Teen Cuts Off Hand to Cure Internet Addiction

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However, hoping to rid himself of the vice, one 19-year-old from the city of Nantong in Jiangsu province took drastic measures of his own. He hacked his left hand off, according to a report on the Jiangsu TV channel.

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By then, her son, who was identified only as "Little Wang" had already smuggled a kitchen knife from their home and snuck out. Safely out of sight, the teenager severed his left hand at the wrist. He called a taxi to take him a nearby A&E and left the hand lying on the ground.

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Campaigners say Asian countries such as China, which boasts some 649 million internet users, are in the midst of a major online addiction epidemic. Tao Ran, an army psychologist who runs a well-known Beijing rehab centre for internet addicts, estimated that around 14 per cent of his country’s youth were now hooked.

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