A young man and self-proclaimed “web junkie” in China decided to cure his internet addiction by chopping off his left hand.
The teenager from Nantong, Jiangsu province, left a message for his mother before picking up a kitchen knife. After cutting off his left hand he called a taxi to take him to the hospital.
The boy’s mother, who declined to be identified, said: ‘We cannot accept what has happened,’
She continued: ‘It was completely out of the blue. He was a smart boy.’
She added that she found the note around 11pm that says “Mum, I have gone to hospital for a while.”
Fortunately, the surgeons at a local university hospital were able to reattach the hand. However, they cannot guarantee full mobility would return.
China has over 24 million so-called “web junkies” and campaigners say that the country is in the midst of a major online addiction epidemic. Symptoms include hardly leaving the bedroom and living an almost entirely in a virtual universe.
