尽管在不久前韩国与芬兰被公认为是世界上拥有最好的教育制度的国家，但由于许多学生不堪学校激烈的竞争压力而沉迷于互联网，韩国青少年的网瘾问题逐渐引起人们的担忧。

    越来越多的韩国青少年因网瘾成性而整日不出房间，甚至玩网络游戏直至丧命。一名17岁男孩的母亲说，“他不能很轻松地适应高中生活”，每天12点至下午亮点浏览足球网站，他因此中途退了学。“现在他整天不吃不喝地呆在电脑前。他已经有8个月没出家门了”。“他以前还有梦想，想成为一名足球运动员，但现在我和他爸爸对他已彻底失望。现在当我们催促他去练习踢球，他就当着我们的面将他房门关上”。

    青少年网瘾问题部分归结于学校繁重的、以科学知识为基础的教育。据韩国网瘾精神病协会主席金博士介绍，一场“狂暴的教育”已经破坏了孩子的自信，迫使他们从其它地方寻找出路。目前，很多韩国学生在放学后还要接受家庭教师的辅导，他们在户外享受自由的时间越来越少，这促使他们去互联网上排解孤独。金博士指出：“孩子在网上所做的事情反映出了他们在现实中的想法。他们在网上追逐的梦就是他们在日常生活中的梦想。”

    青少年所受到的最通常的困扰就是网络游戏。在那个虚幻世界里，面对敌人和挑战，玩家可以变成一个神奇的人物。去年，一名28岁的男子因在网吧连续玩游戏50小时而丧命，他的死因为疲惫和脱水。研究显示，5％的游戏玩家已经严重上瘾，还有15％至20％的人显示出不健康的被迷住的迹象。金博士的病人中有90％都是游戏玩家，这些人通常被父母送到精神病院后被转送到他这里。另外还有10％的人有畸形的犯罪心理，并且在网络上有反对社会的行为。金博士说：“这些人的内心充满了挫折感和愤怒。”

    目前，韩国政府已经关注青少年的网瘾问题，禁止青少年在晚上10点后出入网吧，并派遣心理学专家对青少年进行心理辅导。

    More and more teenage addicts are refusing to leave their bedrooms and some young adults are playing fantasy games online until they literally drop dead. "He didn't adapt very easily into high school," said Chu Dong-jiu, whose son, Jae-yun, 17, cruises football websites 12 to 14 hours a day. "That was why he dropped out. Now he spends all the time he is not eating on the computer. He hasn't been out of the house for eight months."

    Eighty per cent of South Koreans have broadband internet, the highest rate in the world. In Britain the figure is less than a third. This is partly the result of its intense, science-based schooling. But according to Dr Kim Hyun-soo, chairman of the Association of Internet Addiction Psychiatrists, an "education frenzy" has undermined children's self-confidence and forced them to seek escape elsewhere.

    Children, many tutored beyond school, enjoy little free time outside home, driving them into the solitary solace of the computer, he said. "What children do on the internet reflects what they want in reality," he said. "The dreams they pursue are the dreams they would pursue in ordinary life."

    The most common obsession is with online games in which players become fantasy figures in landscapes pitted with foes and obstacles. One 28-year-old collapsed and died last year after playing a game non-stop for 50 hours in an internet cafe. Doctors said he died from exhaustion and dehydration. Studies show five per cent of "gamers" are seriously addicted, with a further 15-20 per cent betraying signs of an unhealthy obsession. Gamers make up 90 per cent of Dr Kim's patients, often referred to him by mental hospitals to which parents had taken their children. The other 10 per cent are guilty of freakish and anti-social behaviour on websites. "These people are very frustrated inside and full of anger, " he said.

    The government has stepped in, banning children from internet cafes after 10pm, and sending teams of psychologists to visit them. （蒋黎黎）

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