Web addict cuts off own hand to ‘cure’ himself

Most of us can probably admit to messing around on the internet more than we should. But would you go to the lengths of chopping off your own hand just to stop yourself going online?

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what one Chinese teenager did. The 19-year-old from Nantong in the province of Jiangsu disappeared from his home after leaving a message for his mother in his bedroom that only said he was going to the hospital.

The teenager, known only as ‘Little Wang’, had actually taken a knife with him, cut off his left hand at the wrist and jumped into a taxi to the hospital, leaving the severed hand on the ground.

The police managed to find the hand and, somewhat miraculously, it was reattached to Little Wang’s wrist. However, it’s unclear whether he’ll ever have full use of it again.

His mother, who didn’t want to be identified, said of the whole ordeal: “We cannot accept what has happened,” adding: “It was completely out of the blue. He was a smart boy.”

According to the Telegraph, one of the teenager’s teachers said his addiction to the internet had made him “impetuous”. 

The problem of internet addiction is a big one in China. The country had 649 million web users by the end of 2014, according to the China Internet Network Information Center, up by more than 31 million on the previous year. These web users spend just over 26 hours a week on the internet on average.

A significant proportion of these people spend much more time on the internet each week, which has led to the introduction of military-style camps for web addicts – many of whom are teenagers whose parents enrol them at the camps against their will – at locations around China. 

The fascinating goings-on at these camps – including controlled diets and military training – were exposed in a documentary called Web Junkies.