EricEwe.com

As reported on CNN, Internet boot camp operators are under investigation after a youth boot camp attendee died and another was admitted in critical condition.

Well folks, this is happening in China where the parents are sending their kids to these Internet boot camps that have sprouted up like mushrooms after storm. Internet use has skyrocketed in China, especially among teens and young adults. Knowing about this alarming addiction, Chinese parents have turned to hundreds of training camps that offer to wean their children from excessive Internet use. It is estimated that there are over 400 private rehabilitation clinics which charges about 5,000 Yuan (about US$750).

The teenager who is in critical condition is 14-year-old boy allegedly beaten at a boot camp is suffering from kidney failure and has water in the lungs. The boy was enrolled in the camp on August 4th, 2009. He was allegedly beaten three times between August 4 and August 11, which boot camp counselors denies that citing that “he fought with attendees” as he did not get along with them. Police discovered the boy in solitary confinement last week and he was taken to a hospital, according to media reports. He was discovered by accident after other attendees complaint about their own mistreatment.

In another camp, a 15-year-old died after his parents sent him to a summer training camp for his Internet addiction, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua. That camp was in south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Authorities detained several counselors and were investigating the incident. Injuries found on the body indicated the teen had been beaten severly, Xinhua reported.

Wu Yongjing, the man who established the military-style camp, admitted to the BBC that youngsters were sometimes subjected to “physical punishment.” Last month the Chinese government banned electro-shock therapy as treatment for Internet addiction after abuses were reported. Internet users claiming to have received the treatment wrote in blogs and forums about being tied down and subjected to shocks for 30 minutes at a time.

“Physical punishment is an effective way to educate children — as long as it can be controlled,” he said in an online story Wednesday.

So if you are in China and you hear mom saying “Get off the PC”, I think she means it.