Don’t send kids to closed “internet addiction treatment schools” or “boot camps”: laws forbid using harmful methods to treat internet addiction, and children have already died in such places

Cost: There’s no cost at all — in fact, you save on tuition fees. The hard part is resisting the urge to hand your child over to outsiders for “closed-door discipline” when they’re throwing the biggest tantrums.
In plain terms: Laws explicitly ban using methods that harm a child’s physical and mental health to treat internet addiction. At a boot camp in Hefei, a boy who was just dropped off was handcuffed to a solitary confinement room, and died roughly 44 hours later. At Yuzhang Academy in Nanchang, students were also held in solitary confinement; several staff members were convicted, and when parents demanded tuition refunds, the courts rejected their claims.
Benefit: Article 68 of the Law on the Protection of Minors states that no organization or individual may interfere with a minor’s internet use in ways that harm their physical or mental health. There are court rulings in both of the cases below. The first took place in Hefei, Anhui. In August 2017, the parents of an 18-year-old boy signed an agreement with a boot camp to treat his internet addiction. Staff there forcibly took him away, locked him in a solitary confinement room, and handcuffed his hands to window bars. They restricted his access to food, water, and rest, and also beat him. Around 44 hours later, the boy died; the autopsy concluded his death was caused by heat exposure, restricted movement, lack of food and water, and physical injuries leading to electrolyte imbalance. On October 31, 2018, the Hefei Intermediate People’s Court handed down its first-instance verdict: the camp’s principal was convicted of intentional injury and illegal detention, and sentenced to 16 years in prison; four instructors received sentences ranging from 1 year to 8 years and 6 months. On December 28, 2018, the Anhui Higher People’s Court upheld the original verdict on appeal, noting the camp had no relevant government approval and none of the defendants held teaching qualifications. The second case took place in Nanchang, Jiangxi. Yuzhang Academy opened in 2013 and closed in November 2017. During its operation, it locked some students in “frustration relief rooms” for periods of 3 to 10 days at a time, with dedicated guards on duty. On April 28, 2023, the Anyuan District People’s Court in Pingxiang held a retrial and issued its verdict: five defendants were found guilty of illegal detention. Four of them received sentences ranging from 11 months to 2 years and 10 months, and were barred from any education-related work for a set period; one defendant was exempted from criminal punishment. When parents asked for tuition refunds and reimbursement of travel costs, the courts denied their requests. (National / Anhui / Jiangxi)
Evidence grade: C
Sources:全国人大常委会 (2024 年修正). 未成年人保护法（第六十八条）. https://flk.npc.gov.cn/detail?id=ff8081818f197cf001905e567af635a0；红星新闻 (2019-02-20). 追热点·18岁少年被铐着关禁闭两天死亡，戒网瘾学校5人获刑. https://static.cdsb.com/micropub/Articles/201902/5b98283216ea5d2e8eef7f8cb7d4dbbb.html（网页存档 https://web.archive.org/web/20261005013030/https://static.cdsb.com/micropub/Articles/201902/5b98283216ea5d2e8eef7f8cb7d4dbbb.html）；新华社 (2023-04-28). 江西“豫章书院案”宣判 5名被告均服判不上诉. http://www.news.cn/2023-04/28/c_1129579126.htm（网页存档 http://web.archive.org/web/20230428212544/http://www.news.cn/2023-04/28/c_1129579126.htm）
Notes: This grade is assigned because there are only isolated individual cases, with no statistics on how often such schools cause incidents. The Hefei case is documented only in media reports, which cite the first-instance verdict and appellate ruling; the original court documents are not available on official court websites. The Yuzhang Academy case is covered in Xinhua News Agency reports on the court verdict. If your child loves playing video games, first check whether their sleep, homework, and outdoor activities are being crowded out, as outlined in Section 14 of this chapter. If their academic performance, sleep quality, and family relationships all deteriorate despite your attempts to intervene, take them to a psychiatrist or child psychologist for a professional diagnosis and treatment. If your child is already enrolled in such a school, bring them home immediately. If they report being locked up or beaten, file a police report. The main beneficiaries of these legal protections are the children themselves.