By IANS,
Beijing: Youngsters living in smaller cities of China are more likely to develop addiction to internet surfing than their peers in developed regions, a survey released Tuesday said.
The survey, conducted by the Communication University of China, showed that between eight to nine percent of young internet users in major cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are web addicts.
The situation is worse in some of western cities such as Guiyang and Yinchuan, where 31.8 and 20.5 percent of young internet surfers, respectively, are addicted, Xinhua reported.
The person was classified as internet addict when the users display at least one of the three symptoms: a continuous desire to use the internet; anxiety or anger when cut off from the internet; or greater happiness when on the internet than in real life.
Around 24 million urban respondents, aged six to 29, took part in the survey.
One of the main reason for higher proportion of web addicted youth in less developed cities is the availability of few choices to spend leisure time.
Though, youths in developed cities have a wider and earlier exposure to the internet and more choices in how to spend leisure time, the survey said.