33 students participating in this camp consider themselves to have become better people, and approximately three-quarters of the 33 participants and their families reported themselves satised with this program.22 Concluding Remarks, Implications, and Limitations In conclusion, the boot-camp program instituted by the South Korean government has been proven to be one of the alternative methods to cope with Internet addiction issues. By considering Internet addiction itself as a bad habit, a recovery program employing habit-theory approach has been applied in this boot-camp program. Frequency of prior behavior is an important antecedent of habit. With sufcient frequency, the individual gains adequate practice, indicating familiarity with the behavior tends to increase such that the behavior can subsequently be performed with less cognitive effort. As a result, the more often an individual performs a behavior, the more likely it is that the behavior will become habitual.23 Thus participation by the family is needed to monitor the habit development of their children after participating in this program. The government has developed a trustworthy public program for people who can join and access the countrys systemic approach program Hospital School Counseling Center for the treatment of Internet-addicted children. In this study, we discussed youth Internet addiction and introduced the case of a South Korean boot camp. Initially, the social aspects of this issue have been identied as the increased number of working parents, a harshly competitive educational environment, and insufcient playground space for children. Our case-study analysis also provides certain implications for the South Korean government specically, and other countries in general. For the South Korean government, signicant efforts to address Internet addiction problem by providing a specic curing program and model for highly

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Internet addictive kids; creating a systemic program to break the habit cycle by collaborating with hospitals, schools, and families; making a networked collaboration program with various professional experts; continually operating the bootcamp program; raising awareness of the problem of Internet addiction through promotion of the boot-camp program in South Korean society; and nding a chance to lead in the treatment of IT addiction will lead this country to become an ethically advanced technology country. Our qualitative analysis also revealed several interesting implications for practice. During the curing action, the participants may rebuild their social relationships, develop group spirit, and learn how to control their emotions. It is hoped that the short-term abstinence from using the Internet will break their bad habit of Internet addiction. Second, by the end of this program, the students are able to manage their time well regularly, balance their activities, and live normally within their community. It is crucial for parents to protect their children from the negative aspects of the Internet, and more efforts should be made to improve the quality of the environment surrounding their children. Most important in this regard is that parents should frequently communicate with their children, preventing them from becoming isolated, and strengthen the bond between children and their parents through human touch. One serious issue in South Korea that may make Internet addiction more ubiquitous may be the South Korean education system. Unlike the Western education system, it is common for students to take additional courses or afterschool classes. Therefore, schools must also play a part in ensuring that an opportunity for critical use of the Internet is provided for young people to avoid potential Internet addiction. The urgent needs to improve media usage habits, reinforce education, and prepare measures for disease treatment and prevention should be addressed in a serious way. Finally, the boot-camp treatment model can also be adopted by educational institutions and/or treatment centers for Internet-addicted children. For this purpose, the educator/ psychiatrist may create a special boot-camp program for such patients. This practice might help the government to devise a successful Internet addiction problem. Nowadays, Internet addiction is not in nosotaxonomy. The American Psychiatric Association has also proposed the inclusion of this disorder to the DSM-V classication in 2012.24 Thus, by knowing its symptoms from the beginning, many cases of addiction can be avoided. In the future, ofcial government regulation will be required to control Internet usage among young people. Maintaining habits acquired through the boot-camp program also requires considerations over the control and evaluation of patient behavior in the long term. There are a number of questions for future research to address. First, whereas this study involves case studies of the South Korean boot-camp program, future research will be required to determine the long-term effects of this treatment method by using different samples from other countries. Second, as this study is a preliminary study to introduce a boot-camp program, further research is needed to evaluate the effectiveness of this program in transforming habits. Thus future studies should verify this report by comparing programs from different resources to strengthen both the practical and theoretical implications.

394 Acknowledgment This research was supported by research grant from Chosun University, 2009. Disclosure Statement No competing nancial interests exist. References
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Address correspondence to: Yulia Wati, SE College of Business Chosun University Seosuk-dong, 375 Dong-gu Gwangju South Korea (501-759) E-mail: yuliawati@gmail.com

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