Social News

A Chinese man suddenly collapsed in an Internet cafe after online gaming for 14 days straight. Upon the arrival of paramedics, the man reportedly asked the emergency workers to turn back on his computer, so he can surf the web.

The 21-year-old, only known as Mr. Xia, is the latest example of China’s youth troubling obsession with the Internet.

Mr. Xia collapsed onto the pavement outside an internet café in Hefei, the capital of Anhui province, according to a report in the Anhui Business Review. When paramedics arrived, Mr. Xia is reported to of said, “Leave me alone and turn on the computer for me. I want to surf the internet.”

A witness of Mr. Xia’s Internet binge was one of the cafe’s cleaning lady, Ms. Wang. She told reporters she noticed the man using the Internet for 2 weeks straight. She explained that he hadn’t ate or showered for days and chainsmoked. When he did eventually stagger outside, she noticed something was wrong.

“[At] 7am on May 3, he told me he was feeling a little dizzy and hadn’t eaten for a day and that he would go out to get some food,” she told the website. “He couldn’t stand up on his own so I helped him. He was quite smelly by then.”

Once outside, Mr. Xia collapsed on the pavement.

Apparently, the Internet addict had ran away from home after becoming addicted to online role-playing games, such as World of Warcraft.

“I found confidence in this virtual world,” he said.

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