“Import of ideas”: What to do against gaming addiction and beauty madness?

Beauty craze and gaming addiction are among the downsides of the internet age. What options are there to combat this? The idea import-Podcast looks to South Korea and Norway for ideas and possible role models.

As practical as the Internet is, it also has its downsides, in the worst case it can even make you ill. As a study commissioned by Facebook confirmed, social networks have an impact on our understanding of beauty.

Thanks to post-processed photos and beauty filters, unrealistic ideals and role models emerge. This seems to have a strong influence on young people in particular: around 30 percent of young people are dissatisfied with their appearance. In extreme cases, striving for the “perfect” body becomes pathological.

The situation is similar with gaming: Today, the image of video games no longer seems to be as negative as it used to be, more and more people are playing them. But for some, it takes on unhealthy proportions – the hobby becomes an addiction.

And here, too, young people are particularly vulnerable. According to a study by the DAK health insurance company, 15.4 percent of minors are considered so-called risk gamers. This means they could become addicted, with consequences such as withdrawal symptoms, loss of control or danger to themselves and others.

The new episode of shows how things can be different idea import – the foreign podcast of daily News.

Norway: Edits must be identified

In Norway, too, it was noticeable that dissatisfaction with one’s own body and natural appearance was increasing among the population, especially among younger people. Since inconspicuously edited photos in particular tempt people to perceive them as natural and realistic representations and to compare their own bodies with them, it was decided to do something.

As in Israel and France, a law is intended to help counteract the unrealistic ideals of beauty on the Internet. Since mid-2022, all images and videos for advertising purposes must state if they have been edited: with a stamp that must be placed over the image. Even what part of the picture it has to take up and how visible it has to be is specified, so the reference cannot be overlooked.

South Korea: Law against addiction?

South Korea is one of the most networked countries in the world, and there is a great willingness for digital innovations in society. And the country also has one of the most active e-gaming scenes in the world: gamer cafes, the PC bangs, are widespread and for youngsters, professional gaming is an attractive and, if successful, lucrative career.

But if you want to be successful, you have to train hard and long. In the worst case, however, this can end in a gaming addiction that makes everything else in life seem indifferent.

In order to protect particularly vulnerable young people, South Korea had also passed a law that banned night gaming for minors. The law has since been abolished, presumably also in order not to damage the domestic video game industry.

But there are still therapy camps that are supposed to teach those affected how to live without social media and video games again.

They tell more about how Norway and South Korea are trying to protect their population from the dark side of the internet and what Germany can perhaps learn from it ARD correspondent Kathrin Erdmann and Niels Walker in the idea import – the foreign podcast of daily News.

Search for ideas in the tagesschau podcast

For many questions that arise again and again in everyday life, there are guaranteed to be good ideas, possible role models and solutions somewhere in the world: How better to deal with sharply rising energy prices? What to do to eat healthier? Why do people in other countries sometimes live longer?

The foreign podcast daily News searches and finds them – together with the correspondents in the 30 foreign studios of the ARD. idea import wants to look beyond the proverbial box and provide fresh ideas for new input in political and social debates.

idea import appears every second Friday. You can listen to the podcast anytime at home or on the go on your smartphone – every second Friday morning you will find a new episode on our website, in which ARD audio library and on numerous other podcast platforms.