No one ever said the Web was good for you

Leave it to the Swiss to put a new spin on neutrality. Or Net-trality, to use a sorry pun. Zurich’s Department for the Prevention of Addiction has launched a campaign warning computer users about the dangers of addiction to online communities and sex sites. “Spending lots of time in virtual worlds, especially chat rooms, online games and sex sites, can lead to a dependence comparable to other addictions,” the department says, according to Reuters. (It says nothing about blogs like this one, though, so you’re safe.) Compare this to Vietnam, of all places, whose government seems to have no such concerns: Officials there are actually planning to post dowloadable movies online to educate married couples about healthy sex. In Zurich, though, they’re apparently worried about the growth of an online “Needle Park,” the nickname for a part of town once famous as a haven for drug users. Of course, the effort comes about a decade (or at least five years) too late to do any good. Most important of all: How would the Swiss translate “Modem Park,” given that the country has four official languages?

—Posted by David Gianatasio

July 26, 2006 | Permalink