Community Matters: Kapital Creation: A Beijing State of Mind, Internet Intervention

Kipp Whittaker | Jan 22, 2014 5:00 pm | Add a comment | 1717 reads

There have been a couple of new documentaries on the wire this week that highlight the tension the capital has been enduring throughout its quest to modernize.

Kapital Creation: A Beijing State of Mind is a film by Matthew Niederhauser & John Fitzgerald that is currently still in production. The film is about how rampant development and modernization will signal a new era of resource depletion, exponentially higher energy use, and fierce pollution. Beijing has developed at such a quick pace that perhaps not enough thought is being devoted to how people or the environment around us will adapt. 

Go and watch their teaser on Kickstarter and help these fellas raise enough cash to see them through production. There are lots of amazing scenic footage of the capital along with interviews from an amazing group of informed intellectuals and creative types that provide a unique insight into the challenges that Beijingers will face in the years to come.

Also this week, The New York Times Op-Docs posted a segment of its new documentary titled Web Junkies.  Directed by Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia, it is currently being screened at the Sundance Film Festival. It takes place in Daxing, a nearby suburb of Beijing, and follows the lives of recovering internet addicts as well as the rigorous bootcamp designed to rid these children of their debilitating internet obsessions. Take a peek at what it's like inside one of China’s 400-plus prison-like rehabilitation centers that seek to intervene before they are completely lost to virtual reality.

China is one of the first countries in the world to label an overuse of the Internet as a clinical condition. Some of the children confess to have played online games, such as World of Warcraft, for over 300 hours straight. One addiction specialist Tao Ran said that "some kids are so hooked on these games they think going to the bathroom will affect their performance. So they wear a diaper. These are the same as heroin addicts. Heroin addicts crave and look for heroin every day. The teenagers we have here crave and look forward to playing games online every day. That’s why we call it electronic heroin." Treatment, which often lasts three to four months, includes military style drills, medication and therapy.

Parents are encouraged to stay during treatment and participate in therapy sessions. Here, the parents learn about addiction and how it often originates through a lack of satisfaction in day-to-day life. The specialist explained that the biggest issue among these kids is loneliness. Many of these kids are very lonely, and the only friends they have are on the internet. They are losing their basic skills to communicate and engage in the real world. When asked if they have friends in the real world, one kid replied, “No, in the real world everyone is fake.” So far they have reported a 70% success rate, but many leave unchanged and unwilling to compromise with their virtual needs. 

Community events to check out in the coming week:

Photos by china-mike.com, Shosh Shlam and Hilla Medalia