A Chinese teenager has been left in intensive care after attempting to cure his internet addiction by chopping off his own hand.
Xiao Wang, from Nantong, in Jiangsu province, stole a kitchen knife and sneaked out of his family home to avoid alerting his parents around 1 p.m. last Wednesday, The Telegraph reported.
Finding a secluded place near a bus shelter, the 19-year-old went ahead and severed his left hand while sitting on a public bench. He then called a cab and was taken to the Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University.
When Xiao's mother went into his room later that evening, she found a handwritten note on his bed. "Mum, I have gone to hospital for a while," it read. "Don't worry. I will definitely come back this evening."
During a 10-hour emergency surgery, surgeons were able to re-attach the victim's hand back on after it was recovered by police from the bloodstained bench. But it is not known if the boy will be able to regain full mobility.
The teen's parents expressed shock over their son's decision to perform a self-amputation, New York Daily News reported.
"We cannot accept what has happened. It was completely out of the blue. He was a smart boy," his mother told reporters.
One of the boy's teachers blamed his actions on an internet addiction which had made him "impetuous."
In China, obsessive online usage among young people has become a serious problem, with an estimated 24 million children considered "web junkies." In a bid to combat what is believed to be a growing problem, more than 250 military-style boot camps have been set up across the country to tackle under-18 internet addiction.
Tao Ran, an army psychologist who runs a well-known Beijing rehab center for internet addicts, estimated that around 14 percent of his country's youth were now hooked, according to UK MailOnline.
"They only do two things: sleeping and playing," said Tao, who traced the crisis back around a decade.
Meanwhile, about 7.1 percent of the population in Asia is addicted to the internet, according to research published in December.
