The Ministry of Health and Welfare is considering classifying Internet addiction and gaming disorders as mental disorders, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) said on Wednesday.
The ministry would be following the WHO’s lead, as the UN organization has said that it intends to classify “gaming disorder” as an official mental health condition in its International Classification of Diseases due to be published later this year.
Internet addiction is a growing problem in Taiwan, with an estimated 1.05 million Internet users aged 12 and older classified as at risk of becoming addicted, according to a report on Internet addiction released by the National Development Council in July last year.
Among the Internet users at risk, 200,000 are high risk Internet users who had failed to engage in any outdoor activities or interact with friends for more than one month prior to being interviewed, the report said.
Meanwhile, the percentage of at-risk Internet users aged 12 and older increased from 3.5 percent in 2016 to 5 percent last year, it said.
At-risk Internet users spend an average of 4.8 hours per day online and believe that surfing the Web is a good way to relieve stress, achieve spiritual satisfaction and make new friends, the report said, adding that 54 percent are male and 46 percent female, while 40.9 percent hold a bachelor’s degree.
People aged 30 to 39 had the highest proportion of at-risk users with 29.9 percent, followed by people aged 20 to 29 with 21.1 percent, those between 40 and 49-years-old with 17.1 percent, people aged 50 to 59 with 15 percent and people 12 to 19 years of age with 11.4 percent, the report said.
New Taipei City had the largest share of at-risk Internet users at 17.7 percent, followed by Taichung at 12.1 percent, Taipei at 11.8 percent, Kaohsiung at 11.7 percent and Taoyuan at 9.6 percent.
Service sector employees and salespeople accounted for the largest share of at-risk Internet users with 19.8 percent, followed by students at 16.8 percent.
The survey was conducted by telephone from June 16 to July 5 among 1,508 Internet users aged 12 and older.
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