According to my colleague who is the assistant director of the Internet Addiction Recovery Centers in China, young people aged 25 and below are most at risk for internet addiction. What is happening in China now is that online games have become increasingly the most common form of entertainment among young people. This is completely differently from the time when he grew up (about 30-40 years ago), during then they mostly played out-door games and are mostly group-oriented (e.g., card game, chess) and physical in nature (e.g., playing hide-and-seek). Now, online games have the following advantages over other non-online games. They can be accessed at any time; they can be played for as long as one wishes; they are highly self-rewarding; and they are highly stimulating.

These are common problems in any country but from what I understand the issue is much more public in China, as many do not own personal computers, so they go to Internet Cafes to play. When you compare this to American, most people in the US have easy access to home computers, where the problem is much more hidden. The American Medical Association has considered calling videogame overuse an addiction at the annual policy meeting, so the problem is very significant here as well as in China. The real issue is that the Chinese Government has been highly proactive and controls the healthcare system as compared to the US, so change is slower although we have identified online gaming as a serious problem.