http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1533017/psychiatrists-singapore-launch-effort-have-smartphone-addiction-recognised
Easily distracted?
Can't be separated from your smartphone?
Constantly checking your device for no real reason?
Chances are you're an addict - and you may even need professional help.
Led by Singapore and Hong Kong, the Asia-Pacific region boasts some of the world's highest smartphone penetration rates, according to a 2013 report by media monitoring firm Nielsen.
Singaporeans also spend on average of 38 minutes per session on Facebook, almost twice as long as Americans, according to a study by Experian, a global information services company.
Adrian Wang, a psychiatrist at the upmarket Gleneagles Medical Centre, said digital addiction should be classified as a psychiatric disorder.
"Patients come for stress anxiety-related problems, but their coping mechanism is to go online, go on to social media," Wang said.
He recalled having treated an 18-year-old male student with extreme symptoms. "When I saw him, he was unshaven, he had long hair, he was skinny, he hadn't showered for days, he looked like a homeless man," Wang said. The boy came to blows with his father after he tried to take away the young man's laptop computer.
After the father cut off internet access in the house, desperation drove the boy to hang around neighbours' homes trying to get a wireless connection.
He was eventually admitted to hospital, put on anti-depressants and received "a lot" of counselling, Wang said.
"We just needed to break the cycle. He got better, he was discharged from the hospital."
Singapore's problem is not unique, with a number of countries setting up treatment centres for young internet addicts.
Mainland China already has an estimated 300 internet addiction centres, according to a report on state broadcaster CCTV's website in February.
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