Chat Ed : Welcome to this evening's More 4 News chat with Poppy Sebag-Montefiore. Poppy Sebag-Montefiore is a writer and filmmaker who has lived between China and London over the last seven years. Together with cameraman
and filmmaker Zhang Huilin and journalist Wang Zhe she has been investigating a story about internet addiction in Beijing for More4 News.
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: Hi, good to see you all.
arra : Hello!
mary : hi
Cynds : Hello Poppy
Captain 733t : So, it's a bit ironic that you are doing a webchat about Internet addiction, how did this story come to your attention?
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore chuckles
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: It stemmed from a report in the Chinese media, about this internet addiction clinic that has recently opened but also, quite a few of my friends in Beijing use the internet an incredible amount and it made me start to think. Sometimes it's really unexpected people that are addicted, like one of my friend’s 60-year-old father who fights with his wife over the computer because she likes to read the news online and he likes to play online card games.
mary : how do you define addiction?
mary : what are the signs of addiction in this case?
Cynds : How would you Define Internet addiction. I spend 3-4 hours on the Internet a night 4 days per week. would you say that i am an addict?
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: Well, the director of the new internet clinic defines it as someone who goes online for at least 4-5 hours a day on average over a year but I don't think that seems all that much personally but I know people who spend a lot more time than that and don't consider themselves addicted to the net.
Cynds : oh dear that is me
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: They use the Internet for work - it's more about a way of life, a way to socialise, as a way to get away from the real world. When I first heard it was 4-5 hours I was worried as well!
Ciaran : I’ve spent over 13 days on World of Warcraft over about 4 months. I don’t consider myself an addict though.
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: World of Warcraft is one of the most popular games in China and Snowly, who I mentioned in the piece, that died, was playing World of Warcraft incessantly over the national holiday which was a week long.
Blizz : Is Beijing the worst example of Internet addiction? I hear Korea is worse
Cynds : Do you think that Internet addiction is only a major problem in Beijing or do you feel that it is a problem the world over?
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: I've heard it's quite bad in Korea as well, but I've never been there myself, so I'm not sure which is worse. I'm sure it's a problem around the world. I think Internet addiction in Beijing is different than in the UK. In China it's much more widespread than in the UK and you have more people who will spend all night in an Internet cafe playing games or chatting online. The Internet is used much more in daily life in China than it is here. The Chinese have an equivalent of MSN, called QQ, which they use to communicate with each other. About 30% of Chinese people have online lovers, or met their partners online. The Chinese use the Internet to communicate with their neighbours too, so, for them, it offers them another way to live and so I think it's easier for people there to spend a lot more time online doing different things. Some people have also said they find it easier to communicate with people online, they feel a lot freer to talk and to say things that they perhaps wouldn't say in real life, for example, there's a lot of censorship in literature in China. A lot of the most famous people on the Internet are people who have broken boundaries that perhaps would not have been broken in real life, for example, a blogger named Muzimei who published a diary of her sex life online.
Captain 733t : The Internet could be a huge force for change in China in years to come don't you get concerned by all Chinas attempts to control what people can access and when?
Ciaran : Is freedom banned on search engines in China?
arra : off topic a bit, but I have to say, what a great name you have!
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: Yes, censorship of the Internet in China has become much tighter since the new leader has been in power. When I was last in Beijing a few weeks ago it was impossible to even enter the name of the President into the search engine, including Google. There are other words you can't enter in search engines in China, like Falun Gong and the date of the Tianamen Square incident, so this page that we are writing on the Internet now will be blocked in China because we have mentioned these words. The Internet and the existence of search engines such as Google and Yahoo! has given the Chinese public an unprecedented amount of free information and this is helping the Chinese people in all walks of life.
Horde : Have you tried any online games yourself?
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: No I never have. I have tried some console games before but I just wasn't very good at using them and I got quite bored after a few minutes but I do use the Internet for other things. I think I probably use it too much but when I was in China, working on this piece, I began to get a sense of what it's like to be part of an online community and it sounded quite exciting.
Horde : How much time goes in to creating a special report like that for more4 news?
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: It took about three weeks to a month, including research, production, and editing. Just to ask all the online gamers here, do you feel like you identify with the gamers in the report?
Captain 733t : Not really. I think they are younger than us.
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore chuckles
Ciaran : I would stay up a week if it meant getting my cenarion set!
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: Wow, Ciaran, why do you like playing the game so much? Why do you prefer to spend so much time in the game than the real world?
paul : i think there is a TV addiction problem which is more severe than the Internet addiction
Horde : It's just another form of entertainment, how much time do others spend in front of the TV?
mary : addictive behaviour is different from other usage surely?
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: Yeah, I think you're probably right Paul. People don’t really notice that, so many people take it for granted that people are watching television when there's nothing else to do.
Captain 733t : The games are designed to keep people coming back week after week, but this affects those addictive types more by making them keep coming back hour after hour instead
mary : are people addictive by nature? Or is this something that could happen to anyone?
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: That's a good question. I don't know the answer!
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore laughs
mary : lol
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: But, I think it's also interesting to think about the responsibility of the companies which make the games and the techniques that they use to get people hooked. While I was making the report, it would have been really interesting to find out what their strategy is - whether they use methods like advertisers do or other methods of marketing. I'm not sure if everybody can get hooked; it takes a type of personality, but I'm sure everyone has a certain addictive nature somewhere, just not for the same things.
kate : Is that your real name?
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore laughs at Kate. Yep that's my real name!
Cynds : A bit of a personal question here, but what do you use the Internet for?
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: I use the Internet for email and I use Skype to communicate with friends. I like to use the Internet to communicate with people from other countries. I like to read websites and look for information on things that I'm working on, but I'm conscious that I use the Internet too much, so I try to go back to reading books more and spend some time away from my desk.
arra : What other stories are you investigating now then, will you look deeper in to this one, or are there other areas that interest you as much?
Laura : i wish i did the same poppy. Sometimes my eyes go weird and my back too. Can’t be good for you!
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: I'm going to China next week. I will be doing some quite personal interviews with people - more like personal portraits of people who I've met which I think have interesting stories and perspectives that I'd love to record.
mary : what a cool job
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: I don't think I'm going to get paid for that one.
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore laughs
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: It's just a personal interest story. But for the next paid one, I'm going to be looking at how industrialisation in China is affecting the food culture there.
Chat Ed : Our half hour with Poppy is now up. Thanks for chatting with us Poppy…
Cynds : Thank you Poppy
mary : thanks for coming
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: Just like to say thank you so much for meeting me online tonight. I've really enjoyed talking to you.
Captain 733t : Try DAoC it is better than WoW!
Ciaran : thanks poppy
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore: Let's not spend too much time for the rest of the evening on the Internet!
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore laughs
mary : thanks take care
Poppy Sebag-Montefiore leaves the room
